OUTCOME
By the end of the lesson you will be able to describe what astrophysics is and recognise that our view of the universe has changed with our understanding of physics.
Not only is our understanding of the universe predicated on our understanding of physics, but our understanding of physics is now being shaped by what we are seeing in the universe!
LEARNING TASKS
Explore
Why would the early astronomers have believed the Sun revolved around the Earth?
Describe how the centre of the universe has changed over time.
Examine the Hubble deep field image.
What does it tell us about the universe?
Build and explain
Build your own planisphere. You will need this so you can complete some observations of the sky.
Examine how the planisphere works, why does it have different days of the year to choose from? Why does it state different times?
Home work over the next week
Observations: Observe the sky for at least three night in the coming week. Use the planisphere to identify any constellations.
Make sure you note down the date and time of your observations. Check this site to find out which planets might be visible.
Do all the stars look the same brightness? The same colour? Is the moon visible? At what phase is it?