Week of February 25th

Russian Meteor Flash

 Our Week

Monday:  1.  Check Vocab and Crater Diagram  2.   Check Meteorite Lab  3.   Begin Moon Rock Mini-Projects - due Thursday

Tuesday:  Moon Rock Mini-Projects Cont'd

Wednesday:  1.  Moon Rock Mini-Projects Cont'd  

2.  Quia Quiz over Small Solar System Bodies - due 3/4 - link is below - available Wed.

Small Solar Systems Bodies Quiz 1

Thursday:  Moon Rock Mini-Projects on display in LC - Share Presentations

Friday: Moon Rock Mini-Projects on Display in LC -  Share Presentations

Moon Stuff

Near-Side of the Moon 

 What can you see around the crater on the Moon that are simliar to the impact craters that you made?  Why do we only see one side of the Moon?

Evolution of the Moon

Where did the Moon come from?  

Apollo 11 Landing Site - Man's first steps on the Moon 

Apollo 17 Astronauts arrive at Shorty Crater - last mission to the Moon

Week of February 19th

The Great Russian Meteor of February 15, 2013! 

Below is a link to a video compilation of the car sized space rock that hit near the Ural Mountains in Russia on Friday

Russian Meteor Videos

Below is a link to an amazing video of Asteroid 2012 DA14 passing between the Earth and its orbiting satellites on Friday

Asteroid 2012 DA14

2 Comets Rocketing Around the Solar System!

The picture above is of 2 comets streaking through the southern hemisphere skies.  Comet Lemmon is the green comet to the left and Comet PanStarrs is the white bright oval behind it.  Both comets are getting brighter will be able to be seen in the northern skies in the coming months.  Also pictured is the Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy - what type? And - in the very front on the bottom right is a Globular Cluster - not quite a galaxy, but a large grouping of stars - old or young? How can you tell?

OUR WEEK - Plus

Tuesday-Wednesday:  1.  Finish Impact Crater Lab - finish questions for homework - due Wednesday beginning of class

 2. Vocabulary and Crater Diagram checked Thursday 

 3.  Meteorite and Lunar Observations checked Thursday

Here is the link to the Astronomy PBIS Online Textbook

Astronomy Online Textbook Link

Thursday and Monday:  1.  Meteorite Classification Lab - finish for homework - due beginning of class Monday

Week of February 11th

The picture above is an image of an asteroid  (space rocks baseball-sized or larger),  streaking past the Earth -  taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1998.  Many tons of space dust,(meteoroids), hit the Earth's atmosphere each day; baseball-sized space rocks burn up in the atmosphere each day - they look like the blue-streak pictured above - we call them meteors.  Every 1,000 years a space rock, about 100 km across, hits the Earth causing huge global consequences - we call these meteorites.  Every 1 million years or so, a space rock hits the Earth that seems to change everything!

 

 Our Week

Monday:  1.  Check/discuss Telescope Project reviews 2.  Finish Orion Act. together 3.  Video: "Stopping Armageddon" - video notes' sheet due Tuesday

Tuesday:  1.  Finish video - if needed  2.  "Tennis-Ball Derby" - data sheet checked Wed.

Have a look at some of the craters left behind by large meteorites that have hit the Earth! 

Terrestrial Meteorite Craters Database 

Wednesday:  1.  Finish Tennis Ball Derby - discuss findings  

2. Read/go over    p. 13-14 and p. 18-20 in PBIS Astro.  3.  Work on Crater Lab Design - due Friday (tentatively)

Thursday:  Crater Lab

Friday:  Crater Lab 

Questions of the Week

Pictured above is a picture of a meteor shower from 100 years ago!  Hasn't technology come a long way!  What constellation do you see in the top left???  

Saturn's small moon Mimas with a huge crater! 

Asteroid Vesta - one of the largest space rocks - located in the Asteroid Belt - between the planets of Mars and Jupiter.  What has happened to Vesta as it as been floating around the Sun?

Pictured above is technology called a Gravitational Tractor - this is a proposed idea for redirecting an asteroid that may be heading for the Earth to shake us up a little too much.  How do you think this would work?

 Where is the best place to look for meteorites?

Week of February 4th

This image, take by the Herschel Space Telescope, is the massive Andromeda Galaxy seen in infrared.  Notice how clear the spiral arms look compared to the image of the galaxy in visible light below.

Our Week

Monday:  1.  Finish Tools of Astro. Activity - go over in class 

 2.  Work on Telescope Digital Project - due on Thursday posted in dropbox on Schoology

Tuesday-Thursday:  1.  Orion Night Sky Viewing Activity due Wed. 2.  Work on Telescope Project

Friday: 5 telescope project reviews due - complete handout and turn in

Questions of the Week

On January 30th, NASA launched its newest communications satellite - seen heading to space in an Atlas rocket.  Besides communications, what are some other ways in which we use satellites?

Pictured above is the beautiful, but very cloudy, Orion Nebula.   This nebula is an amazing stellar nursery.  This picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope - what type of electromagnetic radiation is the image in?