PAPER MACHE' PLANETS and ASTEROIDS PROJECT

USE NEWSPAPER FOR YOUR FOUNDATION. MAKE A TIGHT BALL AND USE MASKING TAPE TO KEEP THE BALL'S SHAPE. DON'T COMPLETELY COVER THE PAPER.

PLACE THE 'PLANET' ON A COATED PAPER PLATE BEFORE APPYLING THE PAPER MACHE' STRIPS.

Dipping the paper strips in glue and wrapping them on the 'planet' is a two person job.

Cover the table with newspapers that you can throw away when finished.

And here's a nifty trick; for the last layer DO NOT dip the paper strip in glue. Put it on dry and it will soak up the excess glue but still be moist enough to form a shape.



HERE ARE SOME OF THE SIZES WE ARE USING FOR OUR PLANETS. USE COATED PAPER CUPS FOR STANDS WHILE THE GLUE IS DRYING. PUT NAMES ON THE PLATES TO KEEP THINGS ORGANIZED. SAVINE SHOWS US TODAY'S WORK.

WE WILL PAINT THEM NEXT WEEK.

THIS METHOD CAN BE USED TO ALSO MAKE ODD-SHAPED ASTEROIDS.

Make an asteroid using one twisted tube and two ball shapes. Tape together

Here's the same asteroid with the paper mache' layer.

LESSON 5: MOONS, MOONS, AND MORE MOONS

We will use our interactive notebook to draw the four main moons of Jupiter. First, let's see a video of these fascinating places.
First, let's compare moons to asteroids. Most asteroids in the Asteroid Belt are the same color but vary in size and shape.
Moons can differ in their surface appearance, their shape, their size, their inner layers, their composition, and their seismic activity. To confuse matters, some moons are captured asteroids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7m-RadV5VI&feature=related

HERE'S A QUICK TOUR OF SOME OF THE LARGER AND MORE UNUSUAL MOONS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM:

IO ~ ONE OF THE FOUR GALILEAN MOONS

GALILEO DISCOVERED THEM IN 1610, BUT THEY ONLY APPEARED AS TINY, BRIGHT DOTS.

CALLISTO ~ ONE OF THE 4 MAIN MOONS OF JUPITER

EUROPA ~ PERHAPS THERE IS AN OCEAN UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE

GANYMEDE ~ DO SOME RESEARCH AND SEE IF THIS MOON IS LARGER THAN MERCURY. IT'S THE LARGEST IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.

A FEW OTHER MOONS

PHOEBE

ENCELADUS ~ PROBABLY MY FAVORITE MOON!

ARIEL

HYPERION

TRITON

GALATEA

THE FOUR GALILEAN MOONS AS SEEN FROM EARTH. YOU CAN SEE THEM WITH BINOCULARS. THIS IMAGE IS FROM AN EXCELLENT TELESCOPE.

A FEW QUESTIONS:

HOW DID WE GET SUCH WONDERFUL IMAGES OF THESE MOONS?

HOW DOES OUR MOON COMPARE?

HAVE ALL THE MOONS BEEN DISCOVERED?

WILL WE SEND PEOPLE OR SPACECRAFT TO SOME OF THESE MOONS?

RESEARCH TOPICS ANNOUNCED (updated EACH DAY THIS WEEK)

We are picking our areas of research this week for the Astronomy & Space Unit.
I will add to the list as the week progresses. Today I am posting the first grade list. For first grade, we will complete the writing and project in class, but they may also check out a book from the public library or school library and bring it to class each time. Older students may research their topic at home and bring information to class. Thanks for your help at home. :-) Mr. Petersen
First Grade:.
JN...The Planet Jupiter
SB...The Planet Saturn
CA...The Planet Uranus
KG...The Planet Neptune
JZ....Pluto and other Dwarf Planets

