Welcome back to the planetarium 5th grade

Mr. Taylor

Hubble Space Telescope• In 1990 the Hubble space telescope was launched to see objects in space more clearly•In the last 20+ years it has made many discoveries

– age of the universe– black holes in the center of all galaxies–How stars and planets form–The most distant galaxies

The Spitzer space telescope and the Chandra space telescope also study the universe

It circles the Earth every 90 minutes

Hubble

Hubble

Hubble

Hubble’s greatest hits

Hubble’s greatest hits

• Hubble recently helped discover planets around other stars and analyze the atmosphere of several

Kepler has found over 1200 planets around different stars

Where are we?

- 200 billion stars in the Milky Way

- contains a minimum of 100 billion planets

new planets being discovered

54 are Earth sized and in habitable zone

Space Exploration

1957 – the launch of Sputnik by Russia started the space race

April 12, 1961

• Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (left, on the way to the launch pad) became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft.

Last year was the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight

Apollo missions• There were 17 Apollo mission to the moon,

including 6 that landed on the moon and performed many experiments

Earthrise from Apollo 16

Space Shuttle• There were over 130 space shuttle missions

from 1981-2011• Jobs for the space shuttle include launching

satellites, performing science experiments, and bringing astronauts to the space station

Space shuttles• Were retired after 30 years of space flights

including 135 separate launches• Discovery flew its last mission in late February, Endeavor on April 29th, and Atlantis was the last shuttle to fly on July 8th, 2011

• Two space shuttles have been lost – Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003

Discovery

Atlantis

Space Station• The space station has been in orbit around

Earth since 1998 and is run by many different nations including the US

• There are several astronauts there now

Space Station

Space Station – spacewalk 5/22/11

Soyuz launch 4/5/11

Constellation Mission• Constellation will fly first to the space

station, then the Moon, and finally Mars

Mercury and Venus• The Messenger spacecraft is orbiting around

Mercury and studying the smallest planet• In 1990 Magellan used RADAR to map the

surface of Venus

MESSENGER mission

• In March became first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury

First image from orbit

Mars Missions

• We have sent several unmanned missions to Mars to study its past and present history, and the possibility of humans visiting some day

http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20100503a.html

Current Events – Spirit is “dead”

Mars rover “Curiosity”

• Curiosity is twice as long (about 2.8 meters, or 9 feet) and four times as heavy as Spirit and Opportunity (size of a Mini-Cooper)

• Has a new way of landing• 10 tools to examine rocks, soil and the

atmosphere• 6 wheels• Nuclear battery instead

of solar powered

“Face” of Curiosity

Missions to the Outer Planets• Voyager I and II missions launched in 1977 to

study Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune• Both spacecraft have left the solar system, but

continue to send information back to us from about 10 billion miles away

Missions to the Outer Planets• The Galileo mission visited and studied

Jupiter and its moons in 1995• Cassini-Huygens is currently studying

Saturn and its largest moon Titan

Missions to the Outer Planets• The Galileo mission studied Jupiter’s

moons including the 4 largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto

Titan• Saturn’s largest moon Titan is the second

biggest moon in the solar system, is bigger than Mercury, and has an atmosphere and weather – even ice volcanoes

Pluto• The New Horizon mission was launched to

study Pluto in 2006, and will reach Pluto in 2015. It is the fastest spacecraft ever launched and flies at 50,000 mph.

Other solar system objects studied

• Comets• Asteroids• The sun• Earth’s atmosphere

Winter constellations:

In the sky this week:

In the sky tonight:• Sirius is not only the

brightest star after the Sun, but at a distance of 8.6 light-years, it's also the nearest star that's visible to the naked eye from mid-northern latitudes.

• 8.6 light years = 50,000,000,000,000 miles Canis Major: The Big Dog

In the night sky

• The 6 brightest objects in the night sky can be seen from Earth right now:– the Moon (seriously bright!)

Venus (magnitude -4.3)Jupiter (magnitude -2.2)Sirius (magnitude -1.4)Mars (magnitude -1.2)Mercury (magnitude -1.2 and fading)

In the sky this week:

In the sky this week:

In the sky this week:• Jupiter, Venus, Mars

• Waning gibbous moon

• Pegasus, Andromeda, Taurus, Orion

• Cepheus, Cassiopeia, The “dippers”, Draco

• Mars rover “Curiosity” – Lands 8/6/12