During our astronomy expedition this year, the Centaur class

decided to create a new version of an Alphabet of Astronomy book that

was written nine years ago in the Stargazer Class. While creating this
updated version, we learned that there have been some amazing new
discoveries and explorations in astronomy over the past decade. Every
student played a vital role in creating the Astronomical Alphabet Book.

Students spent many hours researching their topics to ensure
that their pages were accurate and up to date. We traveled to our local
planetarium several times to get some “hands-on” experience and talk
to local astronomy and astrophysics experts.

In addition to writing the book, students also focused on our
solar system as they built actual models of every planet and our sun
with their art teacher, Megan Goldberg. These planets will be displayed
on campus to demonstrate the relative size of our solar system.

Please enjoy reading this book. Hopefully you will have as much
fun learning about astronomy as we did.
 Astronauts Grace Sandoval
Astronauts are people who go up to space and
explore space. They also do lots of research on
space. They launch rockets and telescopes into
space and send rovers to Mars. Astronauts have
taken a trip to the moon and launched a monkey in
a space ship. The monkey’s name was Ham.

Vocabulary

Cool Facts astronaut: A person trained to serve as a

1. The first thing launched in space was
a fruit fly.
2. The first animal in orbit was a dog
from Russia; his name was Laika.
3. Astronauts can grow
taller in space, up to 2 inches.
4. Sometimes when astronauts are
eating, their food will float around as lunar module: The spacecraft used in Apollo
there is no gravity.
member of the crew of a spacecraft.
gravity: The force that pulls things down toward
the earth’s surface.
space shuttle: A space vehicle designed to carry
astronauts back and forth between earth and an
orbiting space station.
cosmonaut: A Russian or Soviet astronaut.
missions that landed on the surface of the moon.

spacesuit: A protective suit that allows an

History astronaut to move about freely in outer space.

• In 1942, the German V2 was the first space station: A large satellite that can hold a
rocket to reach 100 km from the crew.
Earth’s surface.

• In 1947, the first animal in space was

a fruit fly.

• In 1949, Albert the 2nd was the first

monkey in space.

• In November 1957, the Russian

space dog, Laika, became the first
animal to orbit earth.

• The first woman in space was Russian

cosmonaut Valentina Teresh Kovia
 Black Holes Christopher Plauth
Black holes are a place in space with such a strong gravitational pull that
they suck in anything that comes too close – it is like a whirlpool. Also, noth-
ing can escape not even light. When black holes are part of a binary star
system they can be detected indirectly, otherwise they cannot be seen in
the darkness of space. Black holes are far away from our solar system. A
black hole is formed when a large star starts running out of fuel and begins
to collapse under its own gravity. It is now thought that most galaxies are
held together by super massive black holes at their centers.

Cool Facts
1. If a person was able to survive
long enough to describe falling
into a black hole, he would at first
experience weightlessness as he
goes into a free fall, but then
feel intense “tidal”
gravitational forces as he got
closer to the center of the black
hole. If a person’s feet were
closer to the center of a
black hole than his head, then
he would feel a stronger pull
until he is eventually stretched
and then ripped apart.
2. A black hole’s gravitational field
is the same as that of any other
object in space of the same
mass.
3. There is a binary star that is
called Cygnus X-1. It was the
first object to be considered a
black hole.
History
Vocabulary
• In 1916 German
binary star: contains physicist Karl
two stars that orbit Schwarzschild worked
around their common out theories that led to
center of mass. the idea of black holes.
quasar: super massive • John Michel (1783) and
Pierre Simon Laplace
black holes. They are
(1796) were the first
the brightest objects
in our universe. people to propose the
concept of dark stars.
galaxy: a group of a
vast number of stars, • An important scientist
gas and dust held who learned about black
together by gravity. holes is named Charles
W. ThomasBolton.
nebula: a large cloud
of dust and gas in
space.
supernova: A massive star
star: huge spinning
that has exploded and which
very hot and luminous
is briefly up to a million times
gas spheres that
brighter than usual.
generate energy
by nuclear reactions.
solar system: The sun and
all the bodies that orbit
universe: everything
around it.
that exists: all the
galaxies, stars and
luminosity: the total amount
planets, and the space
of energy emitted in one
in between and all
second by a star.
things on Earth.

Vocabulary
myth: A traditional or
legendary story.
minor: Lesser, as in size,
extent, or importance, or
being or noting the lesser of
two.
major: One of superior rank.
degree: A 360th part of the
circumference of a circle.
constellation: Any of 88
named groups of stars
forming patterns.
sun: A heavenly body in our
solar system whose light
makes our day and around
which the planets revolve.
pattern: The form or figure
used in decoration.
Constellations Deedee Jansen
Constellations are like pictures. You can find many differ-
ent constellations in the night sky. Constellations are made of
stars. Constellations come from stories. These stories come
from Greek myths like Ursa Major, the bear who got chased
into the sky. There are many stars in our night sky, but not all
help make constellations.
Cool Facts
1. There are Chinese, Greek, and Egyptian constellations.
48 constellations were discovered by Ptolemy in 100 A.D.
2. There are 88 constellations named by the International
Astronomical Union since 1922.
3. Constellations are patterns in the sky. There is no
actual link between stars.
4. Constellations are named after Greek myths but are
from Latin names.
5. The brightest star in a constellation is called alpha and
the next brightest is beta, and so on.
6. Southern hemisphere constellations are different than
the northern ones.
History
• In 400 B.C the first recorded
constellations were made by Cnidus.
After Cnidus, Ptolemy recorded
more constellations.
• 30 constellations are thousands
of years old.
• The oldest list of stars and constellations has a longer
history that goes into the Gold and the Bronze Ages. These were
made by old Babylonian astronomers.
• In 1922, International Astronomical Union recognized 88
constellations. These were based on the 48 listed by Ptolemy in
100 AD.

