Embedded Files
2/3/2022
I learnt how to use different telescopes. I also learnt more about telescopes in general, like the two types of telescopes, and some of the parts of most telescopes.
9/3/2022
I learnt about the formation of the universe and the solar system. I also learnt about the possible ways the universe can end, and how black holes "die". The presentation was informative and straightforward.
23/3/22
Today was a very fun session. I learnt a lot of new things, like the Seager's equation and the habitable zone. The topic of extra terrestrial life interests me a lot. It is nice to think of the other beings that might be out there in space. Even if the chances were slim, I think that studying about and attempting to find other life forms may prove to be useful, even if we fail. We would have by-products from trying to reach other life forms.
30/3/22
Today we learnt about black holes. The material was a bit repetitive with lesson 2, but was definitely more in-depth and informative. Other than black holes, we learnt about white holes and wormholes, along with time travel. This information is not only interesting, but useful to us if we take astrology as a module in university, so we can spot the effects of a black hole, if visible in a photo.
6/4/22
We learnt about exoplanets today. The presenter was very informative and patient, and we learnt about the examples of exoplanet, like Kepler 186 f. We also learnt about Carl Sagan, and the different ways of detecting exoplanets, like gravitational micro bending, or Pulsar Timing. This information added to our vocabulary, so next time we will be able to more deeply understand the astronomy videos that we might listen to in our free time. It was a very intriguing presentation, although the presenter spoke quite fast.
20/4/22
We covered the topic of rovers today. The presenter was able to move through a lot of information quickly, so we could complete the planned activities in time. We learnt things like the 7 minutes of terror, how rovers are designed and more. We also had a lot of time to experiment with Tinkercad, which is a software similar to blender. I think the presenter could have give us more time to write notes.
27/4/22
Today was conducted with SFS(spaceflight simulator) and we managed to go into low earth orbit. Then after going into orbit, we had to bring the rocket back down to earth. It was a interesting and fun challenge. We also played with gravity in an website.
The presentation was also quite informative this time, but there could be more context to the lecture.
4/5/2022 AKA May the 4th be with you
The topic covered today was satellites. In general, we learnt about man-made satellites and their types. Some of their types include Navigational, Communication, Planetary Observation, etc. We also used Space Flight Simulator in this lesson, and this time we learnt how to send a satellite into space. The presenter today was quite fast though.
11/5/22
We got to use Kerbal Space Program and learnt various controls to help land and fly a jet. It was quite time-consuming, but it was definitely fun overall. I think the presenter was friendly and funny.
18/5/22
Today we got to learn about constellations, such as the Ophiuchus constellation, named after the serpent-bearer, and the Orion constellation. We also got to play around a little bit with Stellarium, which is an app downloadable on a computer to see the stars. Though constellations are just not my thing, but the presentation was very energetic and funny. I think the presentation could have more time for hands-on activities.
29/6/22
Today was the first regular lesson after almost a month. We covered the topic of 21st-century achievements in the field of astronomy. It was things like the first image of a black hole, or the measuring of gravitational waves. The presentations had videos to keep us engaged, and the information that was in text was cut into digestible pieces. Overall, the presentation was well planned and executed. Though, I think the quiz could be better prepared.\
6/7/22
The theme for today was food and nutrition, referring to the nutrition the astronauts get in space. This was a well-planned lesson, with videos and some informative slides with infographics. We also got to do some research at the end about a scene in "The Martian" which showed Mark Watney living off of potatoes, 1 every 3 days, in 395 SOLs(Mars days). We were asked questions, like would Mark Watney survive off of potatoes, considering that there were no other variables like stored fat and such. Another was, to plan a nutritional diet for Mark Watney. The presentation was one of the best so far, but the instructions at the end could have been said in clearer way.
13/7/22
Today we learnt about aerodynamics, and the covered topics were lift and drag. They were a bit dry, and the time management could be better, but it was still ok. We also almost got our Kerbal Space Program(KSP) accounts today, but there were some technical issues that we had to deal with, and we weren't able to get the accounts. I think the videos could be more engaging.
20/7/22
We learnt about a star's "life cycle" today, also known as stellar evolution. The presentation detailed the stages of a stars existence and even included some videos. We learnt about red giants, main-sequence stars, protostars, etc. One thing I think could be better is that that should have detailed stuff like supernovae, or how giant stars and their life, as a black hole.
27/7/22
We did cover supernovae, the end of most large stellar bodies, today, and all the topics I thought were missing in the previous lesson. So a quick list would be: Black holes, neutron stars and their types, and supernovae. As there were not a lot of topics, the lesson was quite in-depth into these topics and I think they covered them superbly. They also use things like gummy worms to reward us for participation, which is also nice. I think one thing they could have done though, was to reduce the Kahoot time to maybe squeeze in a bit more information.
