Advanced Topics in Earth

Science & Space Travel

Aileen L. Casuga

Earth Science- a special branch

of science that examines the
earth, how it was formed, and
how it changes. It also deals
with the study of the planet
Earth internally and externally.

What is Astronomy?

Astronomy- is a branch of science

dealing with the study of the
heavenly bodies or the universe.

Ancient Astronomy
Began thousands of years
ago in the Middle East and, at
least in the ancient world,
reached a pinnacle with the
Greeks 2000 years ago. At that
time, the stars and planets were
still mysterious lights in the sky,
and the Earth was thought to be
at the center of the Universe.

In the 16th Century, Nicolaus

Copernicus, a Polish astonomer,
proposed that the Earth is simply a
planet and that all planets orbit the
sun. His revolutionary view was
confirmed in the following century
by the Italian Galileo Galilei, using
the newly invented telescope.
Johannes Kepler, a German
mathematician, worked out that
planets orbit on elliptical paths, and
the Englishman Isaac Newton
explained the gravitational forces
governing all orbital motions.

Modern Astronomy
From Newtons time in the 17th
century onward, it was recognized
that the stars are other suns, but
only in the 20th century, with the
work of the American astronomer
Edwin Hubble, did it become clear
that our Galaxy of stars is only one
among countless others and that the
Universe as a whole is expanding as
though from a massive explosion
billion of years ago.

Astronomer- is a scientist who

studies the stars and other
heavenly bodies.

Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus
revolutionized science by postulating that the earth and
other planets revolve about a stationary sun. Developed
in the early 1500s but not published until years later, his
heliocentric (sun-centered) theory disputed the
Ptolemaic theory, popular at the time, which held that the
sun and the planets revolved about the fixed earth.
Copernicus at first hesitated in publishing his findings
because he feared criticism from the scientific and
religious communities. After suffering initial disbelief and
rejection, however, the Copernican system ranked as the
most accepted concept of the universe by the late 17th
century.

Galileo
Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo maintained
that the earth revolved around the sun, disputing the
belief held by the Roman Catholic church that the earth
was the center of the universe. He refused to obey
orders from Rome to cease discussions of his theories
and was sentenced to life imprisonment. It was not
until 1984 that a papal commission acknowledged that
the church was wrong.

Cosmology
The study of the origin,
properties, processes, and
evolution of the universe.

Cosmonaut- is a person who has

been trained to fly in space. Most
cosmonauts have come from
Russia. Many flew in spacecraft
launched by the Soviet Union.
Cosmonaut are trained in the
same way as the Americans
astronauts.

Yuri Gagarin
An air force pilot and cosmonaut, Yuri
Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human
in space on the historic 1961 flight of Vostok
1. Approximately 327 km (203 mi) above the
earth at his highest point, Gagarins ship
made a single orbit around the planet. The
total time of the flight was 1 hour 48 minutes.

Valentina Tereshkova
Russian cosmonaut Valentina
Tereshkova was the first woman to
enter space. She piloted the Vostok
6 in orbit around the earth for four
days in 1963.

Neil Armstrong
Commander of the 1969 Apollo 11
lunar mission, Neil Armstrong was the
first person to walk on the moon. An
aeronautical pioneer, Armstrong also
took part in the first in-space docking
of two vehicles. He was the first
civilian to enter NASAs astronaut
program.

Astrometry- is the measure of the

position and apparent motions
of celestial objects and attempt
to understand the factors that
influence such movements.

What is a Galaxy?

The Universe
The universe is everything that
exists all matters, space, and
time.

Most of the visible matter in

the universe is grouped in huge
aggregations of stars, gas and
dusts called galaxies.

Galaxies

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Milky Way Galaxy

Our own solar system exists within one
of the spiral arms of the disk-shaped
galaxy called the Milky Way. This falsecolor image looks toward the center of the
Milky Way, located 30,000 light-years away.
Bright star clusters are visible along with
darker areas of dust and gas.

Hubble Photo of Galaxy M100

The Hubble Space Telescope
captured this image of the core of
galaxy M100. M100 is a spiral galaxy
about 1,500 light-years from Earth.

Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy, a spiral galaxy similar
to our own Milky Way Galaxy, is the farthest
object from Earth visible to the naked eye. Its
whirlpool of stars can be seen from the
Northern Hemisphere in the constellation
Andromeda. The Milky Way and Andromeda
galaxies are part of a group of galaxies called
the Local Group, which in turn is part of larger
group called the Virgo Cluster.

Galaxies M86 and M84

The elliptical galaxies M86 (center) and
M84 (right) are members of the Virgo
cluster of galaxies, located about 50
million light-years away from our smaller
cluster, the Local Group. Elliptical galaxies
are populated by older stars and contain
little interstellar matter. They are usually
the brightest galaxies.

What are stars?

Stars are balls of gas that

energy produced by nuclear
reactions within their cores.
Most stars are similar to the
Sun, our nearest star.