Cool Facts
1. Pioneer 10 was the first
satellite to see Pluto and its
moon, Charon.
2. Ceres is the largest
object in the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter.
3. Haumea is the shape of a
cigar.
4. Pluto’s average
temperature is a mere 44
Kelvin degrees, which is
-380.47 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Eris is the largest of the
dwarf planets.
6. Pluto revolves around the
Sun in an orbit that is not
exactly like the rest of the
planets.
7. Pluto is named after the
Roman god of the Under-
world. Ceres is the Roman
goddess of crops. Eris is the
Greek goddess of
Chaos. Haumea is the
goddess of Hawaii. Make-
make is a god of the Rapunui
people of Easter Island.
Dwarf Planets Devi Holdsworth
A dwarf planet is a celestial body that orbits the Sun. A dwarf
planet is made of ice and rock. They have lots of craters because
many asteroids hit them. Although a dwarf planet orbits the Sun
and it is round, it’s not a planet. The International Astronomical
Union (IAU) defines a dwarf planet as a celestial body orbiting a
star that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, but
has not cleared its neighboring region of planetismals, and is not
a satellite.
History
• In 1930 Pluto was discovered.
• From 1930 to 2006 Pluto was a planet in our solar system.
In 2006, it was called a dwarf planet.
• As of 2008 there are 5 recognized dwarf planets: Pluto,
Ceres, Eris, Makemake and Haumea.
• Haumea was discovered in 2004 and named a dwarf in 2008.
• Makemake was discovered in 2005.
• Ceres was called an asteroid until 2006.
Vocabulary
dwarf planet: A celestial body orbiting a star that is massive
enough to be rounded by its own gravity, but has not cleared its
neighboring region of planetismals, and is not a satellite.
celestial: Positioned in, or relating to the sky, or outer space as
observed in astronomy. Belonging or relating to heaven.
gravity: The natural force that causes smaller objects to move
toward the center of our earth.
planetisimal: Any of numerous small celestial bodies that may have
existed at an early stage of the development of the solar system.
satellite: A heavenly body that travels in an orbit around a larger
heavenly body. An object launched by a rocket in to an orbit to
study Earth or another heavenly body.
Equinox and Eclipse
Megan Sarkissian
An equinox is when there is an equal amount of day and
night. There is an equinox every season. The autumnal (fall)
equinox is September 22nd. The spring equinox is March
21st.

An eclipse is when either the moon is in between the

earth and the sun or the earth is in between the moon
and the sun. During the Lunar Eclipse, the earth is in
between the moon and the sun. During the Solar Eclipse,
the moon is in between the sun and the earth.

Vocabulary
moon: The earth’s natural satellite, orbiting
the earth.

earth: The planet that’s third in order from

the sun.

sun:The star that is the central body of our

solar system.
History
equal: Evenly proportioned or balanced.
• 280 BC is when the equinox was
discovered by Aristarchus of
day: The time between sunrise and sunset.
Samos.
• 190 BC is when the eclipse was
night: The period of darkness between
discovered by Hipparchus of
sunset and sunrise.
Rhodes.
lunar: Of or related to the moon.

Cool Facts season: The four equal divisions of the year.

1. The Solar Eclipse is a huge event! solar: Of or relating to the sun.

2. Equinox stands for “equal night.”
3. In the Lunar Eclipse, the sun looks red! moon: The earth’s natural satellite, orbiting
4. March 21st is the spring equinox. the earth.
5. September 22nd is the fall equinox.
 Fireworks: RocketsDeedee Jansen and Alexandra Benitez
Fireworks are the “pre-rockets.” They started the invention of
rockets. Rockets launch satellites and shuttles. Some rockets even
hold people. A rocket is a metal container run by fuel. Rockets can fly
and leave Earth’s atmosphere.

Vocabulary
launch: to throw or to propel into the air.

satellites: a body that is in orbit of a planet.

orbit: the path of a celestial body or artificial

History
satellites as it travels around another body.
• In 1232, B.C. Chinese first
spark: a glowing throwing off or leftover of a
used gun powder for rockets.
fire.
• Rockets were discovered by the
charcoal: wood, and sometimes other organic
ancient Chinese 2,000 yrs. ago.
materials, that have been cooked thoroughly,
but not reduced to ash or the point of
• The first recorded fireworks were
disintegration.
at the wedding of King Henry 7th
in 1486.

• The first space shuttle, Columbia,

was sent into orbit by the United
States in April, 1981.

Cool Facts
1. The largest fireworks rocket is 13kg.
2. The word for firework in Japanese is
“hanabi,” which actually means “fire flower.”
3. A string of firecrackers went on lasting for
22 hours on New Year’s in 1996.
4. Rockets work by burning fuel. As fuel
burns and swells out behind, the swelling
pushes the rocket forward.
5. Solid-fuel rockets are the oldest of all
engines, used by the Chinese a thousand
years ago.
6. One of the first rocket devices was a
wooden bird.
Galaxies
Tom Pete Clark
A galaxy is a group of stars and dust held together by
gravity. At the center is a super massive black hole that
got clogged up billions of years ago. It still has enough
gravity to hold in billions of stars and is constantly getting
lighter. A black hole has so much energy that it can shoot
out nuclear radiation. Our solar system is in the Milky Way
galaxy.
Cool Facts
1. The word galaxy derives from
Greek term, galaxias, which
means “milky one.”

2. The universe contains billions of

galaxies.

3. There is a monstrous black hole that is so big that

it can suck in ten stars at once in the center of the
Milky Way galaxy.

