What Can We See in the Sky?
Stars
•The color of stars tell us something about their temperature.
•A relatively cool star glows red. •A very hot one glows a bluish-white or even blue. •Stars the size of the Sun or smaller are called Giants. •Stars with masses 10 times or more larger than the Sun’s become Supergiants. •A star the size of the Sun or smaller is said to have “died” when the nuclear reactions die down, the core shrinks and the outer layers of the star drift away. This becomes a dwarf star. •Dwarf stars are stars with a higher temperature than red or yellow stars. •Stars are also classified by their brightness. •There are six categories, with the brightest stars called first magnitude and the faintest stars called sixth magnitude stars. •Apparent Magnitude – how bright a star appears to you. •Absolute Magnitude – actual amount of light given off . |
Stars |
Sun
•The sun provides us with the energy needed by all plants and animals on Earth
•It’s gravitational pull keeps us in our steady orbit. •Because the Sun is the closest star to Earth, it is the brightest object in the sky. It gives off so much light energy that you cannot see the other stars until the Sun has set. •Every second the Sun makes more energy than humans have used throughout our entire history. •Scientists have predicted that the Sun has been producing energy for 5 billion years and predict that the Sun will continue producing energy for about another 5 billion years. |
Sun |
|
|
Star Constellations
•Groups of stars that seem to form shapes and patterns are called constellations.
•Some stars look as though they are close together when some are really much farther from Earth than others.
•Constellations have been used for thousands of years as calendars, timekeepers and direction finders for travelers.
•Some stars look as though they are close together when some are really much farther from Earth than others.
•Constellations have been used for thousands of years as calendars, timekeepers and direction finders for travelers.
Galaxies
Milky Way
The Milky Way is one of many galaxies that lie in the universe. This galaxy is a spiral or whirl shape and home to our planet and Sun. Earth is actually situated in one of the extensions of the Milky Way, away from its center. The Milky Way is very big and takes about 200 million years to make one complete rotation while it only takes Earth roughly 365 days to make a rotation. There are more than 100 billion stars in the Milky Way.
|
Milky Way |
Asteroids
Comets
Comets, as I mentioned early, have tails. Comets have tails because they are mostly made up of ice. Since comets orbit the Sun and are mostly made up ice, they melt causing a water-like streak in the sky we know as the tail (a.k.a. a shooting star). Unlike the asteroid, the comet is small and fragile. It also has an irregular shaped body.
|
Comets |
Meteors
Like a comet, when a meteor passes Earth, it burns up and looks like a shooting star. You may have heard of meteors, meteorite or meteoroid. A meteorite is an object that hits Earth. On the other hand, a meteoroid is when it is just flying around in space before it hits Earth. Lastly, a meteor is when it burns up in space.