Where do we fit in Space?
This section explores Earth's position within our solar system and how everyday phenomena can be explained by by the behaviour of the planets in our solar system
7.1) What do you know about Earth's place in Space
7.2) Getting to know our Solar System
Create an INFOGRAPHIC on the Solar System - A3 size
a) Draw the planets as pencil circles only b) Each group is to use the following website "The Planets" and record information about the unique characteristics of each planet on their slide of a the google . For example Mercury
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Groups and their planets
1) Mercury - done 2) Venus - Victoria and Zara and Asha 3) Earth - Isabella G and Amy and Isabella Y 4) Mars - Cordelia, Audrey and Evangelina 5) Jupiter - Amelia, Hope and Maddalena 6) Saturn - Isabella D, Claudia and Marissa 7) Uranus - Penelope, Mia and Xanthi 8) Neptune- Grace, Olivia and Meadow 9) Pluto and its neighbours - Isabelle M and Alana |
2. Watch the National Geographic Video: Solar System 101
a. Construct a mnemonic to remember the eight planets in order from the sun b. Identify the terrestrial planets and the gas giants c. Propose why Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf plant Pluto (no longer considered a planet) were discovered much later than the other planets. d. How does a planet stay in orbit? In your response, describe what an orbit is, identify the force that keeps a planet in orbit and draw a simple diagram of an orbit. e. Extension Question - Research and explain why scientists have thought it may be possible for life to exist on Mars. A good website is NASA - Exploratour: Life on Mars f. Extension Question - Until 2006, Pluto was considered the ninth planet of the solar system. Watch the two videos on Pluto and use the internet to find out: i) when it was discovered and by whom ii) how Pluto differs from the eight planets iii) whether it has any moons and, if so, their names |
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7.3) Where is the Sun? - Day and Night
Reference 6.5.1) The Earth in Motion in CS4
Even though there are 150 million kilometres that separate the Sun, Earth and the Moon, there are very important affects of these on our little planet Earth.
7.3) Where is the Sun? - Day and Night
Reference 6.5.1) The Earth in Motion in CS4
Even though there are 150 million kilometres that separate the Sun, Earth and the Moon, there are very important affects of these on our little planet Earth.
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7.4) Why does the Earth experience seasons?
Reference 6.5.2) The Earth in Motion in CS4
Reference 6.5.2) The Earth in Motion in CS4
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Write notes that explain how the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter occur.
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7.5) Solar Eclipses
Reference 6.7) Solar and Lunar Eclipses
Reference 6.7) Solar and Lunar Eclipses
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More Information on Eclipses
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7.6) Indigenous views from around the world
Aboriginal Astronomy
During the Dreaming, a blind man lived with his wife in the bush. Every day he told his wife to go out and hunt for emu eggs for him to eat. Even though his wife tried hard to please her husband, he was always angry with her, telling her that the eggs were too small. One day while she was out hunting, she came across some very large emu tracks. She thought of her husband and how angry he got, and followed the tracks all the way to the nest. She found a huge emu there and threw stones at it to get at the eggs, but it stood up and ran towards her and killed her. The blind man became hungry and worried about his wife. He felt around the camp until he came across a bush with some berries on it and ate some of them. Suddenly he could see. He made some spears and a woomera and set off to find his wife. He followed her tracks and finally saw the huge emu and the body of his wife. He speared the emu and banished its spirit to the Milky Way, where it can still be seen today. — a story from Papunya, Northern Territory |
7.7) How has our model of the Solar System changed over time?
In science, a model is a representation of an idea, an object or even a process or a system that is used to describe and explain phenomena that cannot be experienced directly. Models are central to what scientists do, both in their research as well as when communicating their explanations. Models are a mentally visual way of linking theory with experiment, and they guide research by being simplified representations of an imagined reality that enable predictions to be developed and tested by experiment.
Models have always been important in science and continue to be used to test hypotheses and predict information. Often they are not accurate because the scientists may not have all the data. It is important that scientists test their models and be willing to improve them as new data comes to light. Think about our Model of the Solar System. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher in 350 BC who used thought and his visual observations of the night sky to devise his model of the Solar System with the Earth at the center. Many many years later, Copernicus devised the sun-centered model of the Solar System. With the invention of the telescope, new information showed that the Earth could not possibly be in the center.
Models have always been important in science and continue to be used to test hypotheses and predict information. Often they are not accurate because the scientists may not have all the data. It is important that scientists test their models and be willing to improve them as new data comes to light. Think about our Model of the Solar System. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher in 350 BC who used thought and his visual observations of the night sky to devise his model of the Solar System with the Earth at the center. Many many years later, Copernicus devised the sun-centered model of the Solar System. With the invention of the telescope, new information showed that the Earth could not possibly be in the center.
7.8) The World's Greatest Telescopes and other Space Technologies
Examples of Space Technologies:
1. The Telescope
2. Space Probes
3. Landers
1. The Telescope
2. Space Probes
3. Landers
Questions on Space Technologies
- Choose one of these technological advances and describe what it is. Provide a diagram of this technology
- Describe some of the discoveries that were made with this technology.
