Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
FUN FACTS: What is a black hole?
A black hole is a super-massive object left behind after the death of stars, from which nothing NOT EVEN LIGHT can escape. This hole has so much gravity that it draws everything around it in the center of the black hole. Including stars and planets.
FUN FACTS: Ocean Tides... Why are they not constant?
Ocean tides are caused by the moon. The moon's gravity attracts the water, which leads to the tides as the moon orbits around the Earth.
(Photo Credits BY: Astronomy Picture of the day & NASA.kr)
What is the average temperature of the planets and the sun?
The Universe, Our Milky Way, Our Solar System.
Now that we know about each of our Solar Systems planets we will learn a few about the Universe. As we all know we live on a ball of rock called Earth in a vast expanse called Space. Besides Earth, there are other planets, billions of stars, and other pieces of rock and dust in space. The name for all this we have learned is what is known to be called The Universe. No astronaut nor scientist knows exactly where the Universe begins or ends. So in other terms we can think of the Universe as a place that goes on forever! Naturally the question of where all of this started is expected, well most scientist think that the Universe was created billions of years ago by a massive explosion called The Big Bang. After the enormous explosion that created the entire Universe, billions of years passed and galaxies started forming. Like the Milky Way Galaxy, which is where our Solar system is located.(Credits of Pictures: NASA, google.)
Saturday, November 21, 2009
BIO: Pluto And why it is no longer considered a planet.
Pluto was regarded as a planet
until 2006, when astronomers
renamed it a "dwarf planet". The
reasoning behind the renaming
is the fact that Pluto behaves
differently from the other planets.
"After Pluto was discovered in 1930, astronomers continued to learn more about the planet, and they decided that Pluto was too small to qualify as a planet in our solar system.Even though it has its own moons and orbits around the sun, there are other objects as big as or bigger than Pluto nearby, so the International Astronomical Unit decided to change Pluto’s status."
---there are more than one other dwarf planets in the solar system: Eris and Ceres.
BIO: Neptune
Neptune a bitterly cold and dark planet is so far away it would take over 200years to
get to Earth. Neptune also has one of the most violent weathers in the solar system,
with storms the size of Earth and freezing winds ten times faster than a hurricane! This
planet has 12 moons. one named Trition, it is in fact a frozen world.
BIO: Uranus
Uranus is a huge gas giant as well, it is four times bigger than Earth. This planet is
very hard to spot in the night sky, but you can see it with a telescope. This world spins
on its side. Uranus is often regarded as bland and featureless, there seems to be nothing
more on its surface, than some tiny clouds.It consists of a soup of hot water and other
chemicals. A thick layer of gases covers the liquid interior.
BIO: Saturn
Saturn is a ring world, second biggest planet in the Solar System. The spectacular
rings that are around the planet is made up of rock and ice. Saturn is a very light
planet, that if you were to put a large swimming pool it would float. It spins so fast that
it bulges at its equator, making it the flattest planet. This amazing planet is also the
least dense planet- Example: if you could put all the planets in a bucket of water, Saturn
is the only one that would float!!
BIO: Jupiter
Jupiter is by far the largest planet in the solar system. About 1,300 planet Earths could
fit inside it. This planet is often referred to as a "gas giant" because it is mostly made up
of hydrogen. This bright and stormy planet has fast rotations (it takes 10 hours to rotate)
causing the constant swirling clouds. Scientist believe Jupiter's core is a ball of molten
rock, six times hotter than the surface of the Sun. This enormous planet has at least 61
moons and the shortest day (10 hours). This stormy planet of racing clouds of gas has
a huge storm named The Great Eye, and it is three times the size of EARTH!!
BIO: Mars
The most interested to many about the red planet Mars is that it has a volcano
that is three times higher than Mount Everest. In some ways Mars is very familar to
Earth, which leads to the big question, is there life on Mars? Well this planet has really
fascinated astronomers for many years. Almost like Earth it has 25-hour days, volcanoes,
valleys, and polar icecaps that shrinks and expand with seasons. It is known that billions of
years ago, Mars had an atmosphere that could sustain life. over time however, the
atmosphere gradually escaped into space. Which caused the Mars to grow colder, and
now is considered a freezing desert.
BIO: Earth
Planet Earth is many times referred to as the third "Rock" from the sun, and is very
unique in many ways. It is the only planet scientists know that can support life due to
the water and the oxygen in its atmosphere. Unlike the other planets closest to or
furthest to the Sun, Earth sits at an ideal distance from the Sun. Earth for its size is
very heavy due to the large iron core at its center. The created sttrong magnetic field
forms a shield for Earth, from harmful particles caused by the Sun. Water covers
about 70 percent of Earths surface. The mixture of the waters vapor and other gases
on Earth,promotes the atmosphere we all experience.