4. Galaxies can “eat” other galaxies. They can pull in

other galaxies and become one galaxy.
History
5. Some galaxies stick together like glue.
• In 450-370 BC the Greek
philosopher Democritus said
that the bright band on the
night sky known as the Milky
Way might consist of distant Vocabulary
stars.
• In the 10th century, Persian black hole: A region of space and time where intense
astronomer Al-Sufi made the gravity stops anything from escaping.
earliest recorded
observation of the star: A massive luminous sphere of plasma held together by
Andromeda Galaxy. He gravity.
described it as a “small
cloud.” gravity: A force which tries to pull two objects together.
• In 1610 Galileo Galilei
discovered a ring around us. light year: The distance that light travels in one year.
He figured out it was dust
from our galaxy the Milky spiral galaxy: The stars, gas, and dust are gathered in
Way. Galileo used a telescope spiral arms that spread from the center.
to study the Milky Way and
discovered that it was elliptical galaxy: Galaxies shaped like ellipses.
actually a huge number of
faint stars. irregular galaxy: Galaxies that have no particular shape.
Hubble Space Telescope Blaze Morgan
The Hubble telescope is a telescope that takes pictures of Nebulae,
the Earth, planets and galaxies. It’s also a satellite. The Hubble Space
Telescope is a special telescope that orbits the earth. The Hubble
Space Telescope is not only a powerful telescope, but it also carries
cameras which allows scientists on earth to see objects billions of
light years away.

Cool Facts
1. The Hubble telescope has taken thousands of photos of things in
space.
2. The Hubble telescope was launched in 1990.
3. Hubble telescope has found a galaxy 13.2 billion light years away.
4. Hubble telescope can transmit pictures of distant objects never
seen before.
5. They might send other telescopes like the Hubble into space in
the future.

History
• In 1946, Lyman Spitzer
got the idea of building the
Hubble Space Telescope.
• In 1969, they started to
build the Hubble Space
Telescope.
• They launched the
Hubble Space Telescope at
the Kennedy space Center
in Florida on April 24th,
1990.
Vocabulary
telescope: A device that uses an arrangement
of lenses.
photovoltaic: A field of semiconductor
technology involving the direct conversion of
electromagnetic radiation, as sunlight, into
electricity.
mirrors: A surface that is able to reflect light.

antenna: A pair of thin movable organs on the

head of bugs and machines.

observatory: A place or structure that

provides an extensive view.

optical telescope: Astronomical telescopes

designed to collect and record light from
cosmic sources.
International Space
Station and Io
Alia Carr, Blaze Morgan, and Ilora Degreff
The International Space Station was built in 1998.The ISS is
orbiting in space about 220 miles from earth. They finished building
the ISS in 2012. The International Space Station can be shortened
to the ISS.

Io is covered in craters, it is orange and yellow. Io is Jupiter’s

4th moon. Io is made of silicate rock surrounding a molten iron or
iron sulfide core. Most of Io’s surface is characterized by
extensive plains coated with sulfur dioxide frost.

Cool Facts
1. Io is the 3rd largest moon of
Jupiter.
2. Io is the most volcanically active
body in the
solar system.
3. Io is made of silicate rock
surrounding a molten iron sulfide
core.
4. Io is 390,400,000 miles from
earth.
5. The ISS is, by far, the largest
space craft to be ever built and
assembled in space.
6. Astronauts working at the ISS
have taken more than 200,000
photographs of the earth.
7. The ISS is made of capsules
that were launched in space by
rockets.
Vocabulary
laboratory: A room or a building that contains
special equipment for doing semiconductor scientific
experiments.
photovoltaic: A field involving the direct conversion
into electromagnetic radiation, as sunlight, into
electricity.
radiators: A device for heating air, as in an
automobile engine.
crater: A hollow area shaped like a bowl at the mouth
of a volcano or geyser also caused by meteors.
iron sulfide: A compound formed by iron and sulphur.
sulfur: A nonmetallic element or a flammable yellow
solid.

History
• In 1610, Galileo discovered Io.
• In 1998, they started to build
the ISS and in 2012, they
finished the ISS.
• The ISS is 220 miles (354 km)
from Earth.
• ISS was built by Russia, USA,
Japan, Europe, Canada and Brazil.
 Jewel Box and Janus
Skylar Bixby
The Jewel Box is a very rare open stellar cluster that has 100 stars
and there are actually five Blue Supergiant stars. Supergiant stars
are huge stars surrounded by many blue dwarfs. There is one Red
Supergiant named Kappa Crucis that stands out from the rest.
Janus is one of the 31 moons of Saturn and gives off light due to the
reflection from the sun off of the ice on the surface of the moon. Janus
has very deep craters.

Cool Facts
1. Janus shares an orbit with
Epimethus, another moon of Saturn.
Every four years they approach each
other and switch orbits.
2. Kappa Crucis is the only Red Super-
giant in the Jewel Box star cluster.
3. The Jewel Box is the youngest known
star cluster in the Milky Way with
an age of 14 million years old. That is
younger than our solar system!

History
• The Jewel Box stellar cluster was
discovered by Nicholas Lois in 1751. Vocabulary
• Janus was discovered and named in
1966 by Aduoin Dolfus. crater: A hollow area shaped like a bowl and
• In 1834 an astronomer named created by a meteor.
Herschel recorded 100 stars in the
Jewel Box star cluster. meteor: A chunk of matter from outer space pulled
in by a planet’s gravity.

moon: A heavenly body that revolves around a

planet.

star cluster: A number of stars held together as

a group by gravitational attraction.

gravity: The force that makes all the objects in

the universe move toward one another.

star: A heavenly body that shines by its own light.

