Homework Reminder
Planet Fact Sheet