Transcript The Sky Above

The Sky Above
Audrey Hylton
Clouds
• High-Level Clouds
Cloud types include: cirrus and cirrostratus.
• Mid-Level Clouds
Cloud types include: altocumulus, altostratus.
• Low-Level Clouds
Cloud types include: nimbostratus and stratocumulus.
• Clouds with Vertical Development
Cloud types include: fair weather cumulus and cumulonimbus.
• Other Cloud Types
Cloud types include: contrails, billow clouds, mammatus,
orographic and pileus clouds.
Weather
There are many, many types of weather:
acid rain, aftershock, air pollution, arctic wind, atomic dust,
avalanche, ball lightning, balmy, beastly, bitter, brisk,
black ice, blizzard, blue skies, bluster, bolt of lightning,
breeze, brisk, calm, chill, wind, clear sky, cloud burst,
cloudless, clouds, cold front, cold spell, cold wave, comet,
continuous drizzle, continuous rain, continuous snow, cool,
cycloned, down pour, draft, drizzled, dry dust devil dust,
storm, earthquake, eclipse, electrical storm, erosion,
eruption, eye of hurricane, fair, fall, falling star, flash flood,
fog, freeze, gust, hail, shower, haze, heat wave, driving
snow, thunderstorm, hot spell, howling wind, humid,
hurricane, ice storm, Indian summer, lightning, shower,
sleet, driving whiteout, wind, windstorm, winter.
The Atmosphere
• The earth's atmosphere is a very thin layer wrapped around
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a very large planet.
Two gases make up the bulk of the earth's atmosphere:
nitrogen, which comprises 78% of the atmosphere, and
oxygen, which accounts for 21%. Various trace gases make
up the remainder.
Based on temperature, the atmosphere is divided into four
layers: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and
thermosphere.
Energy is transferred between the earth's surface and the
atmosphere via conduction, convection, and radiation.
The Moon
The Moon, of course, has been known since
prehistoric times. It is the second brightest
object in the sky after the Sun. As the
Moon orbits around the Earth once per
month, the angle between the Earth, the
Moon and the Sun changes; we see this as
the cycle of the Moon's phases.
The Sun
The Sun is the most prominent feature in our
solar system. It is the largest object and
contains approximately 98% of the total
solar system mass. One hundred and nine
Earths would be required to fit across the
Sun's disk, and its interior could hold over
1.3 million Earths. The Sun's outer visible
layer is called the photosphere and has a
temperature of 6,000°C (11,000°F).
Comets
Comets are sometimes called dirty snowballs
or "icy mud balls". They are a mixture of
ices (both water and frozen gases) and dust
that for some reason didn't get incorporated
into planets when the solar system was
formed. This makes them very interesting
as samples of the early history of the solar
system.
Planets
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Stars
A star (such as the Sun)
is a ball of gas which has, at its heart, a nuclear
fusion reactor.
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/
http://www.maa.mhn.de/StarDate/starindex1.html