17/8/22
We learnt about geodesics, special relativity, general relativity, and a bunch of other related thought experiments. I feel like SR and GR are hard concepts to understand, in that the phrasing of the theory is quite hard to grasp and understand. This is not a widely discussed topic and I appreciate this lesson for clearing up any misunderstandings about the theories of relativity by Einstein. On the other hand, I think they could have spent more time for helping us understand the theory of relativity.
24/8/22
We learnt about nebulae types, galaxy types and how to read a star map. I feel like nebula and galaxies are very interesting, as they are very beautiful. Some examples of these sights are the Pillars of Creation, the Butterfly Galaxy, the Sunflower galaxy, and the Trifid Nebula. We also learnt how to read a star map. A star map is actually quite confusing at first because of its circular shape, a total opposite of the normal square map. A star map helps us to find constellations and planets in the solar system that are usually quite hard to identify without any equipment. Overall, I think the presentation was okay, but I think the equipment should have been checked prior to the presentation, so we would not have to get technical difficulties like the speaker not connecting to the computer or the mic cutting off halfway as the presenter was talking. There are some photos of the nebulae and galaxies I like below.
The Trifid Nebula
The Orion Nebula
The Butterfly galaxy
Lastly, The Pillars of Creation
31/8/22
Today we did a reflection session that always comes at the end of the term and also carried out our first presentation that we had to the entire secondary 1 astronomy club cohort. I feel like making slides to present would be fun, especially when it is a subject I'm interested in, astronomy. I also get to do some research, so that will also be a fun time.
11/9/22
Today we got tips for using a radio wave detector and also learnt about some competitions and trips that we could be going on next year. Honestly, it was quite boring because I do not find radio waves that fun and most of the information did not concern me as a secondary one.
18/1/22
We used ksp today. We managed to reach orbit with a makeshift rocket. After that, we had a bit of fun with ksp by adding a bit more rockets. It was pretty fun playing with ksp as we got to learn about how various physic mechanics worked.
The rocket i made without any attention to physics.
25/1/23
I made a rocket that could at least orbit the earth. Unfortunately it was not able to go to the mun. I hope i can do it in my free time.
22/2/23
We learnt more about alien life. This topic covered the necesscities for life, the types of civilisations, and the several theories surrounding why we have not found any aliens yet. We also had enough time to play around with KSP a bit.
8/3/23
Today, there was a screening of the space movie「Gravity」It was a fun experience overall. We got to see some of the challenges that an astronaut could face in space.
For example, we have heard before that even the smallest piece of debris could be fatal. This was shown in the movie. In the movie, a russian missile caused a chain reaction of debris that crashed into the protagonist's ship at 50,000 km/h. This presented a big challenge for the protagonists and eventually led to the destruction of their ship. This also demonstrated the sheer destruction a single piece of debris could cause.
We also learnt how sometimes sacrifices are needed for the better big picture. Matthew sacrificed himself, in order to let Ryan have a better chance of surviving. This was because of how Matthew was holding on to Ryan. It was impossible for Ryan to pull him back to the space station. Ryan eventually survived. Thus, sometimes sacrifices are needed for the better big picture.
Although the idea of the movie was nice, I feel that it was not really excecuted properly as the parts meant to convey a lot of emotion, such as the sacrifice of Matthew, the male protagonist, were anti-climatic. One other example of this would be how the female protagonist did not reflect the calmness and prudence of a astronaut who trained for 6 months, which was the supposed time period of her training to be an astronaut.
We also managed to watch like 5 seconds of the anime "Attack on titan". It was probably the most interesting part of the whole screening...jk...maybe. :/
22/3/23
Today, we learnt more about the solr system. We learnt interesting and totally unknown facts to us!*cough* Instead of talking about the facts of the planets, I think what would be more interesting would be the history of each planet or some unorthodox facts. I liked the lesson but it could be more interesting.P
lanets in order of distance from the sun
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What is a star
A ball of gas made of helium and hydrogen and some other gases that give off light
What is a moon
A celestial body that orbits a planet (natural statellite)
Earth
Only known planet to sustain life, 149 million kilometres from the sun. Has a moon called the moon
Moon called the moon
Orbit the earth, causes tides, 7 followed by 22 zero kilograms. Has a diameter of 3475 kilometres. Has moon phases which is basically how much of the moon we see and it is reliant on the relative position of the Earth, Sun, and Moon.
Mercury
Smallest planet, does not have a moon. 58 million kilometres from the sun. Takes 88 days to orbit the sun, and 59 days to rotate once a year on the planet is the time it takes to orbit a sun and a day is how long it takes to rotate once.
Venus
Spins clockwise unlike other planets in the solar system which spin counterclockwise, has a radius of about 600 kilometres. 108 million kilometres from the sun, has a orbital period of 223 earth days and takes 243 days to rotate once, has no moons.
Mars
Has 2 moons called Phobos and Deimos.
228 million kilometres from the Sun
Has a radius of 2290 kilometres
Orbital period of 687 days and 1 earth day to rotate once.