Bio: Venus
Venus is the second planet closet to the sun and in between Mercury and Earth. Astronomers often refer Venus as The nearest thing to hell in our Solar System. Clouds of acid cover the surface, where the temperature is high enough to melt lead. The atmosphere is so thick that it would crush a human in seconds. This dense atmosphere is of gas carbon dioxide. Venus's fun sets are different because, of the opposite rotation from the Earth. Therefore the Sun rises in the west ans sets in the east. The planet turns very slowy, taking 243 Earth days to rotate once. That makes Venus's "day" longer than its "year" (225 Earth days.) Beneath its clouds, Venus is covered with volcanoes, mountains and canyons.
Bio: Mercury
Mercury the most inner planet closest to the Sun. The small cratered planet orbits around the Sun in only 88 days. Mercury has almost no atomsphere and is extremely hot. Mercury the tiny planet is a third of the size of Earth. It has a heavy core of dense metal. This makes up nearly three-quarters of its inside. Like mentioned this tiny world is extremely cratured and billions of years ago many rocks crashed into it. The enormus crater that crashed into the planet is called the Caloris Basin. The crater is more than 1,250 km across. (800 miles)
Back to Astronomy 101= The Solar System
Our Solar System consists of an average star we call the Sun, the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It also includes: the satellites of the planets; numerous comets, asteroids, meteoroids and dwarf planets like Pluto, Eris, etc.
Arizona State University Astronomy Open House Events
Credit for image above:(Scott Stuk | The State Press) BY:Scarlett Heydt-----Link to ASU's Astronomy Open House Events is below.
http://homepage.mac.com/agfuentes/openhouse.html
Want more?? Fantastic Observatories in Arizona!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
NASA School of art :)
http://discovermagazine.com/photos/16-how-artists-saw-the-space-program
Link above will lead you to amazing pictures all by the NASA school of Art. Great stuff worth checking out!
50,000 year old HUGE crater in AZ!
Now that we know what meteorites are here is a great video about The Barringer Crater here in Arizona just in between Flagstaff and Winslow!
Cool Stuff! The 7 Most Massive Meteorites on Earth
METEORITES: Most commonly known as "Shooting Stars". They are rocks from outer space that randomly fall and land on to Earths surface.
- Meteorites may be tiny particles left by a comet. (Also classified as stones, irons, etc)
- Meteorites are in orbit around the Sun.
- Meteorites have been known to be VERY large. Sizes of automobiles to certain sizes of US states!
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/most-massive-single-meteorites-earth/17225
----link above will take you to The 7 Most Massive Meteorites on Earth!
MUST CHECK OUT!
(photos also taken from link above.)
Monday, November 16, 2009
MCC Astronomy Nights
"Mesa Community College in Mesa AZ invites you to explore the amazing Universe in the state-of-the-art MCC Planetarium!"
"Our Astronomy Nights are usually the first Friday of the Month. Dates of upcoming Astronomy Nights are:"
November 6 and December 4, 2009, February 5, 2010
"Planetarium shows begin at 6:00pm and repeat every half hour. The last show begins at 9:30pm and ends at 10:00pm. FREE show tickets are handed out at the event on a first-come, first-served basis. Wait times are usually no more than 30 minutes. If a staff member does not approach you about tickets during the event, please ask for them!"
"No reservations are required. However, if you plan to bring a group of 20 or more, please contact Dr. Kevin Healy with the showing you plan to attend so we can hold tickets for your group."
For more information/address look back to the official website:
(all information posted taken from the website below)
http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d43/ast/planetarium/astronomynights.html
Astronomy Picture of The Day.
NOVEMBER 17, 2009
Illustration Credit & Copyright: Mark A. Garlick (Space-art.co.uk)
Explanation: Will this dawn bring another nova? Such dilemmas might be pondered one day by future humans living on a planet orbiting a cataclysmic variable binary star system. Cataclysmic variables involve gas falling from a large star onto an accretion disk surrounding a massive but compact white dwarf star. Explosive cataclysmic events such as a dwarf nova can occur when a clump of gas in the interior of the accretion disk heats up past a certain temperature. At that point, the clump will fall more quickly onto the white dwarf and land with a bright flash. Such dwarf novas will not destroy either star, and may occur irregularly on time scales from a few days to tens of years. Although a nova is much less energetic than a supernova, if recurrent novas are not violent enough to expel more gas than is falling in, mass will accumulate onto the white dwarf star until it passes its Chandrasekhar limit. At that point, a foreground cave may provide little protection, as the entire white dwarf star will explode in a tremendous supernova.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/
How do we know that the universe even exsist? Is there proof?
Yes! Fortunately over the past decades technology has lead us to amazing discoveries that has affected our history tremendously and all of these discoveries and information are found by Astronomical Telescopes and satellites.
(Active Satellites)
The most basic instrument regarding recent discoveries of the universe is called the Telescope. This instrument enables astronomers to see distant objects in space and record the information. Telescopes work like this
The bigger and more powerful telescopes are located in large buildings known as observatories. Many of them are found on high lands (better for clear starry nights, which enables us to look at the sky more clearly through a telescope.)
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