Act+1+History

This is a picture of a nebula. A nebula is simply a cloud of dust and gas. It is believed that the nebular theory is how our galaxy. 4.5 billion years ago a nebula started down the long road to the formation of a star and planets which became our galaxy as we know it today. By: Shelby Moinette //**__Activity 1 Pg. E4 Think About It.__**// **The planets, asteroids, satellites, comets, moon,and the sun make up our Solar Syatem.** **The sun and the moon are located in our Solar System, but others are not.**  **The sun is at the center of our little solar system, about 30,000 light years from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.** **//Our Solar System is heliocentric, meaning that the sun is in the center.//** //**By: Godwin Djokoto**// **__Digging Deeper:__ There are three ways to measure distance in our universe:** //By: Hannah Albritton//
 * 1) **__Astronomical unit__ - unit of measure to describe the average distance of the earth from the sun.**
 * 2) **__Light year__ - the distance from stars to galaxies.**
 * 3) **__Parsec__ - unit of distance that measures large distances.**

Activity 1: What were the steps in the formation of our galaxy and solar system? 1. The gravity caused the gases and dust to be drawn together into a denser cloud. 2. The rotation gradually increased with cloud. 3. As the nebular cloud began to collapse and spin faster, it flattened out to resemble a disk with most of the mass collapsing into the center. //By: Thomas Crutchfield// //** By Elise Cortie **//
 * Basic Notes: An International Board of Scientists recently concluded that based on the following four reasons Pluto is technically and for all intensive purposes, NO LONGER A PLANET, at least according to these scientists : **
 * 1) ** Pluto is //too small// **
 * 2) ** Pluto is //too far// **
 * 3) ** Pluto is //made mostly of ice// **
 * 4) ** Pluto is //not in the same plain as the other planets// **


 * Activity 1- Digging Deeper **


 * 'The Big Bang Theory. Explain.' **

The universe was formed about 12-14 billion years ago, and the Big Bang was what formed it. At "time zero" the universe consisted of mostly energy, and temperatures were very high.

But as time went on, the universe expanded, and the temperatures began to cool and matter was formed. Cosmologists think the universe was formed within minutes of time zero.

-Kaitlyn Peters


 * GeoWords: **
 * Astronomical Unit - unit of measurement equal to the distance between the Sun and Earth or about 149,600,000 km
 * Light Year - unit of measurement equal to distance light travels in one year
 * Parsec - unit that describes large distances and equals 3.26 light years
 * Nebula - cloud of gas and dust usually a fuzzy patch
 * Constellation - group of stars in a pattern
 * Planetesimal - small bodies that grow into protoplanets
 * Protoplanetary bodies - clump of material that is what planets we know today are made up of
 * Nuclear fusion - process that releases energy and forms heavy nuclei
 * Tiffany Kemple **

GeoWords (Part 2):
 * Terrestrial Planets- a planet that has a similar size, composition, and density to the Earth. These planets consist mainly of rocky material.
 * Gas Giant Planets- the outer planets in our solar system. They’re composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, and methane.
 * Comet- a chunk of frozen gases, ice, and rocky debris that orbits the sun.
 * Asteroid- a small planetary body in orbit around the Sun.
 * Cosmologist- a scientist who studies the origin and dynamics of the universe.

By: Lily Hughes


 * Basic Information: **

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are all called terrestrial planets. This means they formed in the inner part of the solar system.
====Temperatures in the original nebula had to have been high. Some characteristics of these planets are small, rocky, and some have molten centers. ====

The larger planets in our solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These planets are called gas giants. These planets have solid rocky cores and layers of hydrogen in gas and liquid form.

**By Taylor Smith**

 **This picture shows our solar system and the planets, in our solar system, in order, away from the sun. First is Mercury, then Venus, then Earth, and then Mars. All of these planets are Terrestrial planets. Then the picture shows us the planet Jupiter, then Saturn, then Uranus and then Neptune. These planets are referred to as Gas Giants. This picture does not include Pluto, for it is no longer a planet.** **- Jade Miller**

__Act.1 Understanding and Applying E12__

1.Using the second scale (1m=3,000,000km) you used for distance in your model of the solar system:

A) How far away would Proxima Centuri be from Earth?


 * Proxima Centuri would be 13,266,666.67m from Earth.
 * To do this you would need to know the Proxima Centuri is 266,221 AU away. 1 AU=149,598,770 km. You would have to multiply these two numbers together.

After getting 3.98x10^13km you would use our scale and divide by 3,000,000km.

B) How far away would the Andromeda galaxy be on your scale, given that Andromeda is 767 kiloparsecs or 2.5 million light-years away?


 * The Andromeda galaxy would be 7.9x10^12m away.
 * To solve this we would need to know that 1 light-year=9.46x10^12km. So we would multiply this by 2.5 million light-year

After getting 2.37x10^19km we would use our scale and divide this by 3,000,000km.