Jupiter
Gas giant - it is made of mostly helium and hydrogen
Has 4 rings
Has a storm called the great red spot, which is estimated to have lasted fr about 368 years, and is 16350 kilometres wide
Saturn
Also a gas giant
Takes 29 years to orbit the Sun and takes about 10 hours 34 minutes to rotate. 1.434 billion kilometres from the sun. 83 moons.
Uranus
Ice giant
Coldest place in the solar system (-224 deg celsiusTakes 84 years to orbit the sun and17 hours 14 minutes to rotate. 2.87 billion kilometres from the sun. 27 moons. 2 rings. Rotates sideways )
Neptune
Ice giant. About 4.5 billion years from the sun. Takes 165 years to orbit the Sun and around 16 hours to rotate. Has 4 moons. 5 rings
5/3/23
We learnt about constellations. We got to learn about three constellations. We also learnt about how the constellations helped people. The lecture was surprisingly interesting, coming from someone who is not into stars. We also did a group activity for our favourite constellation. We chose Pisces. Notes:
What are constellations
Groups of stars that form a recognisable shape
Typically named after mythological figures or objects
There are 88 constellations that are officially recognised by the IAU (International Astronomy Union)
Why do constellations move
The Earth rotates at an axis
The Earth orbits the Sun
What are constellations used for?
Navigation: In the past, people used constellations to find their way across the seas
Timekeeping: People used to use constellations to tell the time of year
Constellations are nice to look at.
Leo
Originated from the myth of the Hercules lion, a lion whose skin was invulnerable. It basically lion-ed all over the place. It was the first of Hercules’ twelve labours to kill it, and he did it by strangling it to death.
Aquarius
Originated from the myth of Ganymedes, who was appointed the cup-bearer of the gods Ganymedes is also regarded as the god of homosexual love
Taurus
Originated from the myth of the Cretan bull. The Cretan bull fathered the Minotaur with Queen Pasiphae. Capturing the Cretan bill was also one or Hercules’ labours/ After that. Mercies let the bull go and it destroyed Marathon until Theseus killed it
26/4/23
We learnt about the beginnings of the universe. It was pretty interesting but also boring as there was only text and some video
The steady state theory
- A view that the universe is always expanding but maintaining a constant average density
- Matter being continuously created to form new
stars and galaxies at the same rate that old ones
become unobservable
- Consequently, the distance and velocity
increases in recession.
- No beginning or end in time
The pulsating theory
- Kind of like the child of the steady state and
big bang theories
- The theory suggests that at certain times, the Universe will expand and contract due
to the pull of gravitation
- The universe expands until gravitational forces force it to stop, at which point it contracts until it implodes into a singularity
- After this contraction, the cycle begins again with a new "bang"
Radiation era
- Started from the Planck era,
about 3000 years after The Big Bang
- Named for its dominance of
radiation right after the Big
Bang
Plank era
- During the Planck epoch, the temperature and average energies within the universe were so high that even subatomic particles could not form.
- Even the four fundamental forces that shape our universe were combined and formed one
unified fundamental force.
GUT Era
- The GUT Era lasted from 10-43 s to 10-38s.
- Near the end of this era, grand unified theories predict that the universe cooled to the point that the nuclear strong force began
to freeze out
This leaves three fundamental forces: gravity, the strong force, and the still combined
electroweak force
3/5/2023
We learnt about space exploration. The presenter was pretty good. The class was pretty quiet, and we got to learn a bunch of things about earth based observation and the apollo mission. Try not to add a last question that is based on luck.
Earth Based Observation
Telescopic observation
Radio Astro
Radar Astro
Challenge: Very limited range
Benefits, Cheapest option, can still look at the lower frequencies.
Airborne and Orbital Telescopes
Observatories on an airplane
Gerald P. Kuiper Airborne Observatory
It is a 36 inch telescope
Shakespeare observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA
100 inch telescope
Both flew at about 12km altitude to fly over 99% of atmosphere water vapour
To see infrared light.
Orbital Telescopes
Hubble space telescope
James Webb Space Telescope
Probes and fly-by spacecraft
Luna 3
Gave us pictures of the far side of the moon
Cassini
- Used to study Jupiter and its moons
Orbiters
Galileo
Orbiting Jupiter since 1995
Studies Jupiter and its moons
Able to get a full view of the planet
We can see what changes since they go over the same spot over and over again.
Landers
Surveyor
5 of these landed on the moon from 1966 to 1958
They took pictures of the Moon’s surface, measured the mechanical electrical and thermal properties.
They also analysed the chemical Compton of the surface materials
Rovers
Only 3 active rovers: Curiosity and Perseverance(USA), Zhurong(China)
Perseverance Rover
Landed on Mars On feb 2021
Brought a helicopter along with it to fly
Its main job is to find for signs of ancient life on Mars
Collect Samples to be sent back to Earth on another mission
17/5/23
We learnt more about exoplanets, their different classifications, and how they can be discovered. We also got to learn about different examples of this and their properties. I feel like one thing that could be improved on could be more videos. Also, Kahoot.
