Galaxy Basics

Gathering Online Data

Go to http://www.galaxyzoo.org/ and start looking at the galaxies. As you go through each galaxy, draw it's basic shape. Follow the prompts, but don't limiti your observations to the questions being asked. Take about 5 minutes. When you get done, and have seen at least 15 galaxies, and have 10 or more observations, try to define a galaxy in your own words. Conside what you have seen,

Now, go back to GalaxyZoo and go through the tutorial. As you do this, write down another 10 observations.
Partner with some one else and compare your observations. One good way to do this is a t-chart, or Venn diagram. This can tell us what a galaxy is and what a galaxy isn't. Share at least two questions you still have below your diagram for when your class is discussing your findings.

Classifying Galaxies

Go to http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/Galaxy/galunknsheet.html and sort the galaxies into at least 4 categories. Explain what each category has for characteristics. The parts of a galaxy might be helpful.


Compare your classification system to those of others. How are they similar? Different?
Why do people pick one system for classifying over another? Can you think of classifying systems in some of these categories:

* Biology
* Sports
* Medicine
* English
* Other…

Share examples of classification in the world. What makes one system ‘right?’

Misconceptions In Action
Edwin Hubble's misconceptions were reflected in his ideas about the evolution of galaxies and the diagram you see at the top of this lesson. Read the article (but don't do the Exercise) before posting to the forum on galaxy selections and explain what you think is happening.


Our Own Misconceptions

Take the time to create your own pictures of the Milky Way from a top view and a side view using the data found in The Galaxy Song by Eric Idle. Your teacher may play the accompanying song:





Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.


Compare your picture to known data of the Milky Way, and to an analysis of the song. Why are galaxies difficult to visualize?

Sources of information for this project

COSMOS on Hulu

http://chandra.harvard.edu/field_guide.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/main/#.U1_XH_ldWSo

http://hubblesite.org/

Learning About the HR Diagram

Day 2:  Bits and Pieces of stars

Watch two videos and summarize.

https://www.youtube.com/user/SpitzerJim/videos

Day1, first hour

Stellar Life Cycle  (this will take an hour to go through)

Questions to Consider
*what is the life cycle of our star?
*what is the HR diagram?
*what are characteristics of each of the stellar stages?
*how do gravity and pressure affect one another through the life cycle of a star? How does the balance change through each stage?
* What is the main sequence?
* How does the brightness of our star change over its lifetime?
* How does the temperature of our star change over its lifetime?

Day 1: last 30 minutes

Work through the sections on  the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. Then complete the following questions related to the background
information.

Go To the following document.
Please complete Questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 11-13 on a sheet of paper and hand indivually.

Hand in completed work and work from yesterday.

Spectra as a Tool

We've gone through the lab on Stellar Spectra
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html
Reading 1
The VIREO LAB on Stellar Spectra

What else can we use spectra for?


Doppler Shift reading (Book, 102-104)

Where have we seen this?


Activity:  http://carma.astro.umd.edu/AWE/Doppler/redshift.html


Based on the applet shown, what will happen when

a) a star moves towards the earth
b) a star moves away from the earth
c) the star and the earth are both moving towards one another
d) the star and the earth are both away from one another

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Spectra can also be shown in a graphical form

Let's look here:   http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/public/tutorial/Stars.html

What happens to the graph form when the line is black on the prism version?
What do the numbers at the bottom of the graph mean?

=====================================

How can I red-shift or blue-shift a star?

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2802/es2802page01.cfm

What is happening?

=====================================

How does a galaxy spectra differ from a regular spectra....

http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=1923.0

http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/anamunn/Astro101/Project1/stellar_spectroscopy_introduction.html

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Are galaxies moving towards or away from us?

http://www.astro.washington.edu/courses/labs/clearinghouse/labs/HubbleLaw/knowgalaxies.html

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What elements are present in an atmosphere (HOMEWORK)


http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Goldilocks_Three_Planets_student.pdf


http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/education/k-12/project-spectra/goldilocks-interactive/ 

http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/education/k-12/project-spectra/goldilocks-interactive/When you get done with these, you will need to complete a one to two page summary (do not just answer the questions).  It may be handwritten.

Starlight
1. Contrast Emission and Absorption Spectra
2.  What element do all stars contain?
3.  Why do we talk about 'stellar fingerprints'?

