Download File

Celestial Objects
Name as many natural objects in
space as you can…
•
•
•
•
S_ _ _ _
G_ _ _ _ _ _ _
C_____________
The _ _ _
•
•
•
•
P_ _ _ _ _ _
The _ _ _ _
C_ _ _ _ _
A_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(or M_ _ _ _ _ _)
Name as many natural objects in
the sky as you can…
• Stars (balls of hot gases)
• Galaxies
• Constellations
(pattern of stars)
• The Sun (a typical star)
Name as many natural objects in
the sky as you can…
• Planets (orbit a star)
• The Moon (orbits Earth)
• Comets
(balls of ice and dust that
orbit the sun in elliptical orbits)
• Asteroids
(space rocks that orbit
the sun)
or Meteors (when they collide
with Earth)
Seeing Celestial Objects
Look at these two pictures:
They are pictures of the same thing (Orion).
Why is the picture on the left so much more clear?
Light Pollution!
• The light from most stars and planets is
very faint.
• That is why we can’t see stars in the day.
(They are still there!)
• At night it is usually dark enough to see
even the faint light from stars. However, if
there is too much background light, then
only the brightest objects will be seen.
What is the difference
between these….
…and these?
Answer:
Objects like stars, and our Sun (which is a
star), give off their own light.
• Objects that emit their own light are said to
be luminous.
Objects like planets and the Moon don’t give
off there own light! They are non-luminous.
But if they don’t give off light, how do we see
them???
Non-luminous objects REFLECT light from
luminous objects like the sun!
With your desk partner, brainstorm as many
differences between luminous objects,
like stars, and non-luminous objects as
you can.
Organize them into a chart like this:
luminous
non-luminous
-emits its own light
-reflects light
-