What is an exoplanet
A planet beyond our solar system. Most orbit other stars. Rogue planets: Free Roaming exoplanets that rotate the galactic centre
Stuff about exoplanets
Extrasolar planets - Exoplanet
The first exoplanet, PSR B1257+12 c, also known as Portergeist, was detected in 1992
7.667 exoplanets were discovered by the Kepler space telescope
Named by the star it’s orbiting, followed by a letter assigned according to the order of it’s discovery
5347 confirmed exoplanets, 5618 unconfirmed exoplanets
Gas giant
Mostly made of hydrogen and helium
Made up of swirling gas over a solid core
Gas giants nearer to their star are called “Hot jupiters”, they can be thousands of degrees hot
Easier to spot in the past since they were closer
Examples
1702 discoveries
Examples:
Jupiter
Saturn
Kelt-9b, hottest gas giant and even hotter than some stars
Kepler-7B
Terrestrial
190 discoveries
Rocky planets
Planets between half of Earth’s size to twice its radius
Usually made of rock, iron, silicate, carbon and water
Has a solid more liquid surface
May or may not have an atmosphere
Examples:
Earth
Kepler-11b
Super-earth
1619 discoveries
Similar to terrestrial planets
Planets that are at least twice as massive as Earth
Solid or liquid surface
Examples:
None in our solar system, although, there could be one at the edge of our solar system
Kepler 22b - could be covered in water
KG-131b - surface temperatures hot enough to vaporise metal
Neptune-like
1831 discoveries
Planets that are similar to Neptune or Uranus
Typically have hydrogen and helium dominated atmospheres
Has a core or rock and heavier metals
Around 5 to 7 larger than earth
Estimate masses of 20 to 80 times of earth
Examples:
HAT-P-27b
GJ-436b
Direct imaging
Looking at light from a star reflected by the planet
Star has to be dimmed to be able to see planets
1.3% of exoplanets are detected this way
How the star is dimmed
Using a chronograph
Use something to only block light from the star
Reduces the glare from the sun to see the other planets that usually can’t be seen.
Using a shine blacker
Blocks light from stars even before it enters the telescope.
Transit
Measuring the dip in the brightest of a star when a planet crosses it
Same method that Kepler Space Telescope used.
Transit Parallax Method
Used to detect the distance between us and the star by measuring the shift of the planet from different viewpoints.
Kepler’s Third law
Used to correlate the orbital period with the star’s mass and radius of orbit
We know the orbital period of the dimming of the star
We also know the star’s mass
We can also figure out the star’s stage using apparent brightness and size
Rearrange equation to find radius of mass and orbital period
Calculate the orbital radius of earth
M= 2.0 *10^30 kit
Orbital period = one year (convert to seconds)
G = 6.7 & 10^-11
Radial velocity
In an orbit, the star and the planet will be orbiting around the centre of mass of both stars
19/4% of exoplanets have been discovered using this method
The centre of mass causes the star to “Wobble”
The wobble will change proportionally to the mass of the planet
Due to the doppler effect, the wobble will change the wavelength of the light as well.
Astrometry
Super Incredibly hard to do
Using the same wobble as radial velocity
Measuring the physical wobble rather than the doppler shift
The movement will be really tiny, so it’s a lot harder to measure
Only two exoplanets were found using this method
Goldilocks zone
Planets that are habitable by humans
Criteria for habitability
Right temperature and atmospheric pressure so that water doesn’t freeze
The star’s mass should also be great enough so that the planet won’t orbit really close to it.
Other factors
Atmospheric composition
Atmospheric pressure
Protection from solar radiation. Earth has it’s magnetic field protect us
Surface composition
Habitable Zone
The region of a star’s orbit where it would be safe enough for humans to live.
All stars have a habitable zone, just a matter of how far and how big it is
Not all stars have planets in their habitable zone.
28/6/23
Today we did some more ksp. We built a ssto (Single-stage-to-orbit). In other words, it is a space plane. It was pretty powerful and could go to 30k ish metres into the air before it ran out of oxygen. It was fun to see how such planes can be made. I feel like the lesson was too short. There was not really anything to do after the lesson.
5/7/23
We got a talk by Jia Chen, a alumni from the class of 2020. We learnt about superstructures in space e.g. dyson sphere, FTL travel, skyhooks, and SpaceX booster catcher. It was pretty interesting. However, it would be nicer if each slide wasnt a text wall.
26/7/23
Obvious references to religions in astronomy
The names of planets are a huge reference to major ancient roman gods, and many stars/constellations are named after ancient greek and roman heroes/minor gods
Mercury
Messenger of the goads, the planets Wes named that because it could travel around the sun very fast compared to the other planets.
Venus
Roman goddess of love. The planet is named after her as it is bright, pretty, and physically hot
Earth
Earth is actually not named after a Roman god being the only planet not be be named so. Ancient Romans and Greeks named the earth Gaia, and it was a primordial force or something.