Globular Star Cluster

Globular clusters are compact,
spherical groups of stars that occur
on the outskirts of galaxies. Globular
clusters are some of the oldest
structures in galaxies, and contain
some of the oldest stars.
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Types of Stars

Supernova 1987A
The Hubble Space Telescope took this
photo of the aftermath of the 1987A
supernova in 1994, seven years after the
light from the exploding star first reached
Earth. The supernova occurred in the
Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy
of the Milky Way. Scientists do not yet
agree on the mechanism that created the
rings surrounding the remnants of the star.

WHERE DO STARS COME FROM?

Starsarebornfromswirling clouds
of gas and dust. Gravity pulls the gas
and dust together. The gas and dust
form a spinning ball. As it spins, it
gets hotter. The gas and dust get
tightly packed. Finally, nuclear fusion
begins and the star starts to shine.

Formation of Stars

A STARS LIFE
Therearedifferentstages in a stars life, just
as there are different stages in the lives of people.
Right after a star is born it starts to get smaller.
After a million years of shrinking, the star enters
the main sequence of its life.
Afterabout10billion years, the stars core runs
out of fuel. The star grows many times larger than
it was during the main sequence. At this stage the
star is called a red giant. What happens next
depends on the size of the star.

How do you call the group of

stars that form certain patterns
in the sky?

Constellations
The group of stars that form
certain patterns in the sky.

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Constellation

How many constellations are

there in the Northern and
Southern Hemisphere?

The Taurus Constellation

The Taurus constellation contains Aldebaran, one of
the brightest stars in the night sky. Some 55 light-years
away, Aldebaran is 100 times as luminous as the Sun and
has a diameter 36 times as great. Its orange color makes
it easy to identify. Taurus also contains the star cluster
called the Pleiades, which appears to be a tight group of
six individual stars. Each starlet in the Pleiades actually
comprises several hundred stars located very close to
one another but hundreds of light-years from Earth.

Constellation Names and Meanings

Ancient people and astronomers often saw
designs or groupings in the stars and named them
after various religious figures, animals, and objects.
This table lists some of the more prominent
constellations and translates their names.

Constellations of the Zodiac

Ancient astronomers noted that the sun makes a yearly

journey across the celestial sphere, part of which is represented
in the picture by the blue band. The ancient astronomers
associated dates with the constellations in this narrow belt
(which is known as the zodiac), assigning to each constellation
of stars the dates when the sun was in the same region of the
celestial sphere as the constellation. The twelve zodiacal signs
for these constellations were named by the 2nd-century
astronomer Ptolemy, as follows: Aries (ram), Taurus (bull),
Gemini (twins), Cancer (crab), Leo (lion), Virgo (virgin), Libra
(balance), Scorpio (scorpion), Sagittarius (archer), Capricorn
(goat), Aquarius (water-bearer), and Pisces (fishes).

What is the solar system made up of?

SOLAR SYSTEM
TheSunandeverything that orbits
the Sun, including the nine planets
and their satellites; the asteroids
and comets; and interplanetary dust
and gas. The term may also refer to
a group of celestial bodies orbiting
another star

The Solar system

Which is the center of the solar system?

The Sun

The Sun and its Interior

Mercury
Mercury orbits closer to the Sun than any other
planet, making it dry, hot, and virtually airless.
Although the planets cratered surface resembles
that of the Moon, it is believed that the interior is
actually similar to Earths, consisting primarily of
iron and other heavy elements. This composite
photograph was taken in 1974 by Mariner 10, the
first probe to study Mercury in detail.

Venus
Venus is the brightest object in our sky, after
the sun and moon. Swirling clouds of sulfur and
sulfuric acid obscure Venuss surface and inhibited
study of the planet from Earth until technology
permitted space vehicles, outfitted with probes, to
visit it. These probes determined that Venus is the
hottest of the planets, with a surface temperature
of about 460 C (about 860 F). Scientists believe
that a greenhouse effect causes the extreme
temperature, hypothesizing that the planets thick
clouds and dense atmosphere trap energy from the
sun.

Earth
An oxygen-rich and protective atmosphere,
moderate temperatures, abundant water, and a
varied chemical composition enable Earth to
support life, the only planet known to harbor life.
The planet is composed of rock and metal, which
are present in molten form beneath its surface. The
Apollo 17 spacecraft took this snapshot in 1972 of
the Arabian Peninsula, the African continent, and
Antarctica (most of the white area near the
bottom).

Moon
-namegiventotheonly natural satellite of
Earth. The Moon is the second brightest
object in Earths sky, after the Sun, and
has accordingly been an object of wonder
and speculation for people since earliest
times. The natural satellites of the other
planets in the solar system are also
sometimes referred to as moons.

Phases of the Moon

The appearance of the Moon from Earth
depends on the relative positions of the Earth,
Moon, and Sun. This illustration shows what the
Moon looks like from Earth at different stages of
the Moon's orbit.

Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.
It is about half as big as Earth. Mars is
more like Earth than any other planet in
the solar system. Its surface is like a very
cold desert. There is ice, but no liquid
water. Mars has reddish-brown rocks and
soil. We often call Mars the red planet
because from Earth, it looks bright red in
the night sky.