- Extension Question: How did these discoveries increase our scientific understanding of the Solar System
Space News and Events
NASA New Horizon Spacecraft - The Pluto Flyby 14th July 2015
"None of us alive today will see a new planet up close for the first time again." Dennis Overbye from the New York Times. Let's create an information wall on this historic event; *** COLOUR, IMAGES, INTERESTING FACTS *** * Group 1) Images of the New Horizon spacecraft * Group 2) Images of Pluto - old and new * Group 3) Pluto's Moons * Group 4) Fact sheet on Pluto * Group 5) Fact sheet on the mission of New Horizon * Group 6) Fact sheet on Clyde Tombaugh |
The New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt – a relic of solar system formation.
New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006; it swung past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and will conduct a five-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons in summer 2015. Pluto closest approach is scheduled for July 14, 2015. Sending a spacecraft on this long journey will help us answer basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies. |
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We are about to see Pluto for the first time! - Many people think that we have seen Pluto clearly for a long time but in reality we are about to see Pluto for the first time. On the left is our old image of Pluto and on the right is New Horizon's image of Pluto on the 7th July and it was still 7 million miles away.
We will learn about Pluto's Moons -
This is pure adventure. We do not know what is out there. Two of Pluto's moons were only recently discovered - Styx in 2011 and Kerberos in 2012. New Horizon is in unknown territory and everyday that this spacecraft survives is a miracle. New Horizon will continue past Pluto and into the Kuiper Belt to detect, photograph and analyse other large objects expected to be encountered in 2019.
Celebrations at NASA as New Horizon safely Flybys Pluto!!!
Pluto is bigger than expected and has a big heart! New Horizon measured Pluto's diameter to be 2366 km rather than 2301 km, making it now the undisputed king of the Kuiper Belt!!! With Pluto's mass already known, the larger radius means that the dwarf planet is less dense than previously estimated, suggesting the possibility of an icier interior, though Stern stressed this was still under investigation. Also there appears to be a large heart shaped feature due to the terrain on the lower hemisphere of Pluto In addition to refining Pluto's size, New Horizons also measured three of the dwarf planet's five known moons. The spacecraft's observations of Charon, the largest, confirm measurements made from Earth of 751 miles (1,208 km). Nix is about 20 miles (35 km) wide, while Hydra turns out to be approximately 30 miles (45 km) in diameter. The remaining two moons, Kerberos and Styx, are smaller and fainter. Their measurements have been taken during the flyby but will be transmitted to Earth at a later date. Principle Investigator of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, Arthur Stern announced that the Pluto feature previously thought to be a polar cap has been confirmed by the ALICE instrument to consist of methane and nitrogen ice. The pole differs in composition from the dark features around the dwarf planet's equator. Later studies of a mysterious dark patch at Charon's north pole will be sent back starting this week. Stern also announced today that New Horizons spotted nitrogen escaping from Pluto's atmosphere five days ago — considerably earlier than the team had expected to make such a detection. The find suggests that Pluto may be losing its atmosphere more rapidly than previously thought, offering a tantalizing hint about its possible replenishment source. Another potential explanation for the distant source of nitrogen is that New Horizons followed a fortuitous path, similar to its flyby through the tail of Jupiter's magnetosphere. |
1) Check this out "Pluto comes into focus" - Drag the button from left to right and see how our picture of pluto changed as New Horizon travelled towards Pluto. Really really clever! 2) Great video from NASA about what has been achieved by the Mission 3) Read more bout the New Horizon's mission with the article "Nasa'a New Horizon's mission to Pluto explained". |
New Horizon Images
Image received on July 14th:
A new close-up image of an equatorial region near the base of Pluto’s bright heart-shaped feature shows a mountain range with peaks jutting as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body. The mountains on Pluto likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters in a 4.56-billion-year-old solar system. This suggests the close-up region, which covers about one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today. “This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” said Jeff Moore of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. |
Images received on July 15th reveals more surprises.
The first image is taken near the equator of Pluto and shows a range of young mountains covered with ice. Pluto is not the dead planet once thought. Unlike the icy moons of giant planets, Pluto cannot be heated by gravitational interactions with a much larger planetary body. Some other process must be generating the mountainous landscape. “This may cause us to rethink what powers geological activity on many other icy worlds,” says GGI deputy team leader John Spencer at SwRI. This second image of Charon, moon of Pluto, reveals a youthful and varied terrain. Scientists are surprised by the apparent lack of craters. A swath of cliffs and troughs stretching about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) suggests widespread fracturing of Charon’s crust, likely the result of internal geological processes. The image also shows a canyon estimated to be 4 to 6 miles (7 to 9 kilometers) deep. In Charon’s north polar region, the dark surface markings have a diffuse boundary, suggesting a thin deposit or stain on the surface. |
More Resources
1. Test Your Solar System Smarts
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2. The Sun
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