Johannes Kepler
Cyrus Curtis, Kira Zerkel, Sharif Amini
Johannes Kepler was the first person to discover planetary motion. He
had three laws about it. His first two laws came out in the same year, 1609.
His first law was the orbit of every planet is an ellipse around the sun.
Kepler’s second law said a brief object speeds up when it gets closer to the
sun and slows down when it gets farther away from the sun. Then his third
law came out nine years later in 1618. It basically said that if a planet was
twice as far away as the earth is, it will take twice as long as an earth year.
Vocabulary History
• Johannes Kepler was born December 27th, 1571.
ellipse: A closed curve shaped like an
• His first and second laws came out in 1609. His third
egg or oval with both ends alike.
came out in 1618.
• In 1577, Johannes Kepler was taken by his mother to
planet: A heavenly body that’s in an
view a great comet.
orbit around a star such as the sun.
• In 1578, Johannes Kepler started Latin school in Spain.
• Johannes Kepler played a key role in a scientific
star: A heavenly body that shines by
revolution that occurred in the 17th century.
its own light.
• Johannes Kepler witnessed both a comet in 1577, as
well a lunar eclipse in 1580. He died November 15th,
orbit: The path of a heavenly body or
1613.
man-made satellite as it circles around
another body.

focus: A point at which rays of light

come together from which they
appear to be spread apart.

perihelion: The point in the orbit of a

planet, asteroid, or comet at which it
is closest to the sun.

aphelion: The point farthest from the

sun in the orbit of a planet, comet or
artificial satellite.
Cool facts
1. Johannes Kepler had three laws.
2. He was the first to discover planetary motion.
3. Johannes Kepler was also a mathematician.
4. Kepler and Galileo often disagreed on their ideas about
astronomy.
5. NASA honored Kepler by naming a mission after him
which was launched on March 6, 2009. The Kepler
Mission uses a high-tech space telescope to search for
other Earth-like planets.
 Light Years Alexandra Benitez
A light year is very fast. Light travels at about 5,878,625,000,000
miles a year! WOW! Isn’t that fast? A light year was discovered a
very long time ago, in the 1600’s by Olaus Roemer.

Cool Facts
1. Radio telescopes on Earth
have helped astronomers
to detect very distant
objects. The most distant
galaxy seen by astronomers
is at least 6 billion light
Vocabulary years away.
2. Did you know that light is
light: A form of radiant energy that can be perceived by the the fastest thing in the
human eye. It is made up of electromagnetic waves that travel Universe? It travels at the
at a speed of about 186,282 miles per second. speed of 186,282 miles per
second!
3. A light year is the distance
year: The time it takes Earth to make one complete
light travels in one year
revolution around the sun consisting of 365 days, 5 hours, 49
(9.46 trillion km.) Light
minutes, and 12 seconds. In the Gregorian calendar, a year years are used to measure
begins on January 1, ends on December 31, and is divided into distance in astronomy be-
52 weeks and 12 months. cause distances in space
are so big.
star: A celestial body that produces its own light consisting of
mass of gas held together by its fusion in its core.
History
sky: The atmosphere as seen from a given point on Earth’s • In the year 1676 a light
surface. year was discovered by
Olaus Roemer.
• James Bradley said in
1729 that light traveled
100,210 times faster than
the Earth in its orbit.
• In 1769, a transit of
Venus revealed the dis-
tance of Earth from the
sun.
• Together with Bradley’s
figure, the speed of light
was finally calculated.
• The first successful
measurement of the
distance to a star other
than our sun was made by
Friedish Bessel in 1838.
The star was 61 Cygni.

Cool Facts
1. Ten tons of meteors hit Earth
every day. Most of them are the
size of a grain of sand.
2. Most meteors are the size of
dimes.
3. Lots of small meteors hit Earth
every year but most aren’t found
because they hit oceans or un-
populated areas.
4. Over 2,000 meteorite finds have
been made around the world.
5. Most meteors disintegrate when
entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteorites
Meteoroids
and Meteors Manouk Paglayan
Have you ever seen a shooting star? It’s not actually
a star, it’s a meteor. Meteors are little burning rocks in
a planet’s atmosphere trying to hit the planet’s surface.
When one actually hits Earth, it leaves a dent in the
planet’s surface called a crater. When a meteor hits
the surface it is then called a meteorite.
A big crater in Arizona was created by a meteor the
size of a refrigerator, and the crater is almost a mile
wide. Craters are everywhere on the moon because it
doesn’t have an atmosphere to burn meteoroids up.
History
• On April 6, 2011, a NASA scientist discovered
sugar and other related organic material in
two meteorites.

Vocabulary • January 19, 2005, NASA’s Mars rover

meteor: A piece of burning rock in an Opportunity found an iron meteorite on Mars,
atmosphere. the first meteorite of any type identified.

meteoroid: A rock captured by a planet’s

gravity.

meteorite: The remains of a meteor that

fell to Earth.

meteor shower: When a bunch of space junk

comes and burns up in Earth’s atmosphere it
forms a meteor shower.

crater: A dent in Earth from a meteor hit.

disintegrate: To burn up into dust.

atmosphere: The protection a planet uses to

burn meteors.
 Nebula Cyrus Curtis
A nebula is a colorful ball of compressed gasses such as helium,
hydrogen, and plasma. It is a star nursery. There are millions of
nebulae in our universe. They are around 2,000 light years in
diameter. A star is a very important part, because without a star
there wouldn’t be a nebula.

So let me tell you how a nebula works. A star implodes or it goes

supernova, but let’s stick with our subject. Now the star turns
into a nebula, then after a while (millions of years) it turns into a
star again, then keeps on going.

Vocabulary
awesome: To be remarkable or
outstanding.
universe: All matter and energy
and the content considered as a
whole including earth, the galaxies
and the content of endless space
between the galaxies and the
cosmos.
History
• The Orion Nebula was discovered on November 26th, 1610.
• In 1715, Edmund Halley published a list of six nebulae.
• The Lagoon Nebula was discovered in 1747, give or take a
month.
• The well-known Crab Nebula was discovered in 1758.
• Charles Messier listed the Dumbbell Nebula as the first
planetary nebula recorded in 1764.

star: A ball of flaming gasses in

space.

pulsar: A rotating neutron star

that emits radiation, usually radio
waves, in very short and regular
pulses.

nebula: A thinly spread cloud of

interstellar gas or dust or both,
appearing as a bright or dark patch
in the night sky depending on the
way the light that strikes it is
reflected, absorbed, or re-
emitted.

