Wow! Our Solar System

For this post, we are looking at our solar system. Not just the solar system we also made a model of the solar system, with polystyrene. It took some periods, but it was awesome. It was fun. First, I got some polystyrene balls and coloured them. Next, I let them dry and added skewers and placed them on the polystyrene box. Later I attached the rings to Saturn. When I completed my model it looked outstanding. In this post, we will tell you why do outer planets or gas planets have rings. Comment down what you've learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Solar System
Finished Product

Me painting Uranus

Me painting Mars

Me with the Solar System

What are the sizes of the Planets

The planets go from smallest to largest in diameter.

• Mercury - 4,879.4 km
• Mars - 6,787 km
• Venus - 12,104 km
• Earth - 12,756 km
• Neptune - 49,528 km
• Uranus - 51,118 km
• Saturn - 120,600 km
• Jupiter - 142,800 km

Rings

Why do gas planets have rings?

Well the outer planets are of course far away from the sun where they have more debris, (means something wrecked or destroyed) left over when they were formed, so they turned into rings or moons.

Why don't inner planets have rings?

The inner planets are too close to the sun and have more sunlight, the sunlight sublimes the ice (makes solid into gas), which makes the solar wind sweeps the dust away.

What I've learnt?

• The outer planets have rings because they have more debris.
• The inner planets don't have rings because the planets are too close and the solar wind sweeps the dust away.
• Mars is the second smallest planet
• Neptune is smaller than Uranus by 2,000 km.
• Saturn is x2 the size than Uranus - Uranus, 51,118 km - Saturn, 120,600 km
• Jupiter is nearly x3 the than Uranus - Uranus, 51,118 km - Jupiter - 142,800 km

Our Satellite

For today's post we are looking at our Moon. In this post there will be information about the moon, the phases of our moon. Comment down what you've learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Our moon is the satellite of our Earth. Our Moon is the brightest and largest object in the night sky. The Moon was named as the "Moon" because there wasn't any other moon discovered, that time. In 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered four moons or Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter. In Latin, our Moon was called Luna, which is our Moon-related: lunar.

Size and Distance

The size and distance of our Moon, with a radius of, 1,737.5 kilometres. Our Moon is less than a third of Earth. Did you know that the moon is far away than most people think, the moon is an average 384,400 km away from Earth. That means that there would be 30 Earth-sized planets between the Earth and the moon. If the Earth was a size of a nickel than the moon would be the size of a coffee bean. The moon is getting about 2.54 centimetres away from Earth every year.

How did the moon form?

The theory of the moon being formed is when a Mars-sized body crashed into Earth about 4.5 billion years ago.

The moon's core is smaller than other inner planets. The hard, iron-rich inner core is 240 km in radius.

Structure 

The surrounded liquid iron shell, 90 km thick. A partly molten layer with a thickness of 150 km, surrounds the iron core. The mantle expands from the top of the partly molten layer to the bottom of the moon's crust. It is more likely made of minerals like, olivine and pyroxene, which are made up of magnesium, iron, silicon with oxygen atoms.

Atmosphere

The moon's atmosphere is very thin and weak, called an exosphere. The atmosphere doesn't provide any protection from the sun's radiation or the impacts of meteoroids.

Missions

Left: Neil Armstrong
Center: Michael Collins
Right: Buzz Aldrin
Credits: wikipedia.com

Luna 1 spacecraft
Credits: wikipedia.com

The first seven missions were unsuccessful, there were four Pioneer spacecrafts, that had failed. But Luna 1, was the first moon flyby.

Luna 1 launched on January 2, 1959. The next Luna spacecraft, Luna 2 was fully successful. Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to impact the moon's surface. On September 14, 1959, Luna 2 reached to the moon by crashing the moon. Luna 3, had a flyby, it was successful, Luna 3 took the first pictures of the lunar farside. Most of the Luna spacecrafts had succeeded, but some had been unsuccessful. Luna 9 was the first lunar soft landing and the first picture from the lunar surface.

Surveyor 1 was the first U.S. moon landing and first U.S. photo from the lunar surface.

Apollo 8 was successful and was the first humans to orbit the moon. Apollo 11 was a famous knowing spacecraft because Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to land on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the only two to step on the moon.

What I've learnt?

• In Latin, the moon means lunar.
• Our moon is less than a third of our Earth.
• 30 Earth-sized planets could fit between the Earth and the moon.
• The moon is getting 2.54 centimetres away from Earth every year.
• Our moon formed 4.5 billion years ago.
• In our Moon, there are elements like olivine, pyroxene, magnesium, iron, silicon, and oxygen atoms.
• The atmosphere is very thin and weak, that is called an exosphere.
• The first seven moon missions had failed. Luna 1 was the first layby spacecraft to reach the moon. Luna 2 had reached the moon's surface. 

The Belt?

For today's post we are looking at the Asteroid Belt. Do you know where is the asteroid belt. How far is it? How many belts are there? In this post we are answering those questions and giving you information about the asteroid belt. Comment down below what you have learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

The Asteroid Belt
Credits: space-facts.com

The asteroid belt is a ring with dust, rock, asteroids and minor planets that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid belt is more than two to three as far from the sun to Earth (AU - Astronomical Units, the distance of the sun and Earth, 93 million miles, 150 million km). In the asteroid belt it contains billions, could be trillions of asteroids. Most of the asteroids are small, the size from a boulder (a rock with a size greater than 25.6 centimetres in diameter) to around 300 metres in diameter. But some are really larger.

The largest asteroid, 4 Vesta

Most of the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt are made out of rock and stone, but there less of iron and nickel metals containing. The other asteroids are made up of mix of carbon-rich materials. Some of the distance asteroids contain more ices. But there is evidence that some asteroids contain water.

Some asteroids are large and hard bodies. There are more than 16 of those in the belt with a diameter greater than 240 km. The largest asteroids, 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas and 10 Hygiea, are 400 km long lore bigger. The largest asteroid, Ceres, a dwarf planet is the diameter of 950 km, or about a quarter of the size of our moon.

The Discovery of the Asteroid Belt

In the 18th century, Johann Titius, a German astronomer, noted a mathematical pattern in the layout of the planets and used it to predict the existence of one between Mars and Jupiter. In 1800, 25 astronomers organised a group known as the Celestial Police, searching 15 degrees of the Zodiac for the missing planet, in the group there was a Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi, he named it Ceres. There was another body found, it was found a year later named Pallas. For sometime, both, Ceres and Pallas were referred as planets. By then the discovery rate of those asteroids increased, by the beginning of the 19th century, more than 100 asteroids had been found. After that, scientists quickly realised that the asteroids were too small to be considered as planets, and they began to call them asteroids. 

What I've learnt?

• Some of the asteroids are made of iron and nickel metal.
• Other asteroids are made out of mix carbon-rich materials.
• There are more than 16 asteroids like 4 Vesta, 2 Pellas, 10 Hygiea etc:
• There are large asteroids like 4 Vesta, 2 Pellas and 10 Hygiea.
• Ceres is the diameter of 950 km and about a quarter of the size of our moon.
• Johann Titius noted a mathematical patter in the layout of the planets.
• Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres and he named it
• Ceres and Pallas was before named as a planet.

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 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.

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.

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.