Star Collection
1. What did you notice about using the telescope regarding speed, ability to slew, ability to get a signal-noise ratio that was 100 or more, and the fine vs. gross adjustments?
2.  Why is RA/DEC important, and what is UTC?
3.  How is technology helpful and difficult as we look at the world of starlight?


Star Analysis
1.  The stellar classification system we use today was developed by Annie Cannon was actually based on her work sorting thousands and thousands of spectra into categories, which then became the stellar atlas.  What do the classification OBAFGKML letters tell us about temperature or brightness of a star?

Sun Lab

Part 1:  We watched minutes 10-20 of the Secrets of the Sun NOVA program.

We defined helioseimology, looked at the spaceweather.com site, and looked at the SOHO observatory.

Part 2:

Your task is to go through the links found at the top of this lab to start with and summarize.  You need to go through each of the 3 topics and take notes.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/sun/



Part 3:  Research Project #2

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/sun/research

#1:  Make a claim.

#2:  Create a data set of screenshots

#3:  Connect the ideas contained in your summaries to the screenshots and complete a 1/2 page summary.  Submit electronically.


Part 4:  Watch the last 10 minutes of the video and summarize.

Understanding the Sun on a Friday

First 10 minutes of NOVA Sun video

Finishing the Story of Telescopes



Discussion/Notes

Telescope beginning

There are tons of different telescopes out there, and all of them have different stated purposes.   Our goal is to summarize each one of the different eras shown below in blue in about 2-6 sentences.  Luckily for us, one website talks about all the types of telescopes.  You may not get done with all the exploration, but you should be at least 1/2 done by Tuesday.

Find out an example ans a 2 sentence summary for each of the following types of telecopes.   The link below is your priamry reources.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/




Era stories:

Story 1
Galileo's Refractor: Galileo's telescope revealed the first hint of the depths of space. His dedication and approach to explaining what he saw revolutionized astronomy. (Includes one telescope story, one biography.)

Early Refractors: Telescopes with flatter lenses brought wider and clearer views of the sky but required longer tubes. Some refractors were so long that they became difficult to maneuver. (Includes two telescope stories.)


Great Refractors: New technology allowed astronomers to create larger lenses that produced bright, clear images. For a while, refracting telescopes became more popular than reflecting telescopes. (Includes three telescope stories, one biography.)

Story 2
Newton's Telescope: Sir Isaac Newton replaced the main lens of a telescope with a mirror, creating the reflecting telescope. (Includes one telescope story.)


Early Reflectors: Early reflecting telescopes used metal mirrors to look deep into space, but the new design presented new challenges. (Includes four telescope stories, one biography.)


Hugh Reflectors: Astronomers crafted telescope mirrors from glass instead of metal, making reflecting telescopes more powerful and easier to use. They began relying on photography and instruments to record observations. (Includes three telescope stories, two biographies.)


Story 3
Solar Telescopes: Solar telescopes are reflecting telescopes that use special instruments to observe the Sun. (Includes one telescope story, one biography.)


Radio Telescopes: The discovery of radio waves from space launched a new branch of study: radio astronomy. This spurred astronomers to develop new techniques to accommodate the large size of radio waves. (Includes two telescope stories.)


Multi-mirror Telescopes: Multi-mirror telescopes used computer technology to overcome the size limits of huge reflecting telescopes. (Includes two telescope stories, one biography.)


Space Telescopes: By placing telescopes in orbit above Earth, astronomers were finally free to view the universe in all wavelengths of light. (Includes five telescope stories, two biographies.)

Take Home Test

Take Home Test
Make comic strips that comment on 5 of the following.  Rage comics or stick people are just fine. You may use an online comic generator, or draw your own

This is an individual project.

I should be able to identify scientific evidence covered in this chapter in the artifact to support your ideas.  Each strip is worth 2 points for the evidence, 2 points for the drawing, 2 points for the humor.


http://ragemaker.net/index35.php
http://www.chogger.com
http://www.toondoo.com
http://www.pixton.com or others



1.  Why is it so hard to get in or out of the solar system enroute to a ‘new Earth?

2.  Why do so many people believe that the moon comes out only at night?  Pick a specific phase of the moon and its location (East, West, or Zenith) to make your point.