supernova: A massive star that

explodes because its core has col-
lapsed, brightening suddenly and
releasing an enormous burst of
energy.
helium: A very light weight, color-
less, odorless gaseous element. It
has the lowest boiling point of any
substance and is the second most
abundant element in the universe.
Cool Facts
1. You might see a nebula as a star, but they’re not.
2. The word nebula is Latin for “cloud.” The plural of nebula is
nebulae.
3. You might think nebulae are close but they’re not. They are
thousands of light years away.
4. Edwin B. Hubble was the first one to discover a nebula.
5. The first nebula discovered was the crab nebula.
Ozone Layer
and Oort Cloud
Christopher Plauth and John Ronel
The ozone layer is in our atmosphere. You would never think
this, but the ozone layer protects us from the ultraviolet rays
(UV for short), which come from the sun. The ozone layer is
like a bubble. The UV rays shoot from the sun and bounce
off this layer. If we did not have the ozone layer, then a lot
of people would get harmed from the UV rays. It is icy cold
inside the ozone layer.
An Oort cloud is a ton of icy bodies that orbit the sun at a
distance of 2 trillion to 19 trillion miles away. It is the source
Cool Facts
1. The ozone molecule, O3 is
of many comets. The comet’s orbits are so long they’ve been
made of three oxygen atoms.
seen only inside the inner solar system once in human history.
2. The ozone molecule and
ozone layer prevent most
History ultraviolet and other high
• In 1937, Jan H. Oort looked through his telescope and energy radiation from
thought he saw a cloud. However, it was not just a cloud, so penetrating to earth’s surface.
he spent thirteen years trying to find out what the cloud 3. Astronomers believe that the
was. elliptical orbit for an Oort
• In 1950, Jan H. Oort named the cloud the Oort cloud. cloud takes 10,500 years to
• In 1989, the ozone molecule was discovered by Joseph complete its orbit.
Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin. 4. The Oort cloud can get down
• In 1987, the leading industrial countries agreed to phase to –347 degrees Fahrenheit.
out chemicals that are making holes in the ozone layer. That is almost colder than
• Every year we are losing more and more of the ozone layer, Neptune. Wow, right?
especially near the poles. 5. The spherical Oort cloud is a
disc shape like a CD.
6. There are small holes in the
ozone near the Arctic and
Vocabulary Antarctic Oceans.

cule: A poisonous,
unstable form of
oxygen that’s made
of three atoms. hypothesis: A statement that
appears to explain a set of facts
cloud: A visible and that can become the basis
mass of particles for a scientific experiment.
considered vapor
(as ice) suspended atom: One of the minute
in the atmosphere invisible particles of which,
of a planet (as the according to ancient materialism,
earth or moon). the universe is composed.
 Pluto and Polaris Leo Stewart and Skylar Bixby

Pluto is a dwarf planet beyond Neptune and was discovered in 1930 by Clyde
Tombaugh. In 1905, an astronomer noticed something disturbing Neptune’s orbit. He
believed the gravity of a ninth planet – Planet X – was causing it. On February 18, 1930
Tombaugh found it in two pictures of the same patch of the night sky he was
comparing, and saw an object not moving with the stars. He was the discoverer of the
present day Pluto and also discovered a number of other heavenly bodies. In 2006,
Pluto became another dwarf planet with the 4 others.
Polaris is known as the North Star. If you’re outside at night, look up and look for
the constellation Little Dipper, then look at the handle and look at the end of it. That’s
the North Star. So, if you walk in that direction you would be walking north. Polaris
stands almost motionless but all the other stars go around it. Polaris has always been
very important to sailors because when they see it they know which way to go.

Vocabulary Cool Facts

planet: A body in space
revolving around a star.
dwarf planet: A dwarf planet
is an object that orbits the
sun, is large enough for gravity
to force it into a sphere, and is
not a moon.
Kuiper Belt: A disk-shaped
region on the edge of the solar
system that contains masses
of ice and icy rock, believed to
be the source of comets.
Little Dipper: The Little
Dipper is a constellation also
known as the Ursa Minor.
celestial sphere: An
imaginary sphere of infinite
radius against which the
celestial bodies appear to be
projected and of which the
apparent dome of the visible
sky forms half.
light pollution: Artificial
skylight (as from a city) that
interferes especially with
astronomical observation.
Big dipper: The group of seven
stars in Ursa Major resembling
a dipper outline.
1. On Pluto, the sun rises one
day and sets the next week.
One month on Pluto would
last 8 weeks!
2. Many astronomers believe if
Pluto was closer to the sun
it would be a comet!
Historical Dates
• 1905; Pluto was believed to be
3. On Pluto the sun rises in the
a planet far beyond Neptune
west and sets in the east.
and was named Planet X by
Pluto spins backwards!
Percival Lowell.
• 1930; Pluto was officially
4. Polaris is the brightest star
discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
in the little dipper.
and was later named Pluto by
an 11 year old girl named
5. Polaris is 430 light years
Venetia Burney Phair.
away.
• 2006; Pluto was renamed
another of the many KBO’s
6. In Egypt they still worship
(Kuiper belt objects) because
Polaris.
it was proved to be smaller
than Mercury and has a odd
7. William Herschel also
elliptical orbit.
discovered Uranus.
• Polaris was named in 1780 by
William Herschel.
8. Ancient Greek navigators
• Anglo-Saxons of the 10th
called Polaris, Kynosoura,
century said that Polaris was
which means “dog tail”.
the Scip-steorra, the
“Ship-star.”
Quasar Sharif Amini
A quasar is a super massive black hole. It pulls
in so much gravity that even light can’t escape.
Quasars are extremely bright masses of energy
and light. They emit radio waves, x-rays, and light
waves. Quasars appear as faint red stars to us here
on earth. A quasar is believed to be a super massive
black hole surrounded by an accretion disk. An
accretion disk is a flat disk of gas that quickly
spirals around a larger object, like a black hole, a
new star, or a white dwarf. A quasar gradually
attracts gas and sometimes other stars or even
small galaxies with its super strong gravity.
History
• The first quasars were discovered with radio
telescopes in the late 1950s. However, many
were recorded only as radio sources with no
visible object.
• Cyril Hazard discovered the first quasars on
August 5th 1962.
• Hong Yee Chiu made up the word quasar in
1964.
• In the 1980s, unidentified models were
developed in which quasars were classified as a
particular kind of active galaxy.
Vocabulary
quasar: A super massive black hole.
black hole: A place in space where
gravity pulls so much that even light
cannot get out.
galaxy: A very large group of stars.
radio: a way of using energy waves to
carry signals between points without
using wires.
source: The person, place or point
from which something comes.
light year: A measure of distance
equal to distance that light travels
through empty space in a year.
Cool Facts
1. Quasars are the most intense
source of light in the universe. They
are smaller than a solar system, but
they glow with the brightness of
100 galaxies.
2. Quasars are the most distant known
objects in our universe. Even the
nearest is billions of light years
away.
3. Quasar is short for quasi-stellar
[star-like] object.
 Sally Ride and Rovers
Devi Holdsworth and Grace Sandoval
Sally Ride was the first American woman to go to space.
In 1983, she was on board the shuttle called Challenger and
launched into space for 6 days. She went to space again in
1984. Sally Ride got interested to go to space because she was
an American scientist and was always interested in astronomy.
Rovers are robots that explore planets because we haven’t
been on Mars yet. We have only gone to the moon. The Mars
rover Curiosity landed on Mars. It’s looking for signs of life.
Rovers are vehicles that have a head, wheels, and a body. It’s a
robot! A space robot! That’s really cool!
Cool Facts about Rovers
1. Curiosity is only expected to travel up
to 3 to 12 miles on the surface of Mars.
Cool Facts about Sally Ride 2. Curiosity computers are less powerful
1. She was the first American lady to go to space. then an iPhone 4s.
2. She was born and died in California. 3. Curiosity was named by a 6th grader.
3. She was the youngest astronaut ever. 4. Curiosity has really powerful eyes.
4. She spent 343 hours in space.
5. In 1985, she was training to go on a third shuttle
when the Challenger disaster occurred.

