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Just the basics about astronomy :)

Nicolette Navarro

on 23 May 2013

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Transcript of Astronomy

Astronomy "The science that deals with the material universe beyond the earth's atmosphere." By: Nicolette Navarro The study of the universe Human Suspicion 450 B.C Greek Philosophers, among other philosophers, begin to believe that there are other worlds besides our own. Dictionary.com Ptolemy Greek Astronomer 140 A.D Ptolemy Theory:
Earth is the center of the
universe and all other
planets revolve around
it. (Pole-Le-Me) Copernicus Polish Astronomer Mid 1500s His theory is that the sun
is the center of the universe, not the earth, and that all of the other planets revolve around it. Cuh-puurr-ni-kiss Edwin Hubble Proved that there are more galaxies besides the Milky Way. Proved the universe is larger than our
galaxy. Isaac Newton His Law of Gravity proved why planets orbit the sun. Tycho Brahe Late 1500s He believed the sun and moon
revolved around the earth and
all other the other planets
revolve around the sun. Danish Astronomer Johannes Kepler Brahe's right hand man Published Brahe's data Stated 3 laws of planetary
motion Galileo One of the first to
use a telescope... Because he used a telescope he was able to discover mountains and craters on the earth's moon, phases of venus, and sunspots on the sun. Early 1600s Telescope "An optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer." Dictionary.com RefractingTelescope: Reflecting Telescope: Galileo's Telescope Optical telescopes Galaxies Galaxy: "A large system of stars held together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar systems by vast regions of space." Dictionary.com Spiral Galaxy "A galaxy in which the stars and gas clouds are concentrated mainly in one or more spiral arms." Stars form/appear within
spiral arms. Starts from center,
works outward. Elliptical Galaxy "A type of galaxy having the shape of a spheroid or ellipsoid, rather than a disk." "A smooth, nearly
featureless brightness
profile." Irregular Galaxy "A galaxy with no specific form and a
relatively low mass." Leftover Galaxies within it. Irregular shape. Contents: Nebulas: Open Clusters: Globular Clusters: "A cloud of gas and dust in outer space, visible in the night sky either as an indistinct bright patch or as a dark silhouette." "A relatively loose grouping of stars." "A large compact spherical star cluster, typically of old stars in the outer regions of a galaxy." The beginning of it all! Big Bang Theory 13.7 billion years ago All of the empty space, energy, and matter
was within a small spot. This spot was
no bigger than an atom and is called
a "singularity."
Nothing within it moved, even time.
Suddenly, it exploded and enlarged creating
our universe. How old is the
universe? Scientists can calculate age by
measuring distance from earth to other galaxies.
Scientists can also calculate
age of galaxy from age of stars. Scientists believe that the
galaxy will never stop
growing... Solar System Stars: Brightness, distance, movement, color,
elements, and temperature is what classifies
a star. Motion and Distance: ~Astronomers use simple trigonometry
and parallax to find the distance of stars
that are close to earth. *Parallax is a star's obvious shift in position. ~Considering the fact that stars are extremely far away, astronomers use light years in order to accurately measure the distance from earth to the stars. *Light years are the distance light travels in 1year. The Sun Sun Spots:
-Cooler, dark spots on photosphere of the sun. Solar Flares:
-Areas of extremely high temperatures& brightness that occur on the surface of the sun. 3 main Types of galaxies Asteroids Big, airless, rocks that orbit the sun. Although
they are not big enough to be considered a planet,
some people refer to them as floating mountains in space. They are rocky fragments left over from the formation of our solar system. Also, some asteroids can have their own
moons. 3 Main types: C-, S-, & M- C- (carbonaceous):
Made up of clay and silicate rocks
Most Common
Most Ancient S- (silicaceous):
Made up of silicate (stony) materials
and nickel-iron. M- (metallic):
Made up of nickel-iron. NASA pays close attention to the asteroids that
float by Earth.
The near-Earth asteroids. (NEOs) Meteors &
Meteorites Small pieces of rock and debris are called
meteoroids. Meteoroids turn into meteors, or also known as 'shooting stars', when they fall through a planet's atmosphere. Meteors pass through the Earth's atmosphere daily; about 1,000 tons to 10,000 tons worth of meteoritic material.
However, the majority of this material is so small that the earth's air resistance doesn't burn it up but slows it down, which makes them "invisible" in the sky, so it gently lands onto Earth's land/water. Several meteors falling to Earth can usually be
seen on any given night.

Sometimes, the number of meteors falling through
Earth can increase so big that it turns into something we call a "meteor shower."

Meteor showers are common to happen annually or at regular intervals of time. For example, showers usually happen in autumn and winter.
They become more visible is after midnight or right before dawn because at that point the number of meteors falling increase. The meteors that are big and burn when they hurl
through the atmosphere usually do not make it to Earth's surface, they burn to ash or to nothing. Comets They are just about the size of a small town. They are seen as "cosmic snowballs," of frozen dust, gases, and rock. Usually comets take 200 yrs to orbit the sun, which makes their appearance more predictable.

The comets that take up to 30 million years to orbit the sun, long period comets, are less predictable.

Most comets travel a safe distance from the sun, Halley travels 55 million miles from it.

Others get really close or actually crash into the sun, "sun-gazers." Destroying their existence. Popular Comets: Comet Halley
Comet Wells
Comet Borrelly
Comet McNaught
Comet Wild 2 Picture of: Comet McNaught Age: 4.6 Billion Yrs
Max. Temp. 10,000 °F
Density 1.409 g/cm3
Mean distance to Earth:
149.60 million km (92.96 million mi) Center of our solar system
A star
Generally a hot ball of gases
Vital for our survival on Earth
Many more similar stars within the Milky Way galaxy. Mercury Temp: -279/801 °F
Density: 5.427 g/cm3
(2nd densest planet) Slightly larger than Earth's moon
Covered with craters
little atmosphere
Day side super heated by sun
Night time is freezing
Is visible from Earth 13 times a century.
(During Transits.) Sun-Transit Venus Temp: 864 °F
Density: 5.243 g/cm3 Similar in density, size, mass, gravity and composition to Earth.
Extreme volcanic activity
Toxic atmosphere
Can be seen form earth when it cross the sun (Sun Transit) Earth Temp: Varies
Density: 5.513 g/cm3 Ocean Planet (water covers 70%) of Earth
Only planet known to harbor life
Constantly changing world
Four seasons
Has 1 moon Mars Temp: -125 to 23 °F
Density: 3.934 g/cm3 Cold
Desert like
Has seasons
Has Volcanoes, canyons, & polar ice caps
Atmosphere too thin for liquid water
2 Small moons Polar ice caps. Jupiter Temp: -234 °F
Density: 1.326 g/cm3 Biggest planet in solar system
Close to being a star, but did not get big enough to ignite
Similar atmosphere to the sun
Huge magnetic field
Has a ring
50 moons Saturn Uranus Neptune Temp: -288 °F
Density: 0.687 g/cm3 Temp: -357 °F
Density: 1.270 g/cm3 Temp: -353 °F
Density: 1.638 g/cm3 Has thousands of rings
Has 53 moons
Made up of what Jupiter is made up of (hydrogen and helium.)
Biggest moon is Titan
Has the largest rings of all the ringed planets Methane makes Uranus look blue
Mostly made up of hydrogen and helium.
Considered an Ice giant
Has two sets of rings
27 Moons Dark and cold
Considered an Ice giant
Methane in the atmosphere is why it looks blue
Winds are 3x stronger than Jupiter
Has 6 known rings
13 Moons Common Mysteries The Northern Lights What are the Northern Lights? "The Northern Lights stem from when large numbers of electrically charged particles (electrons) at high speed stream in towards the Earth along its magnetic field and collide with the highest air particles. The air then lights up rather like what happens in a fluorescent light tube. The resulting colors reflect which gases we find up there" (Truls Lynne Hansen) The most common color is yellow-green color coming from oxygen Yellow-green is not the only color it appears in. Red coloring is also due to oxygen with a contribution from nitrogen.
The violet we often see at the lower edge of the aurora is due to nitrogen, as is most blue coloring. (Truls Lynne Hansen) When can we see them? Scientists usually say it's better to see them during the winter-time. Although, they are year round. They are not very visible unless the night sky is fairly dark. That is why they appear from early evening to late into the night. The Northern lights rest way above the clouds, making it extremely difficult to view them if the skies are not clear. Also, stay away from cities or areas with lots of street lighting. Where can you see them? They are located around polar regions.

(They occur most frequently in a belt of radius 2500 km centered on the magnetic north pole.) (Truls Lynne Hansen) The belt radius (Auroral Zone) consists of:
Northern Scandinavia
Southern tip of Greenland
Northern Canada
Northern Coast of Sibera Coasts of the Norwegian
counties of Troms and Finnmark
Northern Norway How often do they appear? In Troms and Finnmark, it is said they
can be seen every other clear night. In
Southern Norway, sightings are less frequent.
They happen a few times a month. Central
Europe they hardly see them throughout the
year. There has also been few cases when it has
been seen in the Mediterranean, but that happens a few times a century. A.K.A - Auroral Zone Pluto... Ninth planet, ice ball, dwarf planet? When Pluto became our ninth planet, many
questioned it. Especially after they discovered
a planet similar to Pluto, Eris. The question scientists began to then come across
was, "do we have 10 planets? Or are Pluto and Eris a new type of world?" In the end, Pluto, Eris, and all other objects extremely similar to their structure are now to be considered Dwarf Planets. "dwarf planets lack the gravitational muscle to sweep up or scatter objects near their orbits. They end up orbiting the sun in zones of similar objects such as the asteroid and Kuiper belts." NASA There are 5 known dwarf planets.

Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea. Ring around the moon...? The ring around the Moon is caused by the reflection of Moonlight, which is reflected sunlight, from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.
The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is always the same size. How did it happen? NASA Fact:
The ring, or halo, does not
just appear around the moon.
The sun also has a ring around it occasionally. It is less obvious
because of how bright the sun is and it is unlikely someone would want to stare at the
sun to find out. NASA What's NASA? NASA is an organization that has centers all over the world that functions to explore other worlds and galaxies.
Their vision:
"To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind." NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration President Dwight D. Eisenhower established it
in 1958, partly because of the Soviet Union and
Sputnik. President John F. Kennedy focused on getting
astronauts into space by end of 1960s. Also, promoting NASA's abilities to explore space. NASA today works in three separate
1. Aeronautics
2. Human exploration and operations
3. Science 1. pioneers prove new flight
technologies that improve our ability
to explore that have practical
applications on Earth 3. explores the Earth, solar system and
universe beyond; charts the best route
of discovery; and reaps the benefits of
Earth and space exploration for society. 2. focuses on International Space Station operations and human exploration beyond
low Earth orbit. NASA's shuttle fleet consists of:
Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour The End!
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