Download Astronomy Teleclass Webinar!

Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific Welcome to the Supercharged Science Astronomy Teleclass Webinar! You can fill out this worksheet as a review exercise at the end of the class to see where your strengths are. What we’re going to cover today: 
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Planets Stars Comets Asteroids Moons Missions Supernova Pulsars and Neutron Stars Black Holes Gravitational Lensing Gravity & Spacetime Famous Astrophysicists Write down two things you really want to know about astronomy. 1._________________________________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________________________________ Do this NOW: Write down WHY you want to learn about the things you mentioned above. What will it give you, or provide you with, or make possible for you if you now understand these things that you wanted to learn? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ IMPORTANT: During class, you can either fill out the worksheet, OR if that’s too stressful or a hassle, just set it aside and fill it out after class is over so you can enjoy watching the class. Answer key is on the last two pages, so put it in a place where you won’t be tempted to peek at the answers until after you’ve given it your best shot. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 1 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific Material List: 
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Two balls, one larger than the other (like a tennis ball and basketball, or a bouncy ball and a racquetball). Strong magnet Thin sheet (like a plastic cutting board, sheet of cardboard, or inside cover of a hardbound book). You need to make a ramp. Metal ball bearing OR magnetic marble (you need something that rolls that is also strongly attracted to the magnet) © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 2 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific During the Lesson: You can look over the worksheet so you know what to listen for as you go through the class with me, or you can go through it along with me during class. OR… flip it over and forget about it and just enjoy the class. When class is over, flip it back over and fill it out and be amazed at how much you’ve picked up and learned! 1. How many planets do we have in our solar system? ____________________________ 2. Pluto is now part of the ___________________________ Belt. 3. The Sun rotates once every _____________________ at its equator and ___________________ at the poles. 4. The core temperature of the Sun is ________________________________. 5. A planet has three criteria: it orbits the _____________________________________, has _________________________________ its orbit of smaller objects, and is large enough so its own _______________________________ makes it round. 6. There are three types of planets: ____________________________, ___________________________________, and ________________________. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 3 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific 7. _______________________is the closest, but not the hottest planet. The side facing the Sun gets to _______________________oF, and the side facing away from the Sun gets to ____________________________ oF. 8. The solar system includes ________________________ planets, their ____________________, the __________________ at the center, and smaller objects such as ________________________and ____________________________. 9. The Sun is made out of 75% ___________________ and 25% _____________________. 10. Venus is called the goddess of _______________________, because it looks so bright to us from Earth, but it really has a surface temperature of _______________________oF. 11. Comets are really dirty ____________________________________________. 12. ____________________is the brightest thing in the sky, other than the Sun and Moon. 13. Cold _____________________ is what gives Uranus its blue‐green color. It’s classified as _________________ giant. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 4 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific 14. One day is longer than a year on ______________________________. Not only that, it rotates _____________________. 15. Mars’s moons are named after ________________________ and ___________________________. 16. ________________________ gives Mars its red color. 17. If the Earth was the size of a marble, Jupiter would be the size of a ______________________________. 18. Jupiter can fit ____________________________ Earths inside. 19. If you added more mass to _______________________________ it would get smaller because it’s a big ball of __________________________. 20. Jupiter is made out of __________________________ and __________________________ with a metallic __________________ core. 21. The volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon ____________ spew ice ash _____________________miles high. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 5 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific 22. Saturn is surrounded by rings made mostly of __________________ moving at __________________ mph. 23. Inside Saturn’s rings are __________________. 24. Titan has an ________________________________ made mostly of __________________________. 25. Scientists think that ________________________ used to have a ring around it, and it crashed down onto the surface. 26. Jupiter is so large that all of the ________________ in the solar system could fit inside of it. 27. _______________________ looks just like the Death Star. 28. The planet _____________________ rolls around the Sun while tipped on its side. 29. Phobos is slowly moving inward toward ________________ and will either shatter or form a _________________ around __________________________. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 6 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific 30. Our best guess is that the ice on Mercury was caused by _____________________________________ 31. Average daily wind speed on Neptune is _____________ mph. 32. Neptune is a giant ball of ____________________, which is also known as _________________. 33. __________________ and Pluto are a pair of objects because they both rotate around a point outside of each. These two are also orbited by ______________ and _______________. 34. The Sun is __________________________________ miles from the Earth, also known as _______________________________. 35. The hottest planet is _________________________________________________ because the heat that comes into the planet gets _______________________________________________. 36. There are how many stars are in our solar system? ____________________________________ 37. __________________________ and ________________________ are gas giants, and _______________________ and _________________________ are ice giants. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 7 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific 38. ____________________________ is the coldest planet in our solar system. 39. The five dwarf planets in our solar system are: ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________ 40. It takes light _______________________________ to travel from the Sun to Earth. 41. _____________________________ has so much volcanic activity that it constantly resurfaces itself. 42. What kind of ice is on Mars? _____________________________ and _______________________________________. 43. When a star like our sun runs out of fuel, it can no longer keep the fusion reaction going in inside, so the star collapses down into a___________________________________. 44. When stars use up their fuel they can explode like gigantic bombs called ___________________________________. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 8 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific 45. If the star is more than three times the mass of our sun, a ___________________________________ forms. 46. A black hole is an object that has an ___________________________________ greater than the speed of light. 47. A disk of material that forms around a black hole is called an ___________________________________, which ___________________________________the incoming material which then gives off light, which is one way we can find a black hole that is actively feeding. 48. The largest black holes form inside ___________________________________and in ___________________________________. 49. Name two ways to detect a black hole: ___________________________________ and ___________________________________. 50. What’s the difference between a galaxy and a black hole? _______________________________________________________________________ What I didn’t know about astronomy until class today was: ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________ © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 9 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific Vocabulary Words: Black holes are the leftovers of a BIG supernova. When a star explodes, it collapses down into a white dwarf or a neutron star. However, if the star is large enough, there is nothing to keep it from collapsing, so it continues to collapse forever. It becomes so small and dense that the gravitational pull is so great that light itself can’t escape. Galaxies are stars that are pulled and held together by gravity. Globular clusters are massive groups of stars held together by gravity, using housing between tens of thousands to millions of stars (think New York City). Gravitational lensing is one way we can “see” a black hole. When light leaves a star, it continues in a straight line until yanked on by the gravity of a black hole, which bends the light and change its course and shows up as streaks or multiple, distorted images on your photograph. The Kuiper Belt is an icy region that extends from just beyond Neptune (from 3.7 billion miles to 7.4 billion miles from the sun). This is where most comets and asteroids from our solar system hang out. Neutron stars with HUGE magnetic fields are known as magnetars. Neutron stars are formed from stars that go supernova, but aren’t big and fat enough to turn into a black hole. The Oort Cloud lies just beyond the Kuiper belt, housing an estimated 1 trillion comets. The visible surface of the sun is called the photosphere, and is made mostly of that bubbles up hot and cold regions of gas. Dying stars blow off shells of heated gas that glow in beautiful patterns called planetary nebula. Pulsars are a type of neutron star that spins very fast, spews jets of high‐energy x‐ray particles out the poles, and has large magnetic fields. Our solar system includes rocky terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), ice giants (Uranus and Neptune), and assorted chunks of ice and dust that make up various comets (dusty snowballs) and asteroids (chunks of rock). Stars are made up of very hot gases, mostly hydrogen and helium. Energy is generated by burning hydrogen and creating helium using the nuclear fusion process. There are many different types of stars. Blue giant stars are big and massive while red dwarf stars smaller than the earth. Our sun is a main‐sequence range yellow star. The Hertzsprung‐Russell (HR) diagram explains the different brightness, temperature, and classes of stars, and shows how the brightness of a star depends on its temperature. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 10 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific Answer Key 1.
