3. Planets do not twinkle because they are closer and not a single point of light.
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6. Because stars produce different kinds of energy, we want to study all of them - not just visible light!! Our eyes receive only a very small part of that energy!
7. We only see the visible range. But stars give off energy in all the wavelengths!
8. Optical telescopes - Using light to discover information about the universe. There are two kinds:
17. Where should we put our telescopes? 1. Mountain tops above atmospheric haze. Reduces the twinkle effect and distortion. 2. Far from city lights ( light pollution). 3. If our atmosphere blocks the wavelength needed to study, then the scope goes into orbit!
23. Infrared scope in Hawaii Infrared scopes “look for” heat and are best at locating new stars just forming.
24. COBE - An Infrared scope that is in orbit. Cosmic Background Explorer It has located very important data about the formation of the universe. Infrared = heat
25. The constellation of Orion in visible light energy and infrared energy. These two views see very different things in the same area of the sky!
33. X-ray telescopes Records x ray emissions from objects in “deep” space Best for “looking” for black holes, dying stars, and other strange objects. Must be above the atmosphere!
36. Gamma Rays These telescopes are looking for high energy events: black holes, neutron stars and quasars. Due to their high energy content, Gamma rays are able to cause serious damage when absorbed by living cells. Gamma rays are also able to penetrate dense materials. Aren’t we glad our atmosphere blocks them!
37. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits the Earth, detecting high-energy photons – GAMMA RAYS
47. A constellation is a group of stars than appear to be together but are not. They seem to form a picture in the sky. People use them to find their way around the sky like someone using objects to get from place to place.
48. Orion the hunter The constellation looks flat but all the stars are at different distances from us.
49. Leo the Lion Cygnus the Swan Can you see the drawing ?
51. The Zodiac is a special group of constellations that extend out from Earth’s equator.
52. Astronomers want to know how far away stars are! From here on earth, they all look the same distance. In fact, ancient people thought they were all “stuck” on a glass sphere.
53. To measure the distances in space, astronomers use a light year. A light year is the DISTANCE light travels in one year. One light year is equal to a little under 6 trillion miles! (6,000,000,000,000) Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our solar system. It is about 4 light years away. Going the speed of light it would take us 4 years to get there. Traveling as fast as the average spaceship, it would take between 70,000 and 100,000 years to get there! Video clip on a light year
54. A galaxy is a large group of stars bound together by gravity.
55. There are three kinds of galaxies. Spiral Elliptical Irregular Video clip on galaxies
57. Notice the individual stars in the picture. They are not part of the galaxy in the picture but part of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
58. So why are they in the pictures? If you look out a window with wood trim, it is hard to get a view without them in the way. These stars are in our view as we are looking out of our galaxy!
61. Our Milky Way Galaxy is a spiral galaxy. We think! This is not really a picture of our galaxy – just one that looks like what we think our galaxy is like!
62. Why not? If you were inside Lanier Middle and had never been out of the building your entire life, would you be able to know what the school looked like from a distance? Of course not. All you could do is look out the windows and get some view of part of the building. If you looked out enough windows you might get a general idea but you could never know for sure if you were right about all its features.
63. Top view Side view Video clip on our location in the galaxy
64. Milky Way using a “fish eye” lens Notice the comet In the night sky, a band of stars can be seen across the sky as a blurry image. When you see this, you are looking into the part of the galaxy with more stars. Our view of the Milky Way
65. Every star we see in the night sky is in our own galaxy. We cannot see stars in other galaxies because they are too far away. The Milky Way is estimated to have 200 billion stars.
66. Nebulas are often named by what they look like! Witch head nebula Veil nebula Horse head nebula They provide the material for new stars to form.
68. Current estimate of the age of the universe is 13.7 billion years. The solar system is 4.6 billion years old. The solar system is not the same age as the entire universe .
69. Hubble deep field Click on the picture and watch as the Hubble telescope zooms in to an area just above the Big Dipper!
70. Prove that the following wff is valid by means of resolution: xp(x)v xq(x) x p(x)vq(x) Why can’t you do this problem?
71. You cannot do these problems because you do not know the math between what you now know and what you would need to know to do the problem!
72. You will have the same problem with understanding the process that scientists call the big bang. Just because you cannot understand some of what scientists say about the big bang does not mean that scientists do not understand it clearly! They know the science between what you know and what is needed to be known to understand the big bang!
86. Red shift is is a form of the Doppler Effect. Sound shows Doppler effect too! Clip on this picture to experience the Doppler effect.
87. red shift What you just heard was the Doppler effect with sound. Red shift is the Doppler effect with light.
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89. Notice that the line groupings are the same – only shifted red .
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91. From our position in the universe, it looks like we are the center because everything appears to be moving away from us. But we are not in the center.
92. As a balloon gets larger every point moves away from every other point.
93. If your galaxy was a raisin, notice that every raisin is moving away from every other raisin. In fact, a raisin far away from you is moving away faster than those that are closer. Our expanding universe acts the same way.
95. This is energy “left over” from the Big Bang. -discovered in the early 1960’s.
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97. This is like an oven that was used to make cookies. The cookies are not visible but the smell is there (evidence) and when you open the oven door there is just a little bit of heat still there (another piece of evidence).
98. What are the two pieces of evidence that support eh Big Bang Theory that we discussed? Video clip of the big bang
Notas del editor
The purpose of this slide is to help students realize that sometimes we are asked to “learn” that is very hard to understand. Often we do not have the knowledge necessary to make it all “make sense.” That doesn’t mean that a scientist would have a hard time with it!
Astrophysicists are struggling with this right now.
This is the really really hard part to understand.
Of course you would not expect students to memorize “cosmic particle horizon” but it is such a cool term. Everything outside the horizon cannot be perceived by us.
Click on the picture and have your sound on to here the Doppler effect!
If you are connected to the server, click on the hyperlink for an explanation of red and blue shift.