Galaxies

For today's post, we are going to look at different galaxies. But now we are going to look at the three major galaxies, Spiral Galaxy, Elliptical Galaxy and Irregular Galaxy. I have information and I've drawn how those three galaxies look like. Comment down below what you have learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Left: Spiral Galaxy
Centre: Elliptical Galaxy
Right: Irregular Galaxy

Spiral Galaxy

The Hubble Sequence

Spiral Galaxies are spiral shaped galaxies. Scientists observe that most of the galaxies in the universe are spiral galaxies. Most spiral galaxies have a central bulge surrounded by a flat rotating disk of stars. About two-thirds of spiral galaxies contain a structure through the centre, making spiral galaxies a minority. The Milky Way is one of those.

In 1926, Edwin Hubble came up a system to classify galaxies. Known as the Hubble Sequence, it organises galaxies base on their shape.

Spiral galaxies make up about 77 percent of the galaxies. Spiral galaxies are filled with gas and dust, which results in a wealth of a star formation. They are considered to be younger than elliptical galaxies, which contains less dust and form fewer stars. The twisted galaxies range from a billion to a trillion times as massive as the sun. The largest known spiral galaxy is NGC 6872, about 5 times the size of the Milky Way. The oldest observed spiral galaxy BX442 is about 10.7 billion years old. Because of the distance and the amount of time to travel, scientists are about to see the galaxy only 3 billion years after the Big Bang formed in the universe.

Elliptical Galaxy

In 1926, Edwin Hubble came up a system to classify galaxies. Known as the Hubble Sequence, it organises galaxies base on their shape. Galaxies classified as E0 Galaxy appear to be almost perfect circles (ellipse). Elliptical galaxies have a broader range size than other types of galaxies. The smallest galaxies are dwarf elliptical galaxies, which is less than 10 percent the size of the Milky Way, and could contain only 10 million times the mass of the sun. Some ellipticals can also be stretched to more than a million light-years across, that can contain more than ten trillion stars. M87 (Messier 87) is identified as one of the largest galaxies in the universe. But astronomers have found more spiral galaxies than elliptical galaxies. As spiral galaxies are bright, elliptical galaxies are dim. Elliptical galaxies contain less gas and dust, which means few new stars are born.

Irregular Galaxy

Irregular Galaxies don't have a specific shape, they're all different. Any galaxies that don't fit into one of the other galaxy groups are called an irregular galaxy. Irregular galaxies are the smallest group that is seen by astronomers. The stars in an irregular galaxy are usually young, very bright stars. Most irregular galaxies have the right conditions to make new stars. Like our moon orbits the Earth, some irregular galaxies orbit around other galaxies, those galaxies are called starburst galaxies, these galaxies are very bright because they have many new stars in them. Irregular galaxies form in different ways. Some of the ways are formed when they bump into, galaxies collide or get too close.

The MENcanics?

On Wednesday evening, the year 7s and 8s went to Cobham Intermediate for the EPro8 Challenge. I was picked for the year 7 team. There are two year 7 and 8 teams. In my team there was Axle, Zayd, Lars and I. Our team name was the "Hornby MENcanics".  I was really excited to go to Cobham Intermediate because it was my first time doing EPro 8. We had to look at the booklet what we had to do, but we can only look when its time starts. It was a top secret what was in the book. We had two hours and 30 minutes to build and make points as much as we can. When we started we the judge showed every part and how to use them. We went of and started, we decided to make a bed for Uncle Albert (the character for the bed). Also we had to make a light by switching the button on and snoozing at the same time By then it had half and hour passed, we hadn't made Uncle Albert's bed. We decided not to work on to make the light and snoozing. We had wasted that time for nothing and we were last for 0 points. After finishing a task the judge scores the points and the points come in the leaderboard. Making the bed for Uncle Albert was 50 points. We were in 12th place with 50 points. After we made light and a snoozer with a solar panel. We had made a light with a snoozer on a table. We had connected it together. There were heaps of wires and connectives that were on our working station.

15 minutes left...