History of Sally Ride

• She was born in 1951.
• In 1978, she was selected by NASA as an
astronaut candidate.
• On June 18, 1983, she became the first woman
to fly in a space shuttle.
• In 1988, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• From 2003-2007 she was inducted into the
Astronaut Hall of Fame at Kennedy Space
Center, the California Hall of Fame, and the
Aviation Hall of Fame.
• In 2012, she died of cancer.
History of Rovers
• Curiosity was launched in Florida on November
26, 2011.
• Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5, 2012.
• Curiosity won’t come back to earth.
Vocabulary
brave: One who is daring.
adventure: A bold, dangerous or risky
undertaking .
space: The expanse without limits in which
the solar system, stars and galaxies exist.
moon: An object that orbits a planet.
rover: A robot that studies a planet.
solar panel: Devices that convert light into
electricity.
terrain: A tract of land.
microbial life: A microscopic organism that
is either single cell (unicellular) or cell clus-
ters.
Stars Aila Carr
Stars are more than 13 billion years old. They are formed
initially from gas and dust. They are composed mainly of hydrogen
gas and are very hot and give off huge amounts of energy in the
form of heat and light. Our Sun is a medium sized star. Other
stars are very far away from Earth. The closest Star is about
23.5 trillion miles away from earth. Stars go through many stages
in their lifetime. Some of these stages are Red Giant, Planetary
Nebulae, White Dwarf, Neutron and even Black Holes.
Our sun is a type G2 star and it is a yellow star. These
medium-sized stars are yellow because they have a medium
temperature. Super giant stars are the same thing as a giant star
only much bigger. Blue Stars are very hot. These stars often run
out of fuel in only 10,000-100,000 years.

Cool Facts History

1. The closest star (besides our sun) is Proxima
Centauri which is 4.2 light years away.
2. A star is a heavenly body that shines by its own light.
3. Stars are first formed as dust and gas.
4. Most stars are between 1 billon and 10 billon years
old.
5. The oldest star that has been discovered is He 1523-
0901, which is an estimated 13.2 billon years old.
6. The surface temperature of a white dwarf in degrees
Celsius is 500-4200. Giant Dwarfs are 6000-5000
and blue giants are 4000-3000.
• 13.5 billion years ago, the first
stars formed.
• In 400 B.C., the Greek philosopher
Democritus said the band in the
night sky (The Milky Way) was
distant stars.
• In 1610, Galileo Gallilei used a
telescope and saw distant stars in
the Milky Way.
• In 1785, William Herschel wrote
down more than 90,000 stars.

Vocabulary
star: A heavenly body that shines by its own light.

starlight: Light coming from stars.

dwarf: Any of the ordinary main sequence stars,

spectral types O,B,A,F,G,K, and M.

telescope: A device that uses an arrangement of lenses

or mirrors in a long tube to make distant objects appear
closer.

plasma: By far the most common form of matter. Plasma

in the stars and in the space between them makes up
over 99% of the visible universe and perhaps most of
that which is not visible.
 Triton and
Telescopes
John Ronel
Triton is a moon of Neptune and it’s the biggest of Neptune’s
thirteen moons. Triton has ice volcanoes all around the equator of
Triton. The north and south poles are all rock and craters.
A space telescope is made of electricity, glass, metal, mirrors and
other material. The Hubble Space Telescope can see over two hundred
light years into space. Other space telescopes can see at least one
hundred fifty light years. Scientists use computers to navigate the
telescopes and to zoom in or zoom out and see other angles through the
space telescope. That’s pretty cool!