Jupiter and its Moons

Jupiter is the largest of the planets, with a

volume more than 1,300 times greater than that of
Earth. Jupiters colorful bands are caused by strong
atmospheric currents and accentuated by a dense
cloud cover. The massive planet, upper right, is
shown here with its four largest satellites: Io, upper
left, Ganymede, lower left, Europa, center, and
Callisto, lower right.

Great Red Spot

Jupiters Great Red Spot is a huge
storm that swirls around in the planets
atmosphere. The spot is as wide as three
Earths!

Saturn
Saturn, distinguished by its rings,
is the second largest planet in the solar
system. This processed Hubble Space
Telescope image shows the planets
cloud bands, storms, and rings as they
would appear to the human eye.

Uranus
Uranuss blue-green color comes from the
methane gas present in its cold, clear atmosphere.
The dark shadings at the right edge of the sphere
correspond to the day-night boundary on the planet.
Beyond this boundary, Uranuss northern hemisphere
remains in a four-decade-long period of darkness
because of the way the planet rotates. Scientists
compiled this view of Uranus from images returned
from Voyager 2 in 1986, when the probe was 9.1
million km (5.7 million mi) away from the planet.

Uranus

Uranuss blue-green color comes from the methane gas

present in its cold, clear atmosphere. The dark shadings
at the right edge of the sphere correspond to the daynight boundary on the planet. Beyond this boundary,
Uranuss northern hemisphere remains in a four-decadelong period of darkness because of the way the planet
rotates. Scientists compiled this view of Uranus from
images returned from Voyager 2 in 1986, when the probe
was 9.1 million km (5.7 million mi) away from the planet.

Pluto

Pluto is farther from the Sun than the major

planets in the solar system, although it
occasionally moves in closer than Neptune due to
an irregular orbit. The small, rocky, and cold world
takes 247.7 years to revolve around the Sun. This
artist's rendition depicts Pluto, foreground; its
moon, Charon, background; and the distant Sun,
upper right.

What are the other members of

the Solar System?

COMETS
-consists of frozen gas and dust,
exist in the edge of the solar
system

Halleys Comet
This picture shows Halleys Comet passing
near the Sun in 1986. The comet is named for
British astronomer Edmond Halley, who discovered
that comets orbit the Sun.

Meteor

A meteor, or shooting star, streaks

across the night sky. Meteors begin as
chunks of rock or metal drifting through
space. As they fall through Earths
atmosphere, they heat up until they glow
bright enough to be seen from the ground.

Asteroid
Asteroid Mathilde, is the third and
the largest asteroid ever to be
viewed at close range. The Near
Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)
spacecraft flew by Mathilde in late
June 1997.

Asteroid Hitting Earth

asteroid hit Earth, as shown in this artists
sketch, the results could be disastrous. Many
scientists believe that such an impact occurred
about 65 million years ago, changing the Earths
climate enough to kill off the dinosaurs.

What are the instruments used

by astronomers in observing the
sky?


Telescope
Telescopes help us see things that are far
away. They make distant objects look
bigger.

Refracting Telescope

The simplest refracting telescope has two convex

lenses, which are thicker in the middle than at the
edges. The lens closest to the object is called the
objective lens. This lens collects light from a
distant source and brings it to a focus as an upsidedown image within the telescope tube. The
eyepiece lens forms an image that remains
inverted. More complex refracting telescopes
contain an additional lens to flip the image rightside up.

Newtonian Reflecting Telescope

The first reflecting telescope was designed by Sir Isaac
Newton in 1668. A reflecting telescope uses a curved mirror to
focus the light. Light from distant objects such as stars and
galaxies enters the telescope tube in parallel rays. These rays
are reflected from the concave mirror to a diagonal plane
mirror. The diagonal mirror reflects the light through a hole in
the side of the telescope tube to a lens in the eyepiece.
Reflecting telescopes can be made larger than refracting
telescopes because the curved mirror can be supported along
its entire surface, while a large lens can only be supported at
its edges. A large surface can collect more light from distant
stars than a small surface. Modern reflecting telescopes
include the 508-cm (200-in) reflector at the Palomar
Observatory in California and the 400-cm (158-in) reflector at
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near La Serena, Chile.

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope, free of the distorting effects
of the earths atmosphere, has an unprecedented view of
distant galaxies. Placed in orbit in 1990, scientists
discovered soon after the telescope became operational
that its 240-cm (94.5-in) primary mirror was flawed.
However, a repair mission completed by space shuttle
astronauts in December 1993 successfully installed
corrective optics which compensated for the flawed mirror.

Early Telescopes

Although a Dutch optician probably designed the first

telescope, it was Galileo who turned it rigorously on the heavens
in the early 17th century. Galileo used a refracting telescope
(top) with a convex lens at the front and a concave lens at the
viewing end. The 18th-century refracting telescope (middle)
produced images that were blurred because of the different
indexes of its combined lenses. The bottom scope is a reflecting
telescope, which used two mirrors and an eyepiece lens, a setup
that eliminates the problems of long viewing tubes and color
distortion.

Astrophotography
- Photography of astronomical objects
- The art of photographing
astronomical objects and events for
astronomical studies

I hope you enjoyed listening.

Thank you very much!
Aileen L. Casuga