3.  Why do we spend money to look at features of other planets besides our own?


4.  What special features do rocky planets have to protect life?


5.  Is our moon special?

6.  Should we travel in space?

7.  Are the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud made of the same thing?

8.  Why do we track asteroids and meteorites?

9.  Why do we care about our solar system?

10. How does space and microgravity affect the health and hygiene of astronauts?

Our Moon---and Galileo

Part 1:  Hot off the presses, a new study provides compelling evidence for Lunar formation and other water in the solar system

http://www.space.com/25331-moon-age-revealed-lunar-mystery.html

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/179834-saturns-moon-enceladus-has-a-huge-ocean-of-liquid-water-scientists-confirm


Please summarize each of these articles into 4 to 6 sentences.  You may work with a partner, but you hand it in individually.


Part 2

Galileo and the Moons of Jupiter

Galileo became a heliocentrist largely due to his observations about Jupiter's 4 biggest moons:  Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.  Using his telescope, he observed these moons and their patterns around the planet.  He marked the motion of the moons in terms of Jupiter Diameters as viewed through his telescope.

Set up a Open Office Calc table with the names of the 4 moons at the top and the dates on the left side.

Gather data for at least 30 days using the Jupiter moon position applet a

Create a x-y scatter graph for each moon.

Hand in with you and your partners' names by the end of the period 

Moon or Mars?

You and your partners have a choice to make.   Should the first off-Earth settlement be built on the Moon or on Mars?

There are pros and cons to each.

STARTING LINE.  To start, let's look at the current information out there.   
Take short notes if you wish

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/22/world/mars-one-way-ticket  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2330220/Astronauts-LIVE-moon-2020-Nasa-report-claims.html

Google Moon or Mars and find at least two different articles to add to your thoughts

WARMING UP  Then see some of the thoughts behind this dream by looking at the different thinking plans.

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/human_space/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Colonization_of_Mars  

http://marshome.org/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_the_Moon 

http://www.nss.org/settlement/ 

The point of this is to figure out critical needs.  Perhaps you could make a t-chart to list the differences between the Moon and Mars.

OLD HAT STUFF Now look at some of the missions that have already been put together to each planet:

http://planetary.org/explore/topics/the_moon/missions.html 

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/programmissions/ 

What have they already figured out about the planet regarding the atmosphere or the availability of water?

PAST DATA Use your Current Posters or other readings to help you see if there are:

a) plate tectonics

b) a magnetosphere

c) an atmosphere

d) water

e) gravitational forces

f) minerals

g) temperature extremes

How does this information affect your decision?

DISTANCE SCHMINSTINCE.  How long do you think it will take to get there on a space mission, and what does that mean for a launch date?

WILL I DIE?. Finally, take a look at the life and health risks involved in being an astronaut on a long-term journey.

Health Concerns
Exercise
Hygiene needs

Can we taste in space?

Risk Factors

Can we have kids in space?

Based on these health risks, do you want to be the one to travel on your journey? And whether you do or not, what are 10 things needed for the journey keep your brain and emotions healthy?  Explain.

Where should we go?  Make your decision, and be prepared to support it with at least 5 reasonable arguments/evidence.  Create a video blog, or a podcast interview(share it with me) or email it to me.  This is due by Monday night at 11:59 pm

Rubric for grading--Group

This presentation is worth 60 points

Category	Excellent	Acceptable	Marginal	Unacceptable
Quality of Product Multimedia	Worthy of the World	Informative and Loved By Parents	Entertaining to Friends	Rude, or Socially Unacceptable
Quality of Content	Worthy of the World	Informative and Loved By Parents	Entertaining to Friends	Rude, or Socially Unacceptable
Persuasiveness to a Position	Worthy of a Debate Scholarship	Gets a II at Individual Speech	Snowjob	Rude, or Socially Unacceptable
Identification of the Risks Involved	Worthy of a NASA or insurance report	Acceptable to someone who is on Survivor	Adequate for those who shun safety gear	Rude, or Unacceptable
Thoroughness of Information	Worthy of a private boardroom presentation	Filled with Geeky Speak	Entertaining to Friends	Rude, or Socially Unacceptable

Moon Mirrors

The biggest proof out there that the moon landing is not a hoax comes from simple science.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/21jul_llr/


The mirrors on the moon are our biggest tool for distance study in our relationship in the moon.

But hey, YDHTTMWFI, check here

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/08/12/moon-hoax-why-not-use-telescopes-to-look-at-the-landers/#.Uzr3sPldWSo



====================Onward===================


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