We were in 5th place and we were really getting points. Our next activity was to make Uncle Albert fall down the bed. It was worth for 60 points. We were ready for the challenge and when we were making Uncle Albert fall down, we were dropped down places to 7th place. To get in the semi-finals you need to get fourth place or up. We wanted to go in the semi-finals. It was 10 minutes left and we tried our test. We also had a time delay and the bed broke. We added some more support to the bed and and pressed the red button. Means if you finish a task you press the red button and the judge checks if you get points or not. By that time the other teams had pressed the red button and there was 30 seconds left. The judge didn't check any of the teams because there was less time and there were heaps of teams to check on. The judge checked out the near teams. Actually we pressed the button first.

10 seconds left...

There was the countdown, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. The competition had come to a end. We were in 7th place and wanted to jump to fourth place. The judge said if you haven't pressed the button you tidy up your working station. When the other teams tidied up their working station the judge checked out each teams work. Our working station was at the end, so we waited and didn't touch any work that we had done or we would've been disqualified. It didn't took long the judge to come. When the judge came he tried the work. Last time he came to check I had held the table, the judge said not to touch the table or the points wouldn't count. We had made the table more stronger. I didn't held the table. The light shined, the snoozer went on, the bed titled and... Uncle Albert fell down the bed. "Yes!" we said. It worked, we got 60 points and we were in 6th place.

I hope you like my post of the EPro8 challenge. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Voyagers!

For today's post, we are looking at Voyager 2. Our activity was to make a poster showing the mission of one of the planetary space probe. I'll tell you some amazing fast facts before starting our Voyager journey. In this post, it has heaps of information of Voyager 2, some of Voyager 1. Comment down what you have learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Fast Facts:

Voyager 2 launched on Titan-Centaur Rocket
Credits: NASA/JPL

• It has taken 40 years since two of the Voyager spacecraft (Voyager 1 and 2) has launched.
• "Mariner Jupiter/Saturn" was Voyager's old name.
• The two spacecraft are launched from the same centre, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. 
• The target was the gas planets.

History

In 1966, JPL had planned a Grand Tour for the outer planets. There was a plan that one of the spacecraft would visit all four outer planets or gas planets. The navigators planned that on each planet's gravity would push the spacecraft towards the next planet. NASA approved the Grand Tour in 1971. The mission was called Mariner Jupiter-Saturn or MJS '77. The mission was calculated to visit only Jupiter and Saturn. Still, the JPL's project team wanted to extend the Grand Tour and not to limit the spacecraft's ability.

MJS 1977 obtained the name "Voyager" after JPL's John Casani became the project manager in 1976. Also, Casani thought that MJS was an awful name for an explorer and thought of a more typical title.

The Voyager mission launched in 1977. It would become JPL's longest-lived mission.

The First Spacecraft Launched!

Voyager 2

Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft from the Voyager mission. Voyager 2 was launched at August 20, 1977, 10:29 a.m. EDT. Voyager 2 was launched in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Voyager 2 is the first spacecraft that visits the four outer planets or gas planets. Well, Voyager 2 is the first spacecraft visiting Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2 had different names before getting the name "Voyager 2", 1977-076A, Mariner Jupiter-Saturn B and 10271.

Spacecraft

Launch Vehicle: Titan IIIE-Centaur (TC-7 / Titan no. 23E / Centaur D-1T)

Spacecraft Mass: 2,080 kg (822 kilograms)

Goals

Both, Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to study the solar system and outer solar system. Voyager 2's targeted the four gas planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2 was designed to find and study the edge of our solar system and beyond it. 

Gallery of Voyager 2

I had collected heaps of images that had been taken by Voyager 2. I had found the images by NASA and JPL.

Key Dates

August 20, 1977: Launch in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. 

July 9, 1979: Jupiter Flyby

August 26, 1981: Saturn Flyby

January 24, 1986: Uranus Flyby

August 25, 1989: Neptune Flyby

Voyager 1 and 2 in Heliosheath

Where is Voyager 2?

Voyager 2 is currently in the Heliosheath right now, but Voyager 1 is ahead of Voyager 2 in Interstellar Space.

What I've learnt?

• Voyager 2 launched at August 20, 1977, in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
• It's taken 40 years since the Voyagers launched.
• Voyager 2 is now in the Heliosheath and Voyager 2 is in Interstellar Space.
• Voyager 1 and 2 were targeted for the gas planets.
• On July 9, 1979, Voyager 2 passed Jupiter.
• On August 26, 1981, Voyager 2 passed Saturn.
• On January 24, 1986, Voyager 2 passed Uranus.
• On August 25, 1989, Voyager 2 passed Neptune.
• Voyager 2 was built to discover and study the edge of our Solar System.
• Voyager's old name was Mariner Jupiter/Saturn.
• Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to visit Uranus and Saturn.