Cool Facts on Triton

1. Triton is more than half the size of Mercury, that’s a really big
moon!
2. Triton has ice volcanoes. When they erupt, nitrogen and black
dust come out and can rise up to five miles high.
3. Triton has ice volcanoes and craters. Scientists believe that
when the meteoroids hit Triton they carried some volcanic
material. Scientists are still trying to figure out how that formed
the ice volcanoes.
4. Triton is -391 degrees Fahrenheit.

History
• In 1608, Hans Lippershey, a
German-Dutch lens maker was • In 2010, the Gran Telescopio
Cool Facts on the first person to ever think Canarias was built in the
Telescopes of the telescope. Canary Islands of Spain. It’s
• In 1609, Italian physicist the largest telescope of our
1. The Hubble Space Galileo built the first telescope. time.
Telescope can see He discovered the fourth
over two hundred largest moon of Jupiter.
light years. • On October 10, 1846 Triton was
2. Sir William Herchel’s discovered by William Lassell.
forty foot reflector • In 1937, American Grote Reber
telescope was created the radio telescope.
completed in 1789. • Until the discovery of the
3. The Hubble Telescope second moon Neried in 1949,
was the first tele- Triton was commonly known
scope to be launched as simply “the satellite of
into space. Neptune.”
• In 1989, Voyager 2 took
pictures of Neptune and Triton.
Umbra and
Ulysses Megan Sarkissian and
Iza Rae Konings
An umbra is the completely dark portion of the shadow cast by
the earth, the moon or another body during an eclipse. An umbra
on the sun is the depth of a sunspot or the darkest part of a
shadow. Umbrae were discovered in 1612 by Galileo Galilei. The
umbrae have a special picture taker… the Ulysses Spacecraft!
The Ulysses Spacecraft was sent by NASA to take pictures
of the sun. It was launched in October 6th, 1990. It still
orbits around the sun today. They sent the Ulysses Spacecraft
to fly by Jupiter then go into orbit around the sun. The Ulysses
Spacecraft goes in a different orbit than we do. It starts from
the top of the sun and goes around the bottom.
History
Cool Facts • Umbrae were
1. The Ulysses Spacecraft was only made discovered in 1612
to take pictures of the sun. by Galileo Galilei.
2. An umbra is 7,200° F. WOW! That’s • The Ulysses
hot! Spacecraft was
3. The umbra is actually the cool region launched on
of a sunspot. October 6th, 1990.
4. Ulysses’ encounter with Jupiter • On June 30th,
happened on February 18th, 1992. 2009 the
5. After more than 12 years in flight, the Ulysses
Ulysses Spacecraft has returned a Spacecraft
wealth of data that has led to a much became the
bigger understanding of the sun. longest-running
ESA-operated
spacecraft. COOL!

Vocabulary
spacecraft: A vehicle designed for space travel.
probe: An exploratory action, expedition or device,
especially one designed to research or investigate a remote or
unknown region.
NASA: An abbreviation of National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
sun: A star that is at the center of a system of planets.
sunspot: Any of the dark spots that appear on the surface of
the sun and that are associated with strong magnetic fields.
solar flare: A sudden eruption of hydrogen gas on the surface
of the sun, usually associated with sunspots.
orbit: The path of a celestial body or artificial satellite as it
travels around another body.
ESA: The abbreviation for the European Space Agency.
 Voyager Kira Zerkel
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are space probes. They were built by
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. Voyager
2 was launched in August 1977 and Voyager 1 was launched in
September. They passed by the planets Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune and are now crossing the outer edges of
our solar system. Voyager 1 is about 11 billion miles away from
earth and Voyager 2 is about 9 billion miles away.

Cool Facts
1. In 1998, Voyager 1 passed
History Pioneer 10 to become the most
• September 5th, 1977: Voyager 1 sent back the first distant human-made object in
photo of Earth and the moon space. As of March, 2012, it
• 1979: Voyager 1 flies by Jupiter was 11 billion miles from earth.
• 1980: Voyager 1 begins its trip out of the solar system 2. Both Voyager spacecrafts
• 1981: Voyager 2 flies by Saturn carry a greeting to any form of
• 1986: Voyager 2 has first ever encounter with Uranus life. The message is carried by
• 1988: Voyager 1 returns first color images of Neptune a phonograph record, a 12-inch
• 1989: Voyager 2 begins its trip out of the solar system gold-plated copper disk.
• 1990: Last Voyager images sent to earth. They were 3. Voyager 1 and 2 explored all
portraits of the Solar System the giant planets of our outer
• Present: Voyagers 1 and 2 will soon be entering solar system, Jupiter, Saturn,
interstellar space Uranus and Neptune and 48 of
their moons.
Vocabulary
Jupiter: The largest planet in the solar system and the
fifth distant from the sun.

Saturn: The planet that is 6th in distance from the sun.

Saturn has many rings around it and is the 2nd largest
planet.

Uranus: The 7th planet in order of distance from the sun.

Neptune: The 8th planet in order of distance from the

sun. It is the 4th largest planet in the solar system.

voyage: A long journey to a foreign or distant place.

solar system: The sun together with the planets and

all other bodies that orbit the sun, including asteroids,
comets and moons.

probe: A tool or device used to examine something.

Wormholes
Manouk Paglayan and Tom Pete Clark
A wormhole is a light-speed tunnel through space. It has
a lot of gravity so you won’t fall out of it. Even though it
goes light-speed it won’t tear you apart. Light speed travel
would usually kill a human, but wormholes don’t. Another
name for a wormhole is an Einstein-Rosen bridge, which is a
hypothetical feature of space and space time. Wormholes
are just a theory. No one knows if they really exist or not.
What do you think?

Cool Facts Vocabulary

1. Wormholes are light-speed wormhole: A tunnel through space and time.
tunnels through space.
gravity: The natural force of holding things around a
2. Wormholes are portals through central point.
space.
energy: The capacity of work or vigorous activity.
3. If wormholes exist we don’t have
the technology to find or use light-speed: Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.
them.
matter: Something that occupies space, has mass, and
4. Wormholes can be tiny, about the can exist as a solid, liquid or gas.
size of a quarter.

