Week 5: Stars, Galaxies, Origin of our Solar System
1.
What did you do in lab today?
We discussed various scenarios about the sun and shadows during
lab. In the fall, the sun is close to the equator but heading in south in the
direction of the tropic of Capricorn. In the spring, the sun is close to the equator
but heading north in the direction of the tropic of cancer.
If the sun is directly above you, there is no shadow. At
noon today, no clouds, in the sky, what direction would my shadow point? It
would point north because the sun is on the equator. We are to the North of the
equator. Therefore, our shadow will go the opposite way to the South.
On December 21st,
the winter solstice, the direct sunlight would be over the tropic of Capricorn.
At noon on the Tropic of Capricorn, I would not have a shadow. If I was in
Iowa, my shadow would be pointed North.
At noon
in Iowa, your shadow will ALWAYS
be pointing north. At the tropic of Capricorn, your shadow will be longer. At
the tropic of cancer, your shadow will shorter.
In addition to discussing these scenarios, we learned from
our peers about various elements of space. My group did research and presented
it on black holes. It was very interesting to dive deeper and learn more about these
topics.
2. What was the big question?
The big question we discussed was: What are the common
misconceptions and scientific facts about stars, the asteroid belt, galaxies,
black holes, meteors, and other features of space?
3.
What did you do in Thursdays discussion?
These are my notes and what we discussed in class on
Thursday:
Stars
·
Preconceptions
·
Common misconceptions
o
Small stars run out of fuel before the larger
ones
·
Lifecycle
o
A stars life cycle is determined by its mass.
The larger its mass, the shorter is life cycle.
o
A star is born from a big cloud of gas and dust
called a nebula
·
What is a stars life cycle determined by?
o
Its mass
·
Where do new stars come from?
o
Interstellar gas and dust (nebula)
·
During a stars main sequence phase, it turns …
into …
o
Hydrogen into helium
·
Red Giants burn fuel and lose mass, therefore
increasing size due to less mass
·
Nuclear fusion- star can make up to IRON on the
periodic table of elements
·
Where did all the other elements come from?
o
When a star goes to supernova (explodes) the
other elements came into formation
·
We are all made of star dust
Asteroid Belt
·
Found between Jupiter and mars
·
Asteroid- rocky body smaller than a planet that
orbits the sun
·
Meteors, meteorites, comets, and craters
·
Meteor- a small body of matter from outer space
that enters the earth’s atmosphere. They are space rocks that burn up when they
hit earth’s atmosphere
o
When it hits the earth’s atmosphere, it lights
up and burns up in the earth’s atmosphere
o
We refer to these as shooting stars
o
Comet- an icy, rocky body that releases gases as
it orbits the sun
o
Meteorites- rocky or metallic fragments of an
asteroid, comet, or planet
o
Crater-
Galaxies
·
There primary shapes: spiral, elliptical, and
irregular
·
Galaxies are made up of planets, stars, and lots
of gas and dust held together by gravity
·
The earth is in the Milky Way galaxy
·
Most galaxies have a black hole in the center
·
Galaxies and solar systems are not the same
thing
Black Holes
·
Black holes provide gravitational pull that
holds galaxies together
·
Super dense
·
The absence of light, the light cannot escape it
·
Center of gravities
Universal Element Formation
·
Stellar nebular -> Average star -> Red
Giant -> Planetary nebula -> White dwarf
o
OR
·
Stellar nebular -> Massive star -> Super Red
Giant -> Supernova -> Black hole
·
Average size star becomes a red giant
·
As the sun burns, it actually gets bigger
o
The sun is held together by its mass
o
As it loses mass, gravity gets less and the sun
cannot hold itself together as well
Inner/Outer Planters
·
The asteroid belt is the dividing line
·
Inner planets:
o
Mercury, Venus, earth, mars
o
Terrestrial and rocky
o
Three moons total (earth has 1, mars has 2)
·
Outer planets
o
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
o
Gas/Ice
o
143 moons
o
Many rings
·
All planets are in the same geometrical plane
o
Pluto is not, so it got kicked out
4. Read the online textbook chapter 2.
- What
did you learn?
One
thing I learned from the textbook chapter was the life cycle of different types
of stars. I had no idea that there were so many different types, and I had a
lot of misconceptions about them as well. The image showing the life cycle of a
star was a helpful visual to show what stage comes next. It was interesting for
me to learn about how all of these things are connected. For example, a star
turns into a red giant, then a supernova, and then either a black hole or a
compact neutron star.
Another
thing I learned is that in the asteroid belt, the asteroids have an average
distance of 600,000 miles apart. I was surprised by this because I had the
misconception that the asteroids were super close together. Overall, in this
chapter, there were many misconceptions that I was able to debunk and learn
more about.
·
What was most helpful?
Something that was especially helpful to me was the pictures
and visuals of what the galaxies look like. For example, I got to see a picture
of the Milky Way galaxy, and that helped me better understand where its name
comes from. It was super cool to see the zoomed-out pictures of the spiral in
our galaxy. Additionally, the images showing spiral, elliptical, and irregular
galaxies were helpful to see. This was my first time learning that there were
different types of galaxies.
·
What do you need more information on?
Something I need more information on is what causes the
different types of galaxies and what the different characteristics of them are.
I would like to know which is the most common type and what are some unique
things about them.
5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?
I do not have any further questions or comments currently.
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