http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0lxbzgwW

7I

Scale of the Universe

1. You will be given a tab for an object in our

universe. 2. Think about the size of your object and align

yourself with your classmates in the back of the room

3. Smallest object should be closest to the Astronomy bulletin board. Largest objects should be closest to the sinks.

Instructions for Scale of the Universe activity:

1. Proton2. Oxygen nucleus3. Oxygen atom4. Red blood cell5. Eyelash6. Pupil of your eye7. Arm’s reach8. Ferris wheel9. Meteor crater in AZ10. Hudson bay11. Our moon12. Mars13. Earth

14. Jupiter15. Moon’s orbit16. Sun17. Earth’s orbit18. Solar system19. Kuiper belt20. Oort cloud21. Our star neighborhood22. Milky way galaxy23. Our local group of galaxies24. Virgo Super cluster25. Observable universe

Answers to the correct order

Questions

Were there any sizes you were unsure of? Did you have a good idea of where

everything fit in? Was there anything you heard that made you

think “I want to learn more about that?”

1 An atom has a small, dense nucleus composed of neutrons and protons.2 Our Sun’s diameter (1,380,000 km) is roughly 1.8 times longer

than our moon’s orbit diameter. •3 All Oort Cloud objects, from planets in our solar system to far-out

comets, are bound by gravity to our massive sun/star. 4 On a clear dark night, we can see a few thousand star/suns

in our immediate “neighborhood” with the naked eye. 5 Our star “neighborhood” spirals with billions of other stars in

our home Milky Way galaxy.6 Our Milky Way circles with numerous neighboring galaxies to form

a Local Group.7 Our Local Group rotates near the outer edge of many other groups

of galaxies with the Virgo Group near its center. This huge, gravitationally bound “group of galaxy groups” is called the Virgo Supercluster.

8 The Virgo Supercluster floats like a dust mote among 100 billion other galaxies that comprise the observable universe.

Some explanation

Find out the size of your object. Try to find out

both the diameter and circumference of your object. If it is not spherical imagine a sphere around it and report back next class.

Homework

Scale of the Universehttp://scaleofuniverse.com/

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120312.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJpC_oQQx

PI This is a five minute large-scale structure of the

Universe shown in 3 different scientific observation projects:

Sloan (Digital Sky Survey), Millenium (3D model of the universe) and Filaments grown process simulation.

Large scale structure of the universe