Mars
Mars, the roman god of war. The planet was named after mars as its red surface was reminiscent of blood.
Jupiter
Jupiter the god of storms, sky and lightning. Also the leader of the gods.
The planet was named after Jupiter because it was and is the biggest.
Saturn
Saturn, the roman god of harvest and time. The planet was named after saturn as it had the slowest orbit of the five primordial planets
Uranus
Uranus, named after the ancient roman titan of the sky and the father of Saturn, which makes sense as it has a larger orbit than Saturn.
Neptune
Neptune: The planet was named after the Roman god of the oceans, as it surface was blue as the sea.
Pluto
Pluto, the planet is named after the Roman god of depth, named by an 11 year old girl, who was asked by her grandfather, who discovered Pluto, to name it.
Pretty boring because most of it was waiting for other people to copy down the wall of text on the slides.
1/8/23-2/8/23
The talks were pretty interesting. They were pretty short and sweet. However the QNA session was pretty long for each time. First talk was about satellites, 2nd talk was about volcanoes.
16/8/23
We had two presentations. One on quasi-stars(black hole stars) and one on asteroids and meteroids(space rocks). The quasi-star one was interesting and had a video but the one on space rocks was nicer because of the gimkit. The space rocks one also managed to find a good video so thats good.
23/8/23
We had a presentation on astrophysics which was pretty interesting. It was talking about the kepler's planetary laws as well as general and special relativity. It was pretty interesting overall and had a video as well.
10/1/2024
Our astronomy club session included thrilling water rocket activities and telescope training. Collaborative rocket launches filled the sky with excitement, while telescope training, guided by mentors, offered insights into celestial observation. The experience ignited a lasting passion for the mysteries of the cosmos, combining hands-on experimentation and intellectual exploration in a dynamic evening.
17/1/2024
We had two presentations, one on black holes, one on celestial mechanics, which were interesting.
24/1/2024
We had to do KSP and a slideshow. The ksp was like the other ones, teaching basic maneuvers in the program to beginners. The slideshow was about the solar system. I feel like the audience could have done a better job keeping quiet. I think the presenters did decent for something like this noise level.
31/1/2024
We did some practice on telescopes and went out to do some field work. I think the lesson was great and we got a good amount of knowledge and activities.
7/2/2024
I wasn't here from 3pm to 4pm. I heard that we learned about relativity. I think relativity is cool. I think it can be made 8 hours long.
The rocket i made without any attention to physics.
25/1/23
I made a rocket that could at least orbit the earth. Unfortunately it was not able to go to the mun. I hope i can do it in my free time.
22/2/23
We learnt more about alien life. This topic covered the necesscities for life, the types of civilisations, and the several theories surrounding why we have not found any aliens yet. We also had enough time to play around with KSP a bit.
8/3/23
Today, there was a screening of the space movie「Gravity」It was a fun experience overall. We got to see some of the challenges that an astronaut could face in space.
For example, we have heard before that even the smallest piece of debris could be fatal. This was shown in the movie. In the movie, a russian missile caused a chain reaction of debris that crashed into the protagonist's ship at 50,000 km/h. This presented a big challenge for the protagonists and eventually led to the destruction of their ship. This also demonstrated the sheer destruction a single piece of debris could cause.
We also learnt how sometimes sacrifices are needed for the better big picture. Matthew sacrificed himself, in order to let Ryan have a better chance of surviving. This was because of how Matthew was holding on to Ryan. It was impossible for Ryan to pull him back to the space station. Ryan eventually survived. Thus, sometimes sacrifices are needed for the better big picture.
Although the idea of the movie was nice, I feel that it was not really excecuted properly as the parts meant to convey a lot of emotion, such as the sacrifice of Matthew, the male protagonist, were anti-climatic. One other example of this would be how the female protagonist did not reflect the calmness and prudence of a astronaut who trained for 6 months, which was the supposed time period of her training to be an astronaut.
We also managed to watch like 5 seconds of the anime "Attack on titan". It was probably the most interesting part of the whole screening...jk...maybe. :/
22/3/23
Today, we learnt more about the solr system. We learnt interesting and totally unknown facts to us!*cough* Instead of talking about the facts of the planets, I think what would be more interesting would be the history of each planet or some unorthodox facts. I liked the lesson but it could be more interesting.P
lanets in order of distance from the sun
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What is a star
A ball of gas made of helium and hydrogen and some other gases that give off light
What is a moon
A celestial body that orbits a planet (natural statellite)
Earth
Only known planet to sustain life, 149 million kilometres from the sun. Has a moon called the moon
Moon called the moon
Orbit the earth, causes tides, 7 followed by 22 zero kilograms. Has a diameter of 3475 kilometres. Has moon phases which is basically how much of the moon we see and it is reliant on the relative position of the Earth, Sun, and Moon.
Mercury
Smallest planet, does not have a moon. 58 million kilometres from the sun. Takes 88 days to orbit the sun, and 59 days to rotate once a year on the planet is the time it takes to orbit a sun and a day is how long it takes to rotate once.
