why study space?
DESCRIPTION
Why Study Space?. Text 9.1, 7.1. Agenda. The Universe! The History of the Stars Distances in Space Astronomical Units Light Years Scientific Notation Why Study Space? Homework. Learning Goals. By the end of the class we should be able to - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
WHY STUDY SPACE?Text 9.1, 7.1
Agenda1. The Universe!2. The History of the Stars3. Distances in Space
Astronomical Units Light Years Scientific Notation
4. Why Study Space?5. Homework
Learning Goals
By the end of the class we should be able to Report vast distances, like those found in
space, in appropriate units Discuss some past and current studies of
space Debate the importance of studying space
The Known Universe…
Past Knowledge People on earth and
watched celestial events for 1000s of years
Our ancestors followed astronomical phenomena and used patterns to mark The passage of time Prediction seasons Indicate direction during
travels
History of the Stars First nations used large
rocks to create medicine wheels In these circles, key
rocks were aligned with bright stars
Used to predicts the right time of year to plant or harvest crops or prepare for hunting and fishing
Study of the Stars
Celestial is a term that refers to the sky Therefore objects we can see in
the sky are called celestial objects
The sun, moon, earth, other planets, comets are all celestial objects
Astronomy is the study of the universe and the objects in it
Speaking of History…
When you look at a celestial object, it is so far away that you are actually looking back in time Light takes time to travel so
when you see something the light is from a few billionths of a second ago
With very long distances you are looking more significantly back in time
Distances in Space Distances in space are so
vast we needed special units of measurements Astronomical units (AU)
The distance between sun and earth (150 million km)
Light years (LY) The distance that a beam of
light can travel in 1 year (63000 AU or 9000 billion km)
Scientific Notation Scientific notation helps make very large
numbers shorter and easier to handle E.g. The speed of light is about 299 800
000 m/s. Write this in scientific notationStep 1: Move decimal place to 1st digit 2.99800000Step 2: Count number of places. Exponent of 8, written as 108
Step 3: Delete zeros & rewrite 2.998 x108 m/s
Practise Problem Page 265: 1
Projects Galore! Pioneer 10 & 11
Launched b National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission was to fly past Jupiter and then continue on to the outer solar system
Voyager 1 & 2 Launched to study Jupiter,
Saturn and the outer solar system
V1 is the most distant man made object in space
Voyager 1 & 2 Engravings
MORE Research: Alien Life?!?!
Cost of NASA
Minds On!
1. Do you think it is important to fund Space Exploration?
2. If you were to send an object into space what information would you put on it? (Quick Lab Page 399)
Homework
1. Finish your Minds On!2. Page 265: 2-6