Please jot down or ponder your answers.

1. What causes seasons?

a. Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and farther away in the winter

b. something else

2. How can you tell the difference between planets and stars?

a. planets are brighter

b. something else

3. What causes Moon phases?

a. Earth’s shadow

b. something else

4.What is Pluto?

5. What’s the difference between the Solar System and the Milky Way? How many stars

are in each? 1

Explore the Universe: Astronomy Activities for the Classroom and Beyond

Sally Brummel, Planetarium Coordinator, Bell Museum of Natural History

sbrummel@umn.edu

612-624-8146

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Today's Goals:

1. To give you background knowledge of astronomy so you are confident in presenting the content and answering questions.

2. To demonstrate activities related to astronomical misconceptions and other topics.

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ExploraDomeAt your school

At the Bell Museum

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Please jot down or ponder your answers.

1. What causes seasons?

a. Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and farther away in the winter

b. something else

2. How can you tell the difference between planets and stars?

a. planets are brighter

b. something else

3. What causes Moon phases?

a. Earth’s shadow

b. something else

4.What is Pluto?

5. What’s the difference between the Solar System and the Milky Way? How

many stars are in each?

Life is not a multiple choice test!

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Standard 3.3.3.1 Sun and Moon

• Observe and describe the daily and seasonal changes in the position of the sun and compare observations.

• Recognize the pattern of apparent changes in the moon's shape and position.

Standard 3.3.3.2 Solar System

• Demonstrate how a large light source at a great distance looks like a small light that is much closer. For example:

Car headlights at a distance look small compared to when they are close.

• Recognize that the Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and that the moon orbits the Earth.

Standard 8.3.3.1 Sun and Solar System

• Recognize that the sun is a medium sized star, one of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, and the closest star

to Earth.

• Use the predictable motions of the Earth around its own axis and around the sun, and of the moon around the

Earth, to explain day length, the phases of the moon, and eclipses.

• Compare and contrast the sizes, locations, and compositions of the planets and moons in our solar system.

Standard 9.3.3.2 Solar System

• Describe how the solar system formed from a nebular cloud of dust and gas 4.6 billion years ago.

• Compare and contrast the environmental conditions that make life possible on Earth with conditions found on the

other planets and moons of our solar system

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1. What causes seasons? a. Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and farther away in the winter b. something else

Earth is tilted toward the Sun in a hemisphere’s summer and away from the Sun in the winter. The higher Sun produces more direct sunlight, which concentrates the energy and heats more efficiently.

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2. How can you tell the difference between

planets and stars?

a. planets are brighter

b. something else

Planets do not twinkle, and move among the fixed stars.

skymaps.com9

3. What causes Moon phases?

a. Earth’s shadow

b. something else

As the Moon orbits Earth, we see different views of the Moon's sunlit side.

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If your head is Earth with your nose as a mountain and the flashlight is the Sun, stand so it is noon on "Mt. Nose." (directly facing light)

Stand so it is midnight. (facing directly away)

Stand so it is sunrise. (left shoulder pointed toward light)

Rotate until it is sunset. (half turn counterclockwise)

Add the Moon into the demonstration. Using the Moon graphic as a guide, determine where in the Moon's orbit each phase occurs.

This activity demonstrates:Half of the Moon is always lit by the Sun, but you can only see the portion of sunlit side that is facing you.You cannot see every phase at any time during the day.

Moon Phase ActivityKinesthetic method

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Moon Phase ActivityKinesthetic method

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4. What is Pluto?

Most popular answer:

Not a planet

Second most popular answer:

A dwarf planet

What is a dwarf planet?

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What is a dwarf planet?

Dwarf planets are round like planets. And they are smaller. But the space around them is full of similar small objects.

The space around planets is mostly empty.

Dwarf planets can be in either the Asteroid belt or the Kuiper belt.

Asteroids are made of rock and metal, Kuiper belt objects are made of ice and rock.

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5. What’s the difference between the Solar

System and the Milky Way? How many stars

are in each?

The Solar System is the collection of the Sun and all the objects that orbit it. The Sun is one of the stars in the Milky way.The Milky Way is a galaxy, which is a collection of 400 billion stars, along with gas and dust. We know of hundreds of other solar systems in our galaxy: stars beyond our Sun that have planets.

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Earth-Moon Scale

Of the following objects, which two best represent the Earth-Moon size comparison:

Basketball

Golf ball

Tennis ball

Marble

Soccer ball

How far apart should the two balls be?

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Earth-Moon Scale

Of the following objects, which two best represent the Earth-Moon size comparison:

Basketball

Golf ball

Tennis ball

Marble

Soccer ball

How far apart should the two balls be?

Wrap string around basketball 10 times, about 30x diameter of the Earth.

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Scale Model Solar SystemApproximation method

Using an arm’s length of register tape, each student will illustrate the relative distances between the orbits of the planets.

1. Write “Sun” on one end of the paper strip and “Pluto” on the other end.

2. Fold the tape in half; this is Uranus. Label the strip.

4. Fold Pluto to Uranus; this is Neptune.

5. Fold the Sun to Uranus; this is Saturn.

6. Fold the Sun to Saturn; this is Jupiter.

7. Fold the Sun to Jupiter; this is the Asteroid Belt.

8. Fold the Sun to Asteroid Belt; this is Mars.

9. Fold the Sun to Mars; this is Venus.

10. Write Mercury between Sun and Venus.

11. What is missing? Write Earth between Venus and Mars.

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Scale Model Solar SystemApproximation method

For younger students: do the activity without introducing distance and units.

For older students: introduce the distance measurement of “Astronomical Unit” and the idea of approximation.

At this scale, the Sun would be less than 3 millimeters, and the planets would be undetectable.

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Scale Model Solar SystemKinesthetic method

Divide students into groups of at least 8 and assign each a solar system object. (Objects in italics are optional)

Have each pace off the number of steps corresponding to their objects in a place such as a gym, football field, playground, etc. Each step = 1 meter

Sun: startMercury: 1 stepVenus: 2 stepsEarth: 2.5 stepsMars: 4 stepsAsteroid belt: 8 steps

Jupiter: 13 stepsSaturn: 24 stepsUranus: 49 stepsNeptune: 76 stepsKuiper belt: 100 steps

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Scale Model Solar SystemKinesthetic method

For younger students: instead of requiring each step to equal 1 meter,

you can use one student’s step size as long as he/she keeps consistent.

This demonstrates the idea of relative scale.

For older students: calculate the scale to fit the area in which your class

will model the solar system.

At this scale the sun would be 1.3 cm (.5 inches) in diameter, Jupiter

would be just over a mm and the rest of the planets barely detectable.

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Scale Model Solar SystemWeb demonstrations

http://www.scalesolarsystem.66ghz.com/

http://www.davidjarvis.ca/dave/gallery/lg/star-sizes.jpg

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