Space Table of Contents The Solar System Article .... The Sun Article . Make a Sundial Activity Planets Article ..... Asteroid Belt Article .... Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites and Comets Article .. Solar Systems Worksheet Satellites Article Satellites Worksheet . Seasons Article ... Seasons Worksheet Contributors to Space Exploration .... Contributors to Space Exploration Worksheet. Exploring Space Article .... Exploring Space Worksheet .. Space's Impact on Society Article .... Space's Impact on Society Worksheet ... Building a Space Model Project Building a Space Model Rubric ...g\ = My The Solar System Our solar system consists of the sun, planets, satellites, asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and other space debris. The sun is at the centre of | our solar system while the planets and other smaller bodies of terrain or spheres of gas orbit around it. The sun's gravitational pull and the planets’ tendency to pull away from this pull keep them in perfect orbit around the sun. Our solar system is located in “The Milky Way Galaxy." Its appearance from a distance seems like a streak of white through a black sky. The streak is caused by the dim glow of all the stars that are within the galaxy. eo Neptune: This is the order of the planets in ’ our solar system according to their distance from the sun. The sizes of each planet do not reflect their actual proportionate sizes in real life.The Sun e sun is essentially a massive ball of burning gases. It is the largest | object in our solar system and is found in the centre with all the planets | orbiting around it. The sun's mass accounts for 99% of the matter that exists in our solar system. That means all the planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets, satellites, and other space debris could all fit within the sun. To give an even clearer picture of the size of the sun is to compare it to the size of the earth; it would take about 1.3 million earths to fit into the sun. Although it may seem like the sun is the biggest star in the galaxy this is not the case, The sun simply appears to us as the largest star because of its proximity. It is the closest star to us giving the impression that it is the largest. There are billions of stars within The Milky Way Galaxy, but the sun is the only star in our solar system. The heat produced by the sun allows for life on Earth. The planet Earth is the perfect distance from the sun. It is not too hot and not too cold for human, plant, and animal life to exist. Every other planet in the solar system is either too far or too close to the sun to sustain life. Photosphere| [chromosphere] rs tone/ Tef Before clocks and watches were invented people would use the sun to help them keep track of time. People observed that the sun had regular patterns and moved through the sky ina similar manner each day. Although using the sun was not as precise as using a timepiece, such as a clock or watch, it was still very . effective for keeping track of the general time of day. When the sun was low on the East side, it was clear that it was still morning. When the sun was directly above head, it was known to be mid-day. And when the sun was low on the West side, it was approaching night time. Eventually, people created a device that allowed them to keep track of the sun's movements with more accuracy. This device was called a sundial. In this activity you will be creating and testing your own sundial! Simply follow the procedures below. Materials: Stick that is 2 feet long, 12 small stones, Watch Procedures: 1. Find a sunny spot and push the stick straight into the grass or earth. 2. Start in the morning when the sun is up. At 7:00 am use a pebble to mark where the shadow of your stick falls. Come back at 8:00am and do the same thing, marking the shadow with a pebble. Return each consecutive hour: 9:00am, 10:00am, and so on until there is no more daylight in the day. 3. By the end of the day your sundial will be complete. The pebbles will now represent the time of day that you placed them there. Check to see if the sundial is accurate by seeing if the stick's shadow % lines up with the appropriate pebble at each hour of the day.Q\ = é) [> # Planets There are eight planets in our solar system. They can be further divided | into four inner planets and four outer planets. The inner planets were formed by dirt, rock and other space debris and are consider the terrestrial planets. The outer planets were formed by various gases and are considered the gaseous planets. There is a natural dividing line between the inner and outer plants called the “asteroid belt" which is a line of thousands of asteroids being held in orbit by the sun's gravitational pull. As you may have guessed, the inner planets are closer to the sun than the outer planets. Below is a visual representation of the planets and their relative sizes. Inner Planets - Terrestrial Size of Planets Largest to Smallest Proportionate sizes of the planets. Note that} the outer planets are much larger than the inner planets.Many people wonder if Pluto is a planet or not. It used to be A considered our last outer planet: it was however, not a gaseous planet | Flike the other outer planets. It was more like a ball of ice because of its great distance from the sun. In 2003, Pluto was renamed a “dwarf” planet because of its small size and distance from the sun. Other dwarf planets in our solar system are: Ceres, Eris, Makemake, Haumea. By definition, a dwarf planet is a celestial body that orbits the sun but cannot clear its path within the orbit (meaning there are other objects that stand in the way of its track). Scientist believe that there may be hundreds of dwarf planets that have not yet been discovered. Outer CoreAsteroid Belt ; The Asteroid Belt is located between Jupiter and Mars. There are ' thousands of asteroids orbiting the sun in this belt. The largest of these | asteroids is the dwarf planet Ceres. It measures more than 1000 km across! Asteroids are essentially bits and pieces of space dirt that did not form into planets. They are large objects however not large enough to be considered planets, Also, their shapes are irregular because most of them were formed from either being broken apart from other larger asteroids, or merged together through light contact. Not all asteroids in space are part of the asteroid belt. There are also random ones that have their own unique orbit.- Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites and Comets A meteoroid is a much smaller piece of dirt or rock than an asteroid or comet. They are also traveling through space and sometimes they enter into the earth's atmosphere. If they do, they will often light up from the friction that exists between the rock and the gases within the earth's atmosphere; at this point a meteoroid is considered a meteor (often referred to as a shooting star due to the bright tail light that is emitted from the burning rock). If any of the meteor remains or does not burn up and lands on the earth's surface the meteor would then be considered a meteorite. In summary, the names “meteoroid”, "meteor" and “meteorite” are based solely on their position within space or the earth's atmosphere. A comet is a large piece of frozen gases, rock and dust. Comets are frozen because of where they reside within our solar system. They are located at the very edge beyond the dwarf planet Pluto in two locations: Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. Sometimes two comets will collide putting them in a different orbit that allows them to come closer to the sun. When a comet gets near the sun it begins to heat up and it forms a “coma” which is the long streaked white tail that they are known for. The most popular comet to date is Halley's Comet last spotted in 1986.Q ; “) Solar Systems Worksheet “L What does our solar system consist of? 2. What keeps everything in orbit around the sun? 3.Where is our solar system located? 4. Explain the size of the sun in comparison to other objects in the solar system. 5.How many planets are there in our solar system? 6.What are the two types of planets? Describe them.Q i 7. List the inner and outer planets. i | 8, What is the name of the natural dividing line between the inner and outer planets? 9. List the planets in order of proximity to the sun. 10. Is Pluto a planet? Explain. 11, List four other dwarf planets. 12.What is an asteroid?13. Explain the difference between meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites. Draw a diagram to help explain your answers. | 14, What is a comet? Where can they be found?Satellites There are many satellites in space. Satellites can be artificial (man-made) or natural (created by the universe itself). But what is a satellite? A satellite is any object that orbits a planet or other celestial body in space. Ina sense, each planet is a satellite of the sun because they all orbit around it. When we refer to satellites we are usually referring to moons (natural satellites) or technology (ex. The International Space Station). The Moon (Luna’ Earth has one natural satellite that we call “Luna” or as you may know it, “The Moon." We call our moon “The Moon" because there is only one. It is possible for planets to have more than one moon but here on Earth we only have one. The Moon has a rocky, solid-surface body, with much of its surface cratered and pitted from meteorites crashing into it. From Earth we can only see one face of the Moon because the spin of the earth and the Moon are synchronized in this fashion. It takes the Moon about 30 days to fully orbit the earth.The relative positions of the earth, moon and sun will affect how much of the Moon is visible to us from Earth. Remember, the earth orbits around the sun and in the meantime the Moon is orbiting around the earth. During one regular month on Earth you will see all 8 different { phases of the Moon. The amount of moon showing is determined by how much sun light is shining on the side of the Moon that faces the earth. For example, during a “new moon,” we cannot see the Moon at all because the sun's rays are hitting the back side while the front side (the side we see from Earth) is left in complete darkness. As the Moon begins to rotate around the earth, more and more of it becomes visible up until the “full moon". After a full moon, the visibility begins to decrease again. Waxing CrescentArtificial Satellites There are currently over one thousand artificial satellites orbiting the earth! Satellites have many purposes and depending on these purposes they are constructed to different sizes, launched to different altitudes and designed differently. Satellites have many unique functions; they are used for navigation, communication, weather, Earth observation, and space observation. Two of the most well known artificial satellites are the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. The International Space Station (ISS) was created by several countries including The United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and various European countries. It is a massive structure (about the size of a football field) that can house astronauts for extended periods of time. The first section of the ISS was launched in 1998. The purpose of the ISS is to provide residence for astronauts to remain in space for extended periods of time. In this time they use the technology housed within the station to study and research the unknown parts of space. It is considered an orbiting research laboratory. International Space Station Astronauts can spend months living in space aboard the ISs.The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was created by NASA - an ~ American space agency. It was named after the astronomer Edwin '7 7 Hubble. It was launched into space on April 24th 1990. It is about the size of a school bus! Its main purpose is to take pictures of the many | different objects in space. Astronomers have been able to discover many things about the various celestial objects in space because of HST's high resolution photographs. It has helped scientists discover that the universe is 13,7 billion years old. It has also helped confirm that black holes do exist within galaxies and has helped in uncovering how planets are created and formed. The HST is predicted to last until around 2030 - 2040 and will be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope which is scheduled to launch in 2018.Satellites Worksheet “1, What are the two types of satellites? i t 2. What is a satellite? 