Should it be?

Yesterday we looked at a Vodafone video of a postman taking care of a pig named Sue. After watching the video we took notes on a Padlet and wrote our opinion of the video. Today we started to write our opinion and below is my opinion. Below is also the link of the video. The credits goes to Vodafone for the video.

Here is the link of the video: Click Here

Below is my opinion writing.

I think that each animal has the right (like humans) to live and not get killed for money. We should let them go in the wild. Animals should live freely and happily, not in a small place and nothing to do. Some animals are kept in cages and not letting them run around. We should not kill animals for food or money.

Treating Animals: Animals shouldn’t be threatened, they should be treated like a family pet. Animals should get a long lasting and happy life like us. Animals are important like humans, they shouldn’t be in a cage for their personal gain.

The text is fair and it’s good that the postman kept Sue rather than Sue dying. The postman treated Sue with kind and respect. The postman was friendly and kind. The postman treated Sue like his own family member/pet. I think that the postman deserves Sue because the postman treated Sue and cared her. People can eat anything else than animals, like vegetables, fruits, etc: Fruits and vegetables, they are healthy and have, protein, calcium, etc:

Who is this Famous Astronomer?

For this post, I had to research about a famous astronomer named Galileo Galilei and we will find out why Galileo Galilei is a famous astronomer? Comment down what you have learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Galileo Galilei

My Galileo Galilei Drawing

Galileo Galilei was born on 15 February 1564 in a city of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. The family moved to Florence in the early 1570s. In the middle of teens, Galileo attended a school in Vallombrosa, near Florence. Then in 1581, Galileo matriculated (to be enrolled at a college or university) at the University of Pisa, where he was to study medicine. But he became enamoured (crazy about) mathematics and decided to make the mathematical subjects, with philosophy. Galileo after began to prepare himself to teach Aristotelian philosophy and mathematics.

In 1585, Galileo left the university without having a degree. For several years he gave private lessons in the mathematical subjects in Siena and Florence. He also began his studies in motion, which he studied for the next two decades (20 years).

In 1588, Galileo applied for the chair of mathematics at the University of Bologna, but he was unsuccessful. As a result, after a year, he obtained the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589. There from to his first biographer, Vincenzo Viviani (1622-1703), Galileo demonstrated by dropping objects of different weights from the top of the famous Leaning Tower. His sponsor or backer secured him the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, where he taught from 1592 until 1610.

But Galileo's salary was much higher there, his responsibilities as the head of the family (because his father had died in 1591). His university salary could not cover all his cost. He sold a Proportional Compass or sector. Because of those financial problems, he did not marry, but he did have an arrangement with a Venetian woman, Marina Gambia.

Telescopic Discoveries

At that point, Galileo's career changed a lot. In the spring of 1609, he heard that in the Netherlands an instrument had been invented that showed far things as though they were nearby. By the court cases and errors, he quickly figured out the secret of the invention and made his own three-powered spyglass from lenses for sale in spectacle markers' shops. Also, he quickly figured out how to improve the instrument. He taught himself the art of lens in a difficult situation and produced an increasingly powerful telescope. In August of that year, he presented an eight powered instrument to the Venetian Senate (Padua was in the Venetian Republic. Galileo was rewarded with a lifetime manner and a doubling of his salary. Galileo was now one of the highest paid professors at the university. In December he drew the Moon's phases as seen through the telescope, showing that the moon is not smooth. As being thought it is rough and uneven. In January 1610 he discovered four moons of Jupiter. He also found that the telescope showed many more stars that are visible with the naked eye. Those discoveries were shocking, and Galileo quickly produced a little book, named Sidereus Nuncius (The Sidereal Messenger). He dedicated the book to Cosimo II de Medici (1590-1621). He named the moons of Jupiter after the Medici family: "Medicean Stars". Before he left Padua he had discovered the appearance of Saturn, later to be shown as caused by a ring surrounding it. In Florence, he discovered that Venus goes through phases just as the Moon does. 

