Download Astronomy Lab #5

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Date: ______
Class: ______
Astronomy Lab #1 Creating a Scale Model of our Solar
System
Background Information: According to a scientific theory called the “Big Bang,” twelve
billion years ago there was nothing (no planets, no stars, no light, nothing) then…something
happened and there was an incredibly dense and small speck filled with light. A fraction of a
second later, the Universe expanded outward from this tiny speck and all matter was
formed.
All of the galaxies in the Universe are still moving away from each other as the Universe
expands. Our Solar System is located within the Milky Way galaxy, a spiral-shaped galaxy
within the Local Group (a cluster of galaxies) that is 100,000 light-years across. [A light-year
is how far light travels in one year or 5,900,000,000,000 (5.9 trillion) miles.] Astronomers
believe there are about 200 billion stars within our galaxy (counting to 200 billion would take
you 3,000 years if you were to count two numbers per second and never stop for a break.)
Everything you see with the naked eye in the night sky is part of the Milky Way galaxy. Our
nearest neighboring galaxy is the named M31, or the Andromeda galaxy, which is 200
million light-years away.
According to another scientific theory, our Solar System is believed to have evolved about
4.6 billion years ago from a large cloud of interstellar gas and dust. The cloud then collapsed
inward and the center got hotter and denser, eventually forming the Sun. Meanwhile the
outer parts of the cloud were spinning and spreading out; as smaller particles of gas and
dust collided, they stuck together forming the planets.
Our Solar System is located approximately 30,000 light-years from the center of the Milky
Way galaxy. Planet Earth is about 93 million miles (149.6 million km) away from the sun.
Since our Solar System is so large, we have designated the distance from the Sun to Earth
as one Astronomical Unit (A.U.) and commonly use this as a unit of measurement.
Part 1: Planet Distances
Question: What would a “scaled model” of our solar system look like?
Materials:
1 Roll of Toilet Paper
9 “Sticky Note” Papers
Pen or Pencil
Procedure:
Scale: For this activity, we will use a scale of 1 Astronomical Unit (A.U.) equal to 10 squares
of toilet paper.
1. Multiply each of the planet’s A.U. distance (given in Table 1 below) by 10 (second
column of Table 1) to calculate where to place the planets along the rolled-out toilet
paper. Record the information in the fourth column of Table 1.
2. Label your sticky notes by writing the name of one planet on each piece until all 9 are
labeled with a different planet.
3. Roll out the toilet paper and count the squares to determine where to place each of the
planets along the roll. Place the planet sticky notes.
Table 1: Distances from Each Planet to the Sun
Planet
Actual Distance From
Sun (A.U.)
Multiply by Scaled A.U.
Distance
(TP Squares)
Scaled Distance from
Sun
(TP Squares)
Mercury
0.39
10
3.9
Venus
0.72
Earth
1.0
Mars
1.52
Jupiter
5.2
Saturn
9.55
Uranus
19.2
Neptune
30.1
Pluto
39.4
4. Make a scaled drawing of your Solar System showing the location of each planet from
the Sun.
Reflection:
5. What patterns do you observe concerning the distances between planets in your model?
6. What do you notice about the planets compared to the space around them?