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How many planets do we have in our solar system? 8 Pluto is now part of the Kuiper Belt. The Sun rotates once every 27 days at its equator and 31 days at the poles. The core temperature of the Sun is 15 million degrees Celsius. A planet has three criteria: It orbits the Sun, has cleared its orbit of smaller objects, and is large enough so its own gravity makes it round. There are three types of planets: rocky terrestrial, gas giants and ice giants. Mercury is the closest, but not the hottest planet. The side facing the Sun gets to 800oF, and the side facing away from the Sun gets to ‐280oF. The solar system includes eight planets, their moons, the Sun at the center, and smaller objects such as comets and asteroids. The Sun is made out of 75% hydrogen and 25% helium. Venus is called the goddess of love because it looks so bright to us from Earth, but it really has a surface temperature of 863oF. Comets are really dirty snowballs. Venus is the brightest thing in the sky, other than the Sun and Moon. Cold methane is what gives Uranus its blue‐green color. It’s classified as an ice giant. One day is longer than a year on Venus. Not only that, it rotates in the opposite direction . Mars’s moons are named after Fear/Panic and Fleeing/Flight. Iron oxide (rust) gives Mars its red color. If the Earth was the size of a marble, Jupiter would be the size of a soccer ball. Jupiter can fit 1400 Earths inside. If you added more mass to Jupiter it would get smaller because it’s a big ball of gas. Jupiter is made out of hydrogen and helium with a metallic hydrogen core. The volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io spew its ice ash 300 miles high. Saturn is surrounded by rings made mostly of ice moving at 75,000 mph. Inside Saturn’s rings are shepherd moons. Titan has an atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen so thick that if you strapped wings onto your arms and flapped, you’d fly! Scientists think that Iapetus used to have a ring around it, and it crashed down onto the surface. Jupiter is so large that all of the planets in the solar system could fit inside of it. Mimas looks just like the Death Star. The planet Uranus rolls around the Sun while tipped on its side. Phobos is slowly moving inward toward Mars and will either shatter or form a ring around Mars. Our best guess is that the ice on Mercury was caused by comets. Average daily wind speed on Neptune is 1,200 mph. Neptune is a giant ball of gas, which is also known as an ice giant. Charon and Pluto are a pair of objects because they both rotate around a point outside of each. These two are also orbited by Hydra and Nix. The Sun is 93 million miles from the Earth, also known as 1 au. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 11 Teleclass Webinar: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 12PM Pacific 35.
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The hottest planet is Venus because the heat that comes into the planet gets trapped inside. There are how many stars are in our solar system? One. The Sun. Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants, and Uranus and Neptune are ice giants. Neptune is the coldest planet in our solar system. The five dwarf planets in our solar system are: Eris, Makemake, Haumea, Pluto, and Ceres. It takes light 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to Earth. Venus has so much volcanic activity that it constantly resurfaces itself. What kind of ice is on Mars? Dry ice and water ice. When a star like our sun runs out of fuel, it can no longer keep the fusion reaction going in inside, so the star collapses down into a white dwarf star. made mostly out of carbon. When stars use up their fuel they can explode like gigantic bombs called supernovas. If the star is more than three times the mass of our sun, a black hole forms. A black hole is an object that has an escape velocity greater than the speed of light. A disk of material that forms around a black hole is called an accretion disk, which heats up the incoming material which then gives off light, which is one way we can find a black hole that is actively feeding. The largest black holes form inside globular clusters and in the centers of galaxies. Name two ways to detect a black hole: x‐ray emissions, gravitational lensing. What’s the difference between a galaxy and a black hole? A galaxy is a system of millions/billions of stars with gas and dust held together by gravity, like the Milky Way. A black hole is a region of space that has a gravitational field such that no matter or light can escape. © 2015 Supercharged Science Page 12