Astronomy Dates
Astronomy Dates
All work due by Friday, June 19th at 3pm. Work received after that time will not be accepted.
All work due by Friday, June 19th at 3pm. Work received after that time will not be accepted.
Astro of the week updated below!!!!
Astro of the week updated below!!!!
‘This Week in Astronomy’
‘This Week in Astronomy’
keep doing these, they will be part of an upcoming assignment, stay tuned!!!!
*Space shuttle Endeavor launch, 3/11/2008Sites of Note:
Sites of Note:
-Astronomy Picture of the Day
-Astronomy Picture of the Day
-Hubble Telescope Home Site
-Hubble Telescope Home Site
-NASA home page
-NASA home page
*bowshock around LL Orionis
Book work/assignments
Book work/assignments
-assigned occasionally as support/review work.
-assigned occasionally as support/review work.
S2
S2
Moon Orbit project begins 3/13
Weekly Astronomy
Weekly Astronomy
6/1-Astronauts needed
The story of space travel changed last Saturday, May 30th, when the privately funded SpaceX successfully launched then docked with the International Space Station. Along with several other organizations, including Blue Origin based out of Kent, Wa., the future so space flight is likely to be supported and funded by private corporations instead of NASA.
But, the processes of training astronauts will fall to NASA for the foreseeable future, as SpaceX was piloted by Nasa astronauts (Bob Behnken & Doug Hurley). So, if you want to be one, you are going to need to train.
So check out the following data sites where NASA goes over what you need. And then decide, do you have the ‘right stuff’ to be one of our future astronauts?
1-https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2015/11/4/so-you-want-to-be-an-astronaut/-paths to being an astronaut
2-https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/explorers-wanted-nasa-to-hire-more-artemis-generation-astronauts-Artemis class astronauts
3-https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts-everything astronaut
Now, all you need to do is set your feet on the path and maybe you will be looking at Earth from the ISS some day.
background: International Space Station
5/29- ‘spacesuits’ If you go high enough off the Earth’s surface, you run out of atmosphere, or at least enough of it to breathe and create usable air pressure. Even if you are still technically still in the Earth’s atmosphere. So, if you are going to go somewhere without atmosphere, you need protection, a ‘spacesuit.’ As a requirement, all ‘spacesuits’ must create and interior air pressure for life support. This air pressure is usually part of the air the astronaut breaths. The suit also has to protect the astronaut at least temporarily from damaging energy, cosmic rays, etc.The first spacesuits were made for the Mercury program, and did not have their own air supply, instead being attached to the ship supply. For the moon landings, the suit had to contain its own oxygen, similar to a scuba system. The Apollo suits also had to have footgear that was sturdier as they were walking on a rough, solid surface. Astronauts in systems like Spacelab, Soyuz, Space shuttles, and the International Space Station, have two sets of suits. One, which they wear inside, can be sealed for emergencies with a helmet added. They also have a suit more like the Apollo suits for spacewalks.One of NASA’s goals is to lower the weight of the suit and make it easier for use, but yet still have full protection for the astronaut. One consideration for use on a planet/moon with an atmosphere is how that atmosphere will interact with the suit. A corrosive or extreme temperature location such as Venus would need a suit with much expanded safety features.5/22-‘and it’s live…’ During the Apollo program, launches were televised, for the most part. Remember, back then, there were only 4 channels on the TV…CBS, NBC, ABC, and usually a local public channel. During the beginning of the space shuttle program, launches were televised, as were the landings. This is why, as a freshman in high school last century (1986), I and my advanced biology class took a break with our teacher to watch the Challenger launch on January 28th, which carried the first civilian astronaut, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. As you know from history, the Challenger broke up after launch on live TV. Even though you may not know it, NASA still live broadcasts all launches through their website at https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html. And, as such, next week’s assignment will involve this site and a huge step in NASA history you may not know about. Check it out, and maybe you can figure out what I am going to assign you. By the way, the site will be covering something else rather cool on Monday! 5/15 To boldly go…‘Engage…’‘Hit it…’‘Heimdall…’ So, yeah, we have gone to the moon, and someday, when stay at home orders lift, humans will go to Mars. But farther than that, and you are talking a real long trip. Currently, a piloted mission to Mars will take about 7 months just to get there, so you can clearly see, your experience with road trips/plane flights, etc. does not prepare you for this. The Alpha Centauri system, the closest group of stars to us, well, that is going to take at least 1000 years or longer. Not really an option. So what can we do? Light speed or faster than light travel? Thanks to Einstein and E=mc2, nothing can go as fast, or faster than the speed of light (not even light can, but that is another story…). So that isn’t going to work… If you have some time this weekend, peruse the following current knowledge on this idea:Nasa’s official write up on methods of travel currently being researched: https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/501329main_TA02-InSpaceProp-DRAFT-Nov2010-A.pdfA collection of current and theoretical methods and the time to Alpha Centauri: https://www.universetoday.com/15403/how-long-would-it-take-to-travel-to-the-nearest-star/Nasa’s discussion of methods to cheat Einstein: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/three-ways-to-travel-at-nearly-the-speed-of-lightA fun read evaluating the methods of FTL used in science fiction, just for the wibbly wobbly of it: https://mashable.com/feature/faster-than-light-space-interstellar-travel/5/8 Drake’s Equation We know life exists here on Earth, but what about ‘out there?’ In 1961, before the first exoplanet discovery, when some astronomers postulated that Earth might be unique in the universe (where have we heard this before?) and the billions of stars out there might not even have planets, someone had a different take. Born in 1930, Frank Drake is an American astronomer who specialized in radio telescope work and using it to not only analyze our surrounding universe, but also as a method to look for something else alive ‘out there.’ Working alongside many of the top astronomers of the late 20th century he contributed to multiple projects including the Pioneer mission plaques and the Voyager records. But, while working on the first SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), he came up with an equation which might estimate if we should even search. Several of the values are somewhat arbitrary, based on our civilization, but it works on the idea that a universe as large as we know it to be has almost infinite possibilities. Below is the equation and explanation of the variables, fromhttps://www.universetoday.com/39966/drake-equation-1/N = R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x LWhereas N is the number of civilizations in our galaxy that we might able to communicate with, R* is the average rate of star formation in our galaxy, fp is the fraction of those stars which have planets, ne is the number of planets that can actually support life, fl is the number of planets that will develop life, fi is the number of planets that will develop intelligent life, fc is the number civilizations that would develop transmission technologies, and L is the length of time that these civilizations would have to transmit their signals into space.5/1 Even comets are 'Social Distancing'At 30 years old, the Hubble space telescope is still capturing great shots and expanding our knowledge of the universe. This month is caught pictures of a recently discovered comet breaking apart upon its approach toward Sol. While this comet was predicted to be large enough to see during the month of May with the naked eye, this breakup has made that not possible. But, it enable study of the forces comets (and any body) face when approaching a star. For a refresher of how the tail formation happens, check you notes from the first week of March. For the full story, check the NASA posting here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/hubble-watches-comet-atlas-disintegrate-into-more-than-two-dozen-pieces