5. Our entire universe could be a

wormhole.

History

• In 1921, the German

mathematician Hermann Weyl
proposed the wormhole theory.

• In 1935, Albert Einstein and

Nathan Rosen published their
paper on wormholes.

• In 1957, the American physicist

John Archibald Wheeler coined
the term wormhole.
 X-RAYS Iza Rae Konings
X-rays are kind of like radio waves. They help scientists look
out into outer space and see black holes, stars, nearby galaxies,
supernovas, star explosions and dark matter. X-rays keep us in
contact with the outer world!

Cool Facts
1. X-rays can go through solid objects.
2. Dangerous x-rays and gamma rays are blocked by
the earth’s atmosphere so they have to be studied
from space.
3. When a neutron star explodes, all the violence sends
off x-rays.

History
• X-rays were discovered on November 8th,
1895 by Wilhelm Conrad.
• In 1971 the Uhuru X-ray satellite
Vocabulary discovered Centaurus X-3. This was the
first x-ray pulsar to be discovered.
radio waves: An electromagnetic wave having • On December, 1995, the Rossi explorer was
a frequency in the range used for radio and launched (The Rossi explorer is an x-ray
radar. satellite named after Bruno Rossi).
radio astronomy: The branch of astronomy • The Chandra satellite was launched on
that deals with the origin and nature of radio December 1999 (Chandra is an x-ray
waves that reaches the earth from celestial satellite like the Rossi Explorer).
sources.
nebula: A giant cloud of dust and gas in space
mostly composed of hydrogen.
x-ray binary stars: A special type of binary
star in which one of the stars is a collapsed
object such as a neutron star or a black hole.
x-ray astronomy: X-ray astronomy studies
celestial objects by looking at the x-rays that
they give off.
ultraviolet light: Light that cannot be seen by
the human eye. It is given off by the sun and
can cause the skin to get darker.
gamma-ray: Electromagnetic radiation having
a wavelength of 10-9 centimeters or less: may
be produced by the reactions of nuclei or
elementary particles.
radiology: The science dealing with x-rays
and other forms of radiant energy. As used in
medicine treating for bones, organs etc.
Halley’s Comet Ilora DeGreff
Halley’s Comet has been seen as early as 240 BC. A comet is a
piece of ice and rock. A comet’s tail is created when it gets too close
to the sun and the ice melts. Halley’s Comet was officially discovered
in 1705 by Sir Edward Halley. In 12 BC, Halley’s Comet was seen and
some theologians have argued that this explains the story of the
star of Bethlehem in the Bible. At the moment, Halley’s Comet is 3.4
light hours away and its orbit is in the shape of a big potato.

History
• Records show that Chinese
astronomers saw the comet
appear from as early as 467
Cool Facts BC.
1. Halley’s Comet is also referred to as 1p. The p • After 240 BC, records were
stands for periodic, the 1 stands for the first made by the Chinese,
comet identified. Babylonian, Persian, and other
astronomers from
2. Halley’s Comet is named after Sir Edmond Halley. Mesopotamia.
3. Halley’s Comet length is 9.5 miles long! • V.G. Gurzadyan and R.
Vardanyan said that “the
4. Halley’s Comet’s orbit takes 76 years. symbol on Tigranes the
Great’s crown, which features
a star with a curved tail, may
represent the passage of
Vocabulary Halley’s Comet in 87 BC.”
comet: A small, frozen mass of dust and gas revolving around
the sun in an elliptical orbit, which starts to melt and form • Halley’s Comet passed in
a tail as it nears the sun. If it has an orbit, it reforms out 1758. Edmond Halley died in
in space and orbits again. the 1742 so he never got to
orbit: The gravitationally curved path of an object around see it. The comet appeared
a point in space. on Christmas night 1758 and
ice: A frozen state of water. proved that Edmund Halley
vaporize: To cause to change into vapor. was right.
coma: The nebulous enveloped around the nucleus of a
comet.
 Zodiacal Light
and Zenith
Cool Facts
1. It’s best to see Zodiacal Light just
after sunset and just before sunrise.
2. It’s best seen in autumn when the
Zodiacal Light is at a steep angle to
the horizon.
3. Near the equator the Zodiacal Light
sometimes seems to stretch
completely across the sky.
4. Zenith is the point directly overhead.
5. The angular distance from the zenith
to celestial body is called the Zenith
distance.
6. The Nadir is directly opposite the
zenith. It has a zenith distance of
180 degrees.
Leo Stewart
The Zodiacal Light is a glow in the sky just before dawn.
It has a triangular weightless glow. It’s caused by sunlight
bouncing off of space dust (comets make the space dust)
and makes a light that creates the Zodiacal Light.
A zenith is the point directly overhead. It is helpful to
astronomers because they can say, “The asteroid is in a
zenith direction,” and the other person would know where
it is.
Vocabulary
ecliptic: The path of
the sun on the celestial
sphere as seen from the
History earth center.
• The name False Dawn
Sun: The star at the
(also known as Zodiacal
Light) originated from
center of our solar
the 12th century Persian sytem.
astronomer, light pollution:
mathematician, and poet Excessive or obtrusive
Omar Khayyam. artificial light.
• The word zenith derives space dust: Can be
taken to be all dust in
from the inaccurate
reading of the Arabic the cosmos.
expression meaning nadir: The direction
direction of the head or pointing directly below a
path above the head. particular location.
Zenith first appeared in zenith angle: The angle
the 17th century through between a direction of
the old French word interest and the local
“cenith.”
zenith.
gravitational force:
The natural phenomenon
of attraction between
massive bodies.
subsolar point: The
point on a planet’s
surface where the sun
is directly overhead at
any particular point in
time.
Santa Fe Schol for the Arts & Sciences
5912 Jaguar Drive
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507

505.438.8585
www.santafeschool.org