8-2 Science/Week of Jan. 30th

CURRENT SCIENCE

Our Big Blue Marble!

This is the most detailed picture ever taken of our wonderful planet!  A satellite orbited the Earth 4 times snapping pictures in order to get such an amazing high definition image.

Upcoming

Just how does the Moon affect the Earth? 

The Week

Monday: 1. Practice OAA Test

Tuesday:  1. "The Earth's Tides" 2. Begin Tides Graphing Project - due Friday  3.  Bay of Fundy Tides' Homework due Friday

Tides Homework Link

Wednesday:  Continue work on Tides' Graphing

Thursday: Finish Tides's Graphing

Friday: Analysis of Tides' Project

Future:  Phases, Eclipses, and Tides Quiz Tuesday, Feb. 7th (tentative)

Question of the Week

Pictured above is the Mars Rover Opportunity - who is currently roving around an ancient impact crater on Mars.  NASA is hoping that the hard-working little rover will survive the Martian Winter.   

• Mars rotates on a 25 degree tilted axis -  once every 24 hours and 39 minutes. This, of course, is very similar to the Earth's rotation.  Mars revolves around the Sun in 686.97 days - almost twice as long as the Earth. 
•  Mars has 4 distinct seasons which are very violent with storms, and temperatures change drastically from -225 degrees F to about 65 degrees F! 
•  Mars does NOT have a large "stabilizing" moon like ours, it has 2 small asteroid moons.  
• Okay, here is the QUESTION!  Come up with at least 2 reasons why Mars has such extreme seasons with drastic temperature variations.