SECOND GRADE:
SWi...All About Rockets
AM...The Earth & the Moon
FP...What are Comets?
AB...All About Saturn
SWa...The Sun
JT...All About Jupiter
KS...All About Uranus
ME...How to Become an Astronaut
IV...What Are Galaxies?
DW...All About Mars
AH...All About Stars
JW...All About Neptune
JT...The Apollo Program
THIRD GRADE:
CZ...Venus
SG...Galaxies
CS...Mars Base
HP...Novae & Supernovae
EW...Nebulae
MK...NEOs (Near Earth Objects)
BL...Comets & Missions to Comets
MM...Jupiter & Missions to its Moons
NM...The Moon
JP...The Sun, Solar Storms, & X Flares
JL...Almost All About Stars

FIFTH GRADE:  (Some fifth graders are working in teams of two)
BA...The Ten Largest Stars
EB...A Visit to Seven Galaxies
ZB...Great APPS for Space
GF...Ten Nebulae That Will Astound You
MG...Unusual Space Objects
GK...Black Holes
KM...A Tour of the Moons in Our Solar System
NM...Comparing Nebulae & Supernovae
CN...Designing the First Moon Base
MP...The Ten Largest Stars
AR...Comparing Nebulae and Supernovae
ST...What are Nebulae?
JT...Designing the First Moon Base
KW...Unusual Space Objects
EW...X Flares and Other Solar Storms

Fourth Grade:
NY...The Sun
PA...Black Holes
ZS...What are Novae and Supernovae?
SH...Designing the First Base on Mars
PW...The Four Main Moons of Jupiter
GW...GRAILLE
AR...The Hubble Space Telescope
GH...The Asteroid Belt
CC...Pluto and the Dwarf Planets
RC...What's the Difference Between Comets and Asteroids?
AL...The Moon
JV...Satellites Around Earth
JM...Building the International Space Station

STAR GAZER RESULTS

We finished our 12 constellations and had some extra circles left to make a few new galaxies and star clusters. Thanks to fifth grader KW for the idea! :-)

Spiral Galaxy or Star Cluster? I aimed the camera down the Pringles can to see what would show up. Cool!

Another one! Terrific work!

Hmmm?

That's a new one I've not seen in the star charts yet. It's an interesting star cluster. Do you think it contains a planet with intelligent life? I'm sure it must!

Thanks for visiting. :-)

COPERNICUS AND GALILEO

Around 1514, Copernicus was the first to:

A. look up and see stars in a city

B. arrive at the idea that stars could be measured in light years

C. write star charts using a telescope

D. claim that the sun was the center of the Solar System, not the Earth

In the 1600s Galileo had invented some of the best:

A. globes

B. telescopes

C. hot air balloons

D. charts to see the Andromeda galaxy

WEEK 4: OUR NEAREST NEIGHBORS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

This week we will talk about not only the planets Venus and Mars, but a whole host of other 'things' that share our part of the Solar System and are close enough for missions in the past and the future. It's a fascinating topic and you could spend HOURS just thinking about all the places we could send spacecraft.
Let's start with EARTH'S FIRST TROJAN ASTEROID discovered last year.
Don't worry, it will never hit the Earth. It's in a strange gravitational part of our orbit called a Lagrange Point.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=103550791

PART 1: VENUS vs MARS

Venus has an atmosphere, has about the same gravity, and is not that far from our planet. Yet, we could really never send people there to explore the surface. Why?

Give 5 reasons.

JAXA, the Japanese Space Program (yes, we're not the only ones!) have studied this planet extensively. Here's one of their orbital spacecraft.

Mars is our other planetary neighbor. Unlike Venus, Mars has great potential for manned flights in the future. It's cold and dusty, but nothing like Venus. The atmosphere is thin and we're not sure where to find water, so be sure and take air and water along for the trip.

It will take 3 months (not weeks) to get there!

What do you think the gravity will be like?

Notice that we've skipped discussing our Moon. That's because we'll spend an entire lesson (next week) just talking about our missions there.

Beyond Mars is the Asteroid Belt, and if you are feeling a bit brave, you could decide to send a spacecraft all the way to the largest member, Ceres. Ceres is about the size of Texas if you wrapped it in a sphere.