By:Morgan Mueller Galaxies: Galaxies are classified by their shape being either elliptical, spiral, or irregular. Our galaxy is a flat spiral. Galaxies are clusters of stars that are held together by their gravitational attraction. Our galaxy is called the milky way and our solar system is located in one of the arms of the spirals. By: Lea Kincaid

**The Nebular Theory. What is the Nebular Theory?** The Nebular Theory is the theory that the solar system evolved from a cloud of gas and dust.

**What were the steps in the formation of our galaxy and solar system?** The Nebula that gave birth to our solar system, gravity made it clump together which formed bodies called __planetesimals__ and __proplanetary__. __Nebular fusion__ can explain the birth of the sun. The rest of the solar system formed because of the swirling dust of the sun and the __Big Bang__.

( Planetesimals, Proplanetary bodies, Nebular fusion, and Big Bang theory are all defined in Geowords)

Check your understanding; Activity 1: An astronomical unit is equal to 149,598,770 Km. A light year is equal to 9.46X10(12) Km. A parasec is equal too 3.26 light years. 2.) A light year, because it is the distance from the earth to the sun. b) A parasec because it is used to measure very large distances. c.) A light year because it measures the distances from stars to galaxies. 3.) The big bang theory is a rapid expansion of a cloud of dust into our universe. 4.) The origin of the universe is theorized to have started from the big bang theory. This theory explains that their was a rapid expansion of a cloud of dust into our universe. By: Gabby Garibaldi
 * By: Chelsea Blanton **

What are comets and asteroids/ Comets are celestial objects consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust. Thay are also referred to as dirty snowballs left over from a formation of stars and planets billions of years ago. comets that we see in our solar system start out as big chunks of rock and ice just floating around in something called the Oort cloud. As the ball of ice gets closer to the sun it begins to melt. the melted ice becomes a gaseous tail that begins to extend away from the source of heat.

Asteroids are a class of small solar system bodies in orbit around the sun. they are also known as planetoids. the dwarf planetceres is by far the largest asteroid, with a diameter of 975 km (610 mi.) it is believed that planetesimals in the asteroid belt evolved much like the rest of the solar nebula until Jupiter neared its current mass. BY: KATHRINE JACQUES

You can see a nebula in our galaxie durring the winter it is called the constellation of orion, it is just three stars that make up this belt. You can see it on a clear night in your backyard with just a pair of binoculares or a telescope.the orion nebula is much like the one formed by our sun. on a dark clear night you can also see clouds of gas that are forming stars. - Kory Sanders

The history of constellations: Most of the constellations get their name from the latin translation of one of the ancient Greek star patterns that lies within it. In more recent times, more modern astronomers introduced a number of additional groups, and there are now 88 standard configurations recognized. -Luke Bickerstaff **Activity 1, Investigate pg. E5**
 * Solar System to scale #1 ||
 * Object || Distance || Diameter |||| scientific notation ||
 * Sun || 0 || 0.009276 ||  ||   ||
 * Mercury || 0.386 || 0.0000325 || -5 ||  ||
 * Venus || 0.721 || 0.0000866 || -5 ||  ||
 * Earth || 0.997 || 0.000085 || -5 ||  ||
 * Mars || 1.519 || 0.0000452 || -5 ||  ||
 * Jupiter || 5.188 || 0.0009532 || -4 ||  ||
 * Saturn || 9.528 || 0.0008035 || -4 ||  ||
 * Uranus || 19.166 || 0.0003407 || -4 ||  ||
 * Neptune || 30.029 || 0.0003301 || -4 ||  ||
 * Pluto || 39.438 || 0.0000153 || -5 ||  ||
 * Scale 1M = 150,000,000 KM ||
 * Scale 1M = 150,000,000 KM ||

1C. One major drawback using the space 1M = 150,000,000 is we still have a lot of digits in our answers, but it allows us to put it in scientific notation, which makes it a lot easier when dealing with such large numbers,

By: Brittany Stocker

When it comes to measuring distances in space, Astronomers and scientists get stuck with some very large calculations. Luckily overtime these numbers have been able to be simplified using smaller scales to represent big numbers making the over all calculations easier to come up with while researching and experimenting. If these calculations weren't discovered it would probably be impossible to measure Space. Nick Mehler


 * Gas giants**

Gas giants are the larger, outer planets in the Solar system. They have solid cores at the center and are surrounded with layers of hydrogen in both the liquid and the gas form. Their surfaces are extremely cold as a result of being very far distances from the sun.

-Tommy Rutt

Terrestrial Planets

Mercury,Venus,Earth and Mars are called the terrestrial planets. They were formed in the inner part of our solar system, where temperature in the original nebula were high. They are relatively small, rocky bodies. Some have molten craters, with a layer of rock called a mantle outside their centers, and a surface called a crust. -Gage Chumney

Cosmologists think that most of the matter in the universe was formed within minutes of time zero, the expansion and cooling that started with the Big Bang continues to this day. The galaxies and stars are the visible evidence of the big bang, but there is other, unseen evidence that it happened. Its called cosmic backround radiation, which is radiation that is left over from the initial moments of the Big Bang. - Josh Kirtley