Galileo was then 70 years old. Still, he kept on working. In Siena, he had begun a new book on the sciences of motion and the strength of materials. There he wrote up his unpublished studies that have been interrupted by the interest in the telescope in 1609. The book was active out of Italy and published in Leiden, Netherlands, in 1638, under the title Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla meccanica (Italian) (Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences). By then Galileo had become blind, and he spend his time working with a young student. Vincenzo Viviani, who was with him when he died on January 8, 1642.

What I've Learnt?

• Galileo left university without a degree.
• Galileo named Jupiter's moons after the Medici family.
• Galileo had learnt more subjects than mathematics.
• Galileo was blind after 70 years of age.
• Galileo was crazy about mathematics subjects.
• Galileo had been to different universities.
• Galileo discovered Venus going through phases just like the Moon.
• Galileo had written books about what he had learnt.

The Differences?

For today's post, we are looking at the differences between, comets, meteors, asteroids and meteorites. Our activity was to 'make a poster which explains the difference between comets, meteors, asteroids and meteorites'. In the slideshow, there are the posters that I had made. There is a lot of things to learn. In the end, there is what I have learnt about. Comment down below what you have learnt new about. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

What I have learnt?

• There are billions of comets orbiting the sun in the Kuiper Belt and even more in the Oort Belt.
• There are 3,520 known comets. I thought that there were less than 3,520 comets.
• Some comets are called sungrazers, they get so close that they crash to the sun or they brake up.
• There is a crater in Arizona, the Barringer Meteorite Crater that is 1 kilometre long.
• There are more than 50,000 meteorites have been found on Earth.
• 99.8 percent have been from asteroids, but the 0.2 percent of meteorites are from Mars and the moon.
• They are leftover rock from the early formation of the solar system.
• There are more than 150 asteroids are known to have a small partner moon.

How Many are There?

For writing we had a topic about explanation writing. The class had to write about "How does Sea Turtles grow into an adult?" We watched a video from TedEd named 'The Survival of the Sea Turtle'. I had learnt heaps of new things about Sea Turtles. If you haven't seen my last post about Oceans - A Source of Life, click on the link. I hope you like my writing and post. Comment down below, it would be great. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Watch the video first, then read my writing.

How does Sea Turtles grow into an adult?

Sea Turtles are old, really old, they have been since the late Jurassic, about for 15 million years, still existing today. Well is a sea turtle's life hard? It is hard. Sea Turtles have heaps of challenges in their lives, walking past threats like crabs, gulls and other on their way. But in the oceans there are more threats coming through.

First there are about 50 to 200 eggs are laid. The eggs are shaped as ping-pong balls. The eggs are laid underground on the sand so they are safe. After a month and a half after laying the eggs, the eggs hatch, but 20% never hatch.

Did you know that young Sea Turtles are that small that it could fit your palm. On the way to the shore, debris, pitfalls, crabs, racoons, gulls and other threats eat 50% of the Sea Turtles. Young Sea Turtles come to the surface for some air.

In their first days of their life, they hid by seaweed. After a few months, they avoid those who want to eat them, which making them eat them. They don’t fall into pressure for challenges. After a few years later, the Sea turtles that survive increase their size.

After 2 decades or 20 years of age they will continue their cycle and head off to lay their eggs. Now less than 10% remain from the 50 to 200 Sea turtles. Over the last decade the last several decade, beach development, nets, long lines, plastic and even noxious chemicals including oil, causing their survival rate to drop to around one percent or less. This is the human pressure that has pushed each eight sea turtle species into a threatened or endangered state.

Oceans - A Source of Life

For reading our task was to learn and know about Oceans. We had a book named "Oceans - A Source of Life". There were some scaffolding texts to read. It showed about the oceans. We had to create some type to share our learning. I made a powtoon to show my learning and what I know about Oceans. Also I had learnt some new things about Oceans. Below is my powtoon about oceans. I hope you like my powtoon and post. Comment down below, it would be great. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Life Cycle of Stars

For today's post, we are looking at the life cycle of stars. Our activity was to make a poster or chart about the life cycle of stars. I had something to learn about the Life Cycle of Stars. Also, it is a fun topic too. There are six stages (Protostar, Newborn Star, Stable Star, Red Giant, Planetary Nebula and White Dwarf) in the life cycle. The average life cycle for a star is about 10 billion years. Below is my poster that I had made about the Life Cycle of Stars.