Shown above is the best image of Ceres pictured there below the Moon.

Does it have gravity? What do you think?

If you jumped, would you land back on the surface or just float off into space?

So, how many asteroids are out there? Are there any close to Earth?

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ALL THE ASTEROIDS ON ONE MAP?

YIPES! That's a lot. Let's count them.

Trojan asteroids are by far the strangest. They stay well ahead or behind the planet they are near and have a unique orbit. The green lines show this orbit.

NASA keeps up with every asteroid near us in a program that you can see at the JPL website. Asteroids like these are called Near Earth Objects (NEOs).

One turned out to be a piece of a lost spacecraft!

Space junk is an entirely different topic and we'll get to that when we cover satellites.

This giant flying potato is called EROS and we've sent a spacecraft there!

JPL web link:

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/

EIGHT APPS AND COUNTING!

Our classes have searched and found some wonderful APPS for EDUCATION! We are now up to 8 different APPS for our Space Unit. Go take a look at the APPS tab for the latest editions.

Mr. Petersen :-)



Project: Pringles Can Constellation Viewer

This looks hard but it's so much fun.
Illustrated steps:
Teachers: Leave your email in a comment and I'll send you the 4 constellation templates. :-)
From: Mr. Petersen's class ~ Katy, Texas

Tape 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock page around the can.

Use a half sheet to cover the remaining surface.

Label and decorate the tube with an Astronomy theme.

Use a large size push pin to make a starting hole in the center of the metal end. Use a small screw driver to enlarge the hole. This is your viewfinder.

Trace and cut out 12 black circles. These should fit snugly in the lid. Cut out the 12 constellation circles.

Take one off of each stack. You will have a total of 12 constellations. Keep these even after you make the black 'final' copies.

Use a small push pin to make holes. Put the white paper on top of the black and push through both layers. Use the carpet as a cushion. Put everything in your baggie and label the baggie with your name and grade.

Take one of your constellations and put it in the star gazer. Point it toward a strong light and look through the viewfinder. Strong light will make the stars 'twinkle'!

Put your baggie inside the star gazer for storage. Take it home and show your family. BONUS: Learn all 12 by memory before you show your family.

WEEK 3~ CONSTELLATIONS ~ ANCIENT ASTRONOMERS ~ CLASSIFYING STARS

Lesson 1: Ancient Astronomers

Hipparchus was the:

A: first to see galaxies

B. first to make a detailed star chart

C. first to make a telescope that discovered Pluto

D. first to write a book about going into space using rockets

Ptolomy was a Roman citizen who:

A. wrote the oldest existing book on Astronomy complete with star charts and orbits

B. studied only the moon

C. was the first to announce that the Earth revolved around the Sun

D. discovered Neptune in 1856

LESSON 2: FAMOUS CONSTELLATONS

See how many you can identify:

A. Leo the _____________.

B. Pegasus the _______________________.

C. Orion the ____________________.

D. Draco the _________________________.

E. Cygnus the _________________.

F. Gemini the _________________.

G. Cancer the ______________.

H. What was Hercules famous for? _________________

The green lines connect the constellation Orion. In the winter sky, Orion's Belt consists of 3 stars lined up in a row. Betelgeuse is a beautiful red star while Rigel is a bright blue star.

By the way, M43 and M 42 are very special, but they are not single stars.

This is the flag of Alaska. What group of stars to do you see?

Lesson 3: Classification of Stars

We will discuss this chart in detail.

Movie: We will watch part I of "Journey to the Stars" from the Museum of Natural History next week. Stay tuned.

ACTIVITY:

Payloads for Helium Balloons

Experiment. Use helium balloons and paperclips to find out the payload for your balloon. Predict how many paperclips your balloon can lift. The concept of exact measurements for rocket payloads is an integral part of NASA's engineering department.

Why do you think this is so important to calculate?

Attach one large paperclip to the balloon string. Open it slightly so that it will hold the payload.

Now add large paperclips one at a time and check to see if the balloon will float.