Venus
Spins clockwise unlike other planets in the solar system which spin counterclockwise, has a radius of about 600 kilometres. 108 million kilometres from the sun, has a orbital period of 223 earth days and takes 243 days to rotate once, has no moons.
Mars
Has 2 moons called Phobos and Deimos.
228 million kilometres from the Sun
Has a radius of 2290 kilometres
Orbital period of 687 days and 1 earth day to rotate once.
Jupiter
Gas giant - it is made of mostly helium and hydrogen
Has 4 rings
Has a storm called the great red spot, which is estimated to have lasted fr about 368 years, and is 16350 kilometres wide
Saturn
Also a gas giant
Takes 29 years to orbit the Sun and takes about 10 hours 34 minutes to rotate. 1.434 billion kilometres from the sun. 83 moons.
Uranus
Ice giant
Coldest place in the solar system (-224 deg celsiusTakes 84 years to orbit the sun and17 hours 14 minutes to rotate. 2.87 billion kilometres from the sun. 27 moons. 2 rings. Rotates sideways )
Neptune
Ice giant. About 4.5 billion years from the sun. Takes 165 years to orbit the Sun and around 16 hours to rotate. Has 4 moons. 5 rings
5/3/23
We learnt about constellations. We got to learn about three constellations. We also learnt about how the constellations helped people. The lecture was surprisingly interesting, coming from someone who is not into stars. We also did a group activity for our favourite constellation. We chose Pisces. Notes:
What are constellations
Groups of stars that form a recognisable shape
Typically named after mythological figures or objects
There are 88 constellations that are officially recognised by the IAU (International Astronomy Union)
Why do constellations move
The Earth rotates at an axis
The Earth orbits the Sun
What are constellations used for?
Navigation: In the past, people used constellations to find their way across the seas
Timekeeping: People used to use constellations to tell the time of year
Constellations are nice to look at.
Leo
Originated from the myth of the Hercules lion, a lion whose skin was invulnerable. It basically lion-ed all over the place. It was the first of Hercules’ twelve labours to kill it, and he did it by strangling it to death.
Aquarius
Originated from the myth of Ganymedes, who was appointed the cup-bearer of the gods Ganymedes is also regarded as the god of homosexual love
Taurus
Originated from the myth of the Cretan bull. The Cretan bull fathered the Minotaur with Queen Pasiphae. Capturing the Cretan bill was also one or Hercules’ labours/ After that. Mercies let the bull go and it destroyed Marathon until Theseus killed it
26/4/23
We learnt about the beginnings of the universe. It was pretty interesting but also boring as there was only text and some video
The steady state theory
- A view that the universe is always expanding but maintaining a constant average density
- Matter being continuously created to form new
stars and galaxies at the same rate that old ones
become unobservable
- Consequently, the distance and velocity
increases in recession.
- No beginning or end in time
The pulsating theory
- Kind of like the child of the steady state and
big bang theories
- The theory suggests that at certain times, the Universe will expand and contract due
to the pull of gravitation
- The universe expands until gravitational forces force it to stop, at which point it contracts until it implodes into a singularity
- After this contraction, the cycle begins again with a new "bang"
Radiation era
- Started from the Planck era,
about 3000 years after The Big Bang
- Named for its dominance of
radiation right after the Big
Bang
Plank era
- During the Planck epoch, the temperature and average energies within the universe were so high that even subatomic particles could not form.
- Even the four fundamental forces that shape our universe were combined and formed one
unified fundamental force.
GUT Era
- The GUT Era lasted from 10-43 s to 10-38s.
- Near the end of this era, grand unified theories predict that the universe cooled to the point that the nuclear strong force began
to freeze out
This leaves three fundamental forces: gravity, the strong force, and the still combined
electroweak force
3/5/2023
We learnt about space exploration. The presenter was pretty good. The class was pretty quiet, and we got to learn a bunch of things about earth based observation and the apollo mission. Try not to add a last question that is based on luck.
Earth Based Observation
Telescopic observation
Radio Astro
Radar Astro
Challenge: Very limited range
Benefits, Cheapest option, can still look at the lower frequencies.
Airborne and Orbital Telescopes
Observatories on an airplane
Gerald P. Kuiper Airborne Observatory
It is a 36 inch telescope
Shakespeare observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA
100 inch telescope
Both flew at about 12km altitude to fly over 99% of atmosphere water vapour
To see infrared light.
Orbital Telescopes
Hubble space telescope
James Webb Space Telescope
Probes and fly-by spacecraft
Luna 3
Gave us pictures of the far side of the moon
Cassini
- Used to study Jupiter and its moons
Orbiters
Galileo
Orbiting Jupiter since 1995
Studies Jupiter and its moons
Able to get a full view of the planet
We can see what changes since they go over the same spot over and over again.
Landers
Surveyor
5 of these landed on the moon from 1966 to 1958
They took pictures of the Moon’s surface, measured the mechanical electrical and thermal properties.