Eclipses!

For today's post, we are looking at Eclipses. We are focusing on the two eclipses, Lunar Eclipse and Solar Eclipse. Well, there was a Solar Eclipse last year in America on 21 August 2017. I had posted a post about the Solar Eclipse. It was known as 'The Great American Eclipse". If you haven't seen the last post about the Car in Space, click here. In this post, I have learnt something new too. I learnt that there are four types of Solar Eclipses. If you have learnt something new comment down below. I hope you like my post about Eclipses. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

A Car in Space?

For today's post, we are looking at a car in space? That's weird. Well, recently Elon Musk the CEO of SpaceX launched his electric sports car into space. I'll tell you some information about the sports car.

Starman in the Roadster

In his sports car is a dummy driver named Starman, dresses in a spacesuit in the driver's seat. His sports car has two names: Roadster and SpaceX Roadster. The rocket launched this year at 7 February, 9:45 AM (New Zealand Daylight Time). SpaceX operates the car. It got launched at John F. Kennedy Space Centre, Launch Complex 39 (LC-39). Really this mission was a test flight. The manufacturer of the car is Tesla and SpaceX.

The license for the launch was issued by the US Office of Commercial Space Transportation on February 2 2018. On February 6 2018, it was placed in Earth parking orbit. The previous launches, SpaceX live streamed a video feed and in this space mission, there are cameras inside and outside the Roadster.

SpaceX did not say how long the mission would run, Elon Musk said the car battery would last for 12 hours, but the live stream actually ran for just over four hours.

Where is Roadster now?

whereisroadster.com, which tracks where is Roadster

The Tesla travelogue has the sports car location, on Wednesday 21 February afternoon. It was 4.5 million kilometres away [0.030 astronomical units (one astronomical unit or AU, is the average distance between the sun and earth - about 150 million km or 93 million miles)] from earth. Roadster's speed is at 12,122 km/h (7,532 miles per hour).

But now, the Roadster is about 216.1 million km (134.3 million miles or 1.445 AU) from Mars, moving at a speed of 69,287 km/h (43,052 mph).

Future Predictions

There are predictions that the time span of the Roadster is over 3 million years! Wow! But there is a chance of 6% Roadster colliding (means accidentally crash) to earth, and around 2.5% crashing in Venus.

I hope you like my post about Elon Musk's car in space. Comment down below. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Is it Really Black?

In Science, we had a choice of what topic would we do. Last term our topic was about Psychology. I chose Astronomy because I like researching about space and I have known about it. So for this post, we are looking at "Black Holes." I have some questions to answer and it would give you some more information that you might not know. I hope you like my post about Black Holes. Please comment down below. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

What are Black Holes?

Black Holes is a place in space where gravity pulls anything around it that even light can not get out from it. The gravity in the Black Hole is so strong because the matter has been squeezed into a tiny size. This can happen when a red giant star is dying. Space telescopes with special tools can find Black Holes.

How big are Black Holes?

Black Holes can be at different sizes, big or small. Scientists think that the smallest black holes are as small as one atom. Black Holes are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain.

Another kind of Black Hole is called "stellar." Its mass can be up to 20 times more than the mass of the sun (The suns mass is 1.989 × 10^30 kg x 20). That would be a huge number! Also, there may be many, many stellar-mass Black Holes in the Milky Way.

The largest Black Holes are called "supermassive." These Black Holes have masses that have more than 1 million suns together. Scientists have proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive Black Hole in its centre. Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole at the centre is called Sagittarius A. It has a mass that equals about 4 million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could fit a few million Earths.

Main Question: How do Black Holes Form?

Scientists think that Black Holes form when the universe formed. Stellar Black Holes are made when the centre of a very big star falls or collapses. When that happens, it causes a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that blasts parts of the star into space (read above of the red giant star).

This is an artist's drawing shows the current view of the Milky Way. Scientific evidence shows that there is a supermassive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way.

What I've learnt?

I had known some information about Black Holes but I had learnt something new about Black Holes. Here's what I've learnt.

• I learnt that: small Black Holes are as small as one atom. 
• I learnt that: there is a different type of Black Hole called a Stellar.
• I learnt that: the Black Holes and Stellars can fit heaps of the suns mass. 
• I learnt that: Sagittarius A is a Black Hole in the centre of the Milky Way.