3. What is the name of Earth's natural satellite? 4. How many days does it take for the Moon to orbit the earth? 5. How many phases of the Moon are there? 6. Draw and label all the phases of the Moon<\ = LE 7. What causes different portions of the Moon to be visible at S49) different times in a month? 8, How many artificial satellites are currently orbiting the earth? 9. What are the purposes of artificial satellites? 10. What is the International Space Station? 11, What is the Hubble Space Telescope?g\ - ff) iH Seasons _ Earth is naturally tilted on an axis. Meaning it does not sit vertically { straight: rather it is tilted on a 23.5 degree angle. The axis and movement of the earth around the sun creates the seasons that we experience throughout the northern and southern hemispheres. Depending on our relative location to the equator, our seasonal temperatures and climate take on different patterns. Typically, countries and cities located closer to the equator have less climatic fluctuations. This is because these locations are closer to the centre of the earth (the equator) and are therefore consistently receiving more direct rays from the sun. This differs from countries and cities that are located closer to the north and south poles in that those places will inevitably have times in the year when they are farther away from the sun. Remember that it takes the earth about 365 days to fully orbit the sun, At the same time the earth is rotating about its own axis at a rate of 24 hours to make one full rotation. In the picture below you can see that at different points in the year, the northern and southern hemispheres will be closer or further from the sun, In the same regard, the centre areas of the earth experience a much less drastic distance change from the sun throughout the year. Summer in the northern hemisphere. » ‘The suns rays must travel farther to reach the same point in the winter compared to the summer,Q\ = & Ah Seasons Worksheet 1. What creates the seasons that we experience? 1 } 2. When it is winter in the northern hemisphere, explain the position of the earth relative to the sun. 3. When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, explain the position of the earth relative to the sun.5. Why do countries that are closer to the equator experience less dramatic climate changes throughout the year?i\ = yy 4 Contributors to Space Exploration Astronaut Co ‘Accomplisht Nahe untry iccomplishments Lived in space for a five month period in the International _ Space Station, he Canada First Canadian astronaut to float freely in space. Reported frequently on social media about his experiences in space during his five month mission, Buzz Aldrin [United States| Second man to walk on the Moon Neil , Hhemstrong | United States] First man to walk on the Mon (July 20th 1969) Guion S. . vast Afri . , , United States| First African American to travel in space in 1983, Bluford STohn Glenn | United States| St U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth, He completed three orbits in 1962 Born in South |Founded the company SpaceX which launched the "Falcon 9" Africa rocket into space, It was the first commercial company to Elon Musk [Currently launch a rocket into space. The racket contained 1000 pounds resides in the |of supplies for astronauts stationed in the International Space United States) Station, Yuri Gagarin | Soviet Union |First man to travel into space (1961). Mae c. : , United States] First African American woman to travel into space (1992). Jamison Astronomer whose research helped prove that the universe is , expanding, He also created a classification system for galaxies Edwin Hubble | United States| +04 has been used for several decades: called the Hubble sequence, Valentina ‘et union |Fi , see ttaya [Soviet Union |First woman to have ever flown in space, Werner Von |Germany/ Responsible for creating the Saturn V recket which powered Braun United States! the Apollo spacecraft that put man on the Moon,Contributors to Space Exploration Space Worksheet 1. Which countries seem to be the most involved in space exploration? 2. Who was the first man to walk on the Moon? 3. Who was the first woman to have ever flown in space? What country was she representing? 4. What was Chris Hadfield most known for? 5. Use the internet and other resources to research one of the astronauts further, Share the information.with your class.é Contributors to Space Exploration Space Worksheet | 1. Which countries seem to be the most involved in space exploration? 2. Who was the first man to walk on the Moon? 3. Who was the first woman to have ever flown in space? What country was she representing? 