They also analysed the chemical Compton of the surface materials
Rovers
Only 3 active rovers: Curiosity and Perseverance(USA), Zhurong(China)
Perseverance Rover
Landed on Mars On feb 2021
Brought a helicopter along with it to fly
Its main job is to find for signs of ancient life on Mars
Collect Samples to be sent back to Earth on another mission
17/5/23
We learnt more about exoplanets, their different classifications, and how they can be discovered. We also got to learn about different examples of this and their properties. I feel like one thing that could be improved on could be more videos. Also, Kahoot.
What is an exoplanet
A planet beyond our solar system. Most orbit other stars. Rogue planets: Free Roaming exoplanets that rotate the galactic centre
Stuff about exoplanets
Extrasolar planets - Exoplanet
The first exoplanet, PSR B1257+12 c, also known as Portergeist, was detected in 1992
7.667 exoplanets were discovered by the Kepler space telescope
Named by the star it’s orbiting, followed by a letter assigned according to the order of it’s discovery
5347 confirmed exoplanets, 5618 unconfirmed exoplanets
Gas giant
Mostly made of hydrogen and helium
Made up of swirling gas over a solid core
Gas giants nearer to their star are called “Hot jupiters”, they can be thousands of degrees hot
Easier to spot in the past since they were closer
Examples
1702 discoveries
Examples:
Jupiter
Saturn
Kelt-9b, hottest gas giant and even hotter than some stars
Kepler-7B
Terrestrial
190 discoveries
Rocky planets
Planets between half of Earth’s size to twice its radius
Usually made of rock, iron, silicate, carbon and water
Has a solid more liquid surface
May or may not have an atmosphere
Examples:
Earth
Kepler-11b
Super-earth
1619 discoveries
Similar to terrestrial planets
Planets that are at least twice as massive as Earth
Solid or liquid surface
Examples:
None in our solar system, although, there could be one at the edge of our solar system
Kepler 22b - could be covered in water
KG-131b - surface temperatures hot enough to vaporise metal
Neptune-like
1831 discoveries
Planets that are similar to Neptune or Uranus
Typically have hydrogen and helium dominated atmospheres
Has a core or rock and heavier metals
Around 5 to 7 larger than earth
Estimate masses of 20 to 80 times of earth
Examples:
HAT-P-27b
GJ-436b
Direct imaging
Looking at light from a star reflected by the planet
Star has to be dimmed to be able to see planets
1.3% of exoplanets are detected this way
How the star is dimmed
Using a chronograph
Use something to only block light from the star
Reduces the glare from the sun to see the other planets that usually can’t be seen.
Using a shine blacker
Blocks light from stars even before it enters the telescope.
Transit
Measuring the dip in the brightest of a star when a planet crosses it
Same method that Kepler Space Telescope used.
Transit Parallax Method
Used to detect the distance between us and the star by measuring the shift of the planet from different viewpoints.
Kepler’s Third law
Used to correlate the orbital period with the star’s mass and radius of orbit
We know the orbital period of the dimming of the star
We also know the star’s mass
We can also figure out the star’s stage using apparent brightness and size
Rearrange equation to find radius of mass and orbital period
Calculate the orbital radius of earth
M= 2.0 *10^30 kit
Orbital period = one year (convert to seconds)
G = 6.7 & 10^-11
Radial velocity
In an orbit, the star and the planet will be orbiting around the centre of mass of both stars
19/4% of exoplanets have been discovered using this method
The centre of mass causes the star to “Wobble”
The wobble will change proportionally to the mass of the planet
Due to the doppler effect, the wobble will change the wavelength of the light as well.
Astrometry
Super Incredibly hard to do
Using the same wobble as radial velocity
Measuring the physical wobble rather than the doppler shift
The movement will be really tiny, so it’s a lot harder to measure
Only two exoplanets were found using this method
Goldilocks zone
Planets that are habitable by humans
Criteria for habitability
Right temperature and atmospheric pressure so that water doesn’t freeze
The star’s mass should also be great enough so that the planet won’t orbit really close to it.
Other factors
Atmospheric composition
Atmospheric pressure
Protection from solar radiation. Earth has it’s magnetic field protect us
Surface composition
Habitable Zone
The region of a star’s orbit where it would be safe enough for humans to live.
All stars have a habitable zone, just a matter of how far and how big it is
Not all stars have planets in their habitable zone.
28/6/23
Today we did some more ksp. We built a ssto (Single-stage-to-orbit). In other words, it is a space plane. It was pretty powerful and could go to 30k ish metres into the air before it ran out of oxygen. It was fun to see how such planes can be made. I feel like the lesson was too short. There was not really anything to do after the lesson.
5/7/23
We got a talk by Jia Chen, a alumni from the class of 2020. We learnt about superstructures in space e.g. dyson sphere, FTL travel, skyhooks, and SpaceX booster catcher. It was pretty interesting. However, it would be nicer if each slide wasnt a text wall.