After you have reached your maximum large paperclip limit, switch to small paperclips. Continue the experiment.

NASA wants to get every gram of weight they can on each rocket payload.

Now use a small bit of blue tacky and add this to your last paperclip.

Record your results on the Experiment Data Page.

Now look at all the Data Pages together.

Are all of the payloads the same?

Can you give 2 reasons why the results turned out they way they did?





GRAIL MISSION LAUNCHED ON SATURDAY MORNING!

GRAIL launched successfully on September 10th and is on it's way to the moon. GRAIL will survey  the moon's gravity using two specialized satellites. The mission is unmanned.

LAUNCH IS NOW ON YOUTUBE in case you missed it! AWESOME FOOTAGE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKd4hK9AU9w

POST LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH SECOND VIEW OF  BLASTOFF!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ1ToQxCYno&NR=1


EARLIER LINK:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/grail/launch/index.html

WEEK 2~ THE SUN AND THE STARS (PART 1)

                                                         (drawing by NM 3rd grade)

NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN, EVEN WITH SUNGLASSES! A VERY FAMOUS ASTRONOMER WENT BLIND BY STUDYING THE SUN AND TRYING TO VIEW IT THROUGH MIRRORS! DON'T DO IT!

Questions to answer:

1. Is the sun simply a giant ball of hot gases?  Or does it have layers and other features?

2. Does NASA have an orbiting spacecraft around the sun?

3. Why should we study the sun? What do sunspots, solar flares, and solar prominences look like?

4. Is our sun large or small compared to other stars?

5. What are galaxies? How many stars make up a galaxy?

Lesson 1: Images

Our Sun

Parts of the Sun

(For your interactive notebook)

An illustration of the structure of the Sun:
1. Core
2. Radiative zone
3. Convective zone
4. Photosphere
5. Chromosphere
6. Corona
7. Sunspot
8. Granules
9. Prominence

Photographers and Astronomers can capture some of the intracacies of the sun during a total eclipse or with a special filter and lenses (image by Luc Viatour)

Do you know what the white halo is called?

Our study of the sun continues. We need exact measurements of the sun's light in order to find planets around distant stars. This machine is called a light laser. What does it use to split light?

PART 2: OTHER STARS

Stars emit different colors. We can see yellow, blue, red, orange, and of course white stars.

On a clear night you would need to 'watch' a star for some time before it has a color. Rigel is one of the blue stars we can see. Some stars have names. Others have numbers.

Stars continue to form. This dramatic scene was taken by the telescopes at the European Southern Observatory. Try and count the stars in the photo!

Part 3: Constellations and Star Fields

From early times, many cultures have put the stars together and made patterns. Many of these are still famous and we continue the tradition of using these names. These star patterns are called constellations. The International Astronomical Union recognizes 88 constellations. This beautiful star chart dates from earlier times. What can you see?

SOHO

SOHO has been sending back early warning signals to Earth since the 1990s. This spacecraft is in a very unusual part of space. It is 1 AU from the Earth and 92 AU from the sun. This is the location of an invisible part of space where Earth's gravity and the Sun's gravity are equal. 

Projects....Making a Straw Rocket

Cut out and decorate all 3 parts from the NASA handout. Put your initials on one portion.

Roll the body of the rocket lengthwise around a pencil and tape in place.

Tape the fins and bend the fins in a plus sign formation.

Twist or pinch the top of the rocket and tape shut to form a 'nose'. The rocket body and nose must be airtight for good flights. Three pieces of tape along the body should be enough.

Bend the straw at the elbow for a proper angle. Do not point the rocket at other people.

A good rocket should fly at least 2 meters (about 6 feet).

Try it at different angles and record your results, both good and bad.

Use the tape marks on the carpet to determine the length of your flights.

PERSONAL LEARNING DEVICE:

We had two apps on view today. One took us on a tour of the Milky Way with animated orbits of the planets. The other located constellations in the night sky by pointing it at a direction overhead. Thanks to HP and MM for sharing. :-)

Mr. Petersen/ :-)