Transcript Our place in Space notes

Chapter 1
Astronomy Today
7th Edition
Chaisson/McMillan
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Charting the Heavens 1
Reading pg. 3-8
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• Our place in the Universe
• Constellations
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1.1 Our Place in Space
• Earth is average—we don’t occupy any
special place in the universe
• Universe: totality of all space, time, matter,
and energy
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1.1 Our Place in Space
Discuss with a partner,
•What is Astronomy?
• Scales are very large:
What unit do we
measure distances in
space in?
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1.1 Our Place in Space
• Astronomy: study of the
universe
• Scales are very large:
measure in light-years,
the distance light travels
in a year—about 10
trillion km
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How fast does light travel in
one second?
a.
b.
c.
d.
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3 x105 km./sec
300,000 km./sec
30,000 km. sec
3,000 km/sec
How fast does light travel in
one second?
a. 3 x105 km./sec
b. 300,000 km./sec
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Let’s define Light Year
• A unit of interstellar distance, defined as the
distance light travels in a period of one year. The
speed of light is constant, at about 300,000 km
per second or 9.5 trillion km/ year: From an
Earthbound perspective, this is a vast distance our entire Solar System, out to the orbit of Pluto,
is only one eight-hundredth of a light year
across.
Our Place in Space
What is this object?
What is the name of
our group?
Share your answer
with your elbow
partner.
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Our Place in Space
• This galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across.
A typical galaxy is a
collection of a
hundred billion stars,
each separated by
vast regions of nearly
empty space. Our Sun
is an undistinguished
star near the edge of
similar galaxy, called
the Milky Way.
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Simplest observation:
Look at the night sky
How many stars do you
think can be seen with
the naked eye on a clear
night? Write your
answer down on the
white board and hold it
up?
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Simplest observation:
Look at the night sky
About 3000 stars visible
at any one time;
distributed randomly
but human brain tends
to find patterns
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Constellations
Group stars into
constellations: Figures
having meaning to those
doing the grouping
Useful: Polaris, which is
almost due north
Useless: Astrology,
which makes predictions
about individuals based
on the star patterns at
their birth
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Turn to an elbow partner, What are the
differences between
Astrology vs. Astronomy?
Astronomy
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Astrology
Turn to an elbow partner, What are the
differences between
Astrology vs. Astronomy?
Astronomy
• The study of objects and
phenomena beyond the
Earth’s Atmosphere
• Goal: to understand the
physics of the universe
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Astrology
• The belief that the
position of the heavenly
bodies and celestial
events correlate with
earthly events and human
affairs
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Stars that appear close in the sky may not
actually be close in space
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Star Charts and Star
chart worksheet
https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=Rzzxs
oCql2k
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There will be a list coming
around of the constellations
• Please sign up for constellation that has
not been chosen.
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Constellation Myth project
The purpose behind this project is to create
a poster for a constellation that will instruct
others on your chosen constellation.
There are 88 constellations to chose from.
Please pick from one of the IAU
constellations. If your are interested in
constellation from other cultures, this
would be a great extra credit opportunity.
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Constellation Project
Poster requirements
1. Typed report containing scientific requirement
and myth must be displayed on the report
2. Constellation visual-must cut out holes in black
construction paper to represent stars. Hole size
must be representative of the difference sizes of
stars in your constellation
3. Full color artwork of your constellation
incorporated into the mythical figure
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