26/7/23
Obvious references to religions in astronomy
The names of planets are a huge reference to major ancient roman gods, and many stars/constellations are named after ancient greek and roman heroes/minor gods
Mercury
Messenger of the goads, the planets Wes named that because it could travel around the sun very fast compared to the other planets.
Venus
Roman goddess of love. The planet is named after her as it is bright, pretty, and physically hot
Earth
Earth is actually not named after a Roman god being the only planet not be be named so. Ancient Romans and Greeks named the earth Gaia, and it was a primordial force or something.
Mars
Mars, the roman god of war. The planet was named after mars as its red surface was reminiscent of blood.
Jupiter
Jupiter the god of storms, sky and lightning. Also the leader of the gods.
The planet was named after Jupiter because it was and is the biggest.
Saturn
Saturn, the roman god of harvest and time. The planet was named after saturn as it had the slowest orbit of the five primordial planets
Uranus
Uranus, named after the ancient roman titan of the sky and the father of Saturn, which makes sense as it has a larger orbit than Saturn.
Neptune
Neptune: The planet was named after the Roman god of the oceans, as it surface was blue as the sea.
Pluto
Pluto, the planet is named after the Roman god of depth, named by an 11 year old girl, who was asked by her grandfather, who discovered Pluto, to name it.
Pretty boring because most of it was waiting for other people to copy down the wall of text on the slides.
1/8/23-2/8/23
The talks were pretty interesting. They were pretty short and sweet. However the QNA session was pretty long for each time. First talk was about satellites, 2nd talk was about volcanoes.
16/8/23
We had two presentations. One on quasi-stars(black hole stars) and one on asteroids and meteroids(space rocks). The quasi-star one was interesting and had a video but the one on space rocks was nicer because of the gimkit. The space rocks one also managed to find a good video so thats good.
23/8/23
We had a presentation on astrophysics which was pretty interesting. It was talking about the kepler's planetary laws as well as general and special relativity. It was pretty interesting overall and had a video as well.
10/1/2024
Our astronomy club session included thrilling water rocket activities and telescope training. Collaborative rocket launches filled the sky with excitement, while telescope training, guided by mentors, offered insights into celestial observation. The experience ignited a lasting passion for the mysteries of the cosmos, combining hands-on experimentation and intellectual exploration in a dynamic evening.
17/1/2024
We had two presentations, one on black holes, one on celestial mechanics, which were interesting.
24/1/2024
We had to do KSP and a slideshow. The ksp was like the other ones, teaching basic maneuvers in the program to beginners. The slideshow was about the solar system. I feel like the audience could have done a better job keeping quiet. I think the presenters did decent for something like this noise level.
31/1/2024
We did some practice on telescopes and went out to do some field work. I think the lesson was great and we got a good amount of knowledge and activities.
7/2/2024
I wasn't here from 3pm to 4pm. I heard that we learned about relativity. I think relativity is cool. I think it can be made 8 hours long.
28/2/2024
We learnt about light and lenses. The slides were engaging. The crowd control could have been better.
6/3/24
We learnt about astro photography. It was nicely paced. No criticism.
27/3/2024
I carried out a lecture for the s1s about history of astronomy, and learnt more about nuclear physics. It was interesting
and siah kai heng also scored 2nd place in the kahoot. This reflection is 7 lines.
3/4/24
There was a lecture about spherical trigonometry and about ioaa syllabus, I think that the spherical trigonometry lecture could have done better controlling the audience.
17/4/2024
There was a lecture about binary systems. We learnt binary systems, doppler shift, measurement methods. Was interesting and we had mutliple engaging activities.
24/4/2024
There was a lecture about orbital vehicles. This lecture was nice and calm. We did KSP afterwards. The highlight was using KSP.
8/5/2024
There was a lecture about electromagnetic theory. This lecture was nice and calm. We did radioastronomy afterwards. The highlight was using the walky talkies
26/4/2024
There were some sharings about competitions from the participants that went to different competitions and events. Not really any interesting things. DIdn't really gain anything. Could be more interesting.
10/7/2024
I shared about galaxies to the secondary 1s. They were pretty quiet and respectful, in the first part(at least).
17/7/2024
I learnt about the different planets in the solar system. I also learnt that phobos is more than twice as big as deimos. I think, that there could have been better crowd control, as a lot for the audience members were talking. I enjoyed the ksp activity and the talk about planets. I want to learn about positional astronomy.
31/7/2024
I learnt about astronomical time and astronomical phenomena.
I think that the kahoot was very engaging.
Better crowd control could have been implemented.
14/8/2024
I learnt about accretion and other stellar processes and end states of stars(e.g. white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes).
I think that the slides were very informative. The crowd was relatively quiet.
More interactive slides(like kahoot).
14/8/2024
We learnt how to do cubic sdr and fox hutnign
I think that the fox hunting was enjoyable, even for those of us who only have our built in EM radiation detectors
More yagi antennas and less omnidirectional antennas for fox hunting.
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