4, What was Chris Hadfield most known for? 5, Use the internet and other resources to research one of the astronauts further. Share the information with your class.Exploring Space Astronomers have always been curious about what surrounds the earth. ‘ From the earliest of times they have gazed up and wondered about everything that they could see in the sky. The earliest tool used to explore space was the human eye. It wasn't until the telescope was invented that we were able to zoom in and get a closer view of the sun, stars, constellations, planets, our moon, the moons of other planets, asteroids, meteors, nebulae and much more! At first, telescopes let us see the sky more clearly. Today's telescopes look and listen. They are capable of finding other galaxies by detecting radio energy which provides evidence about faraway objects. From the data received by observations through telescopes, scientists have created theories about quasars, black holes and other phenomena in space. The telescope encouraged scientists to want to know more about space and eventually they were able to send up satellites. The first of which was sent up by the the Soviet Union in 1957 called Sputnik. Over time, technologies were enhanced and both the Soviet Union and the U.S. created shuttles that were able to carry a person into space. Yuri Gagarin was the first to have done so in 1961, While the Soviet Union was the first country to put a man in space, the American | The telescope was astronauts in the Apollo missions were the} the first invention first to actually land and walk on the Moon. | that allowed us to see space.<\ = Gy Since then space exploration has propelled iy forward with inventions such as probes, and land rovers. Probes are capable of traveling into space landing on planets and other masses, such as asteroids or comets, without having an actual pilot on board. They are automated from here on Earth. They are able to travel much farther distances than space shuttles that house humans. Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is the farthest travelling sp& Space Probe travelling through space and is estimated to continue sending back data for another 20 years before running out of fuel. Rovers, on the other hand, are capable of driving along land surfaces in space and have been responsible for exploring the geology of both Mars and our moon. Today, advancements in space technology continue with man being capable of residing in space for months or even years! As mentioned in a previous article, the ISS is a place where many astronauts stay during lengthy missions to space. Astronauts staying in the ISS are responsible for conducting experiments in biology, physics astronomy, meteorology and other fields. Furthermore, spacecraft and other equipment, such as probes, are tested for their suitability to travel to the Moon or Mars. So why do we explore space? There is a lot to learn about our Earth through other planets. For example, by studying the atmosphere of Venus, we can learn more about what the greenhouse effect could do on Earth. Studying asteroids and their typical behaviours and movement patterns will allow us to properly prepare if they were to ever take a path that would | collide with Earth. Finally, we generally are curious: about what is out 23 there, From the moment we saw that there was a whole universe & out there we wanted to know more!<) - 1G 3. Research how an astronaut lives and survives while in space, 4, What do you think is the purpose of space exploration?Space's Impact on Society Space travel is a relatively new practice. As we learned in the article ! “Exploring Space," humans did not enter space until 1961. That's only a little over 50 years ago! We are still in the beginning stages of unfolding all of the knowledge that there is to know about space and the things contained within it. Many of the world leading countries devote a large amount of their budget towards space travel. These countries understand the benefits involved in studying the universe and the technologies required to do so. On the other hand, there are people within these countries that do not agree with the amount of money that is spent on space travel annually. They believe that the money would be better spent in other areas such as health care, education, and transportation, to name a few. It is difficult to say exactly how much of a country's resources should be devoted to studying space, but examining the advantages and disadvantages of space exploration may give us a better idea. One of the greatest positive contributions of space exploration is the information that we have learned about Earth. Before space travel we hardly had any concept of what Earth looked like from a distance. We had maps created by cartographers and explorers dating back into the early ages, but never a true perspective of how the entire Earth looked in one snap shot.Furthermore, the satellites that were sent up into space allowed us to predict weather patterns. This meant that people would have a significant amount of warning before severe and dangerous weather, such as tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes, were coming. In addition, since space is somewhat of a “common area" in the universe, countries have been forced to work together and collaborate in order to increase our knowledge of space as a human race, Studying space has, ina way, put countries that would not normally be so, on the same side. Satellite dishes allow us to One example of this is how the |communicate with satellites in International Space Station was space and tap into television created by scientists from the channels from around the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada globe! This technology was and various European countries. created as a NASA spin-off. The technologies that are created to help us in space exploration have often been translated into technologies that improve health and medicine, transportation, public safety, consumer goods, energy and environment, information technology and industrial productivity. One such example is the invention of enriched baby food which contains an algae-based additive that is rich in nutrients and is beneficial to infant mental and visual | development. This research was used as a spinoff from NASA trying to. find something that helped astronauts remain nutritionally healthy duri long periods of space travel. &% 27loney from the government to meet their own needs. For example, teachers are looking for money to reduce class sizes and purchase more resources for students to get a better education. Health care departments such as hospitals and walk-in clinics need money for expensive equipment and to hire more doctors and nurses to service the elderly, sickly and people generally suffering from illnesses or injuries. Is it fair for the government to grant millions & even billions of dollars to space exploration when a country's education and health care demands are not yet met? Natural resources are another concern when it comes to space exploration. It requires literally tons of gas to get a spacecraft into space, all of which is Teachers and nurses are wasted with one single flight. Are the | strongly invested in their returns from the missions to space | fields and would always like worth the amount of resources that we to see more funding from are wasting in the first place? their government. Furthermore, what kind of effect is burning these fuels having on our environment? Once the spacecraft is in space, they will often discard large pieces of “space junk" which is usually metal and other materials that are no longer needed for the mission. What happens to the space junk over time? Will it eventually fall back down to Earth or continue to pollute the area in space?L) - a Since space is not owned by any particular nation, is it possible that as fi >) space exploration continues, it could lead to disagreements and ?# / conflict between countries? Some countries may eventually want to ; place their mark in space and begin to own certain territories much like | they did when the world was new. Explorers set out to find new land, with new resources for their leaders to claim as their own. These conflicts could lead to new ways of imposing military strategies on opposing countries. Technologies to attack from space could be developed and implemented causing damage all around the world to innocent people! Mankind has been known to do many great things but we have also been known to do many terrible things. The questions is...can we be trusted with this amount of power? Will our advancements in space technology and exploration lead to progress as a human race or will it lead to decline? That question remains unanswered and yet to be discovered. The bottom line is that there are definitely some positive and negative arguments for the development of space technology. What are your thoughts? How will mankind use advancements in space exploration and technologies?Space's Impact on Society Worksheet ! 1. What sorts of things has space exploration taught us as a society? What do we now know about Earth and our solar system that we did not know before exploring space? Use the internet to research possible answers. 2. What specific contributions have Canadian astronauts and scientists made to the exploration and scientific understanding of space. Use the internet to research possible answers,Q\ = Gy 3. What are the positive and negative effects of space exploration on p> society. Consider different perspectives and viewpoints. For example, / government vs. tax payer's perspectives.Building a Space Model In our space unit you have already learned about many components within | our solar system. This portion of the unit is meant to be an independent | project where you will research, design, report on and present a component or device relating to space. The goal of this project is to: A. Research one of the following space related components: 1. Meteors 9. The Moon 2. Asteroids 10. Black Holes 3. Comets 11. Space Craft 4. Satellites 12, Hubble Space Telescope 5. Dwarf Planets 13. International Space Station 6. One of the Planets 14. Probe 7. Stars 15, Rover 8. The Sun 16, Canada Arm B. Create a physical model of your component You will be creating an actual model of your space component to use as a demonstration during your presentation. This model should be as realistic as possible. You will be using the information that you find during your research as a way of deciding how you will build your model. Materials such as foam balls, yarn, paint, string, wood, straws, popsicle sticks, cardboard and other recyclable materials are very useful and should be collected. The goal in this stage is to try to make your model look as realistic as possible. C. Report on and present your topic You will use your research to create an informative report and presentation about your component.Rubric Criteria Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 [Report - Student's report is written using clear [sentences and is organized into paragraphs with la proper beginning, middle and end. Text has been revised and contains no spelling, grammar, punctuation, or capitalization errors, The content of the report is significant to the topic that was chosen, and provides a thorough explanation of that component of the solar system. Student references external resources and uses a variety of sources to improve the comprehensiveness of the report. Mode! - Student creates a realistic mode! that looks like and has similar features to the actual comportent they are attempting to recreate. The model is made to scale using reasonable proportions. The student demonstrates creativity and artistic skill through their design jand final product. Presentation - Student stands up straight, projects his/her voice and enunciates words which demonstrates confidence in his/her topic. Student delivers accurate and relevant information about their topic. He/She uses ‘their model as a visual aid and refers to it at appropriate times during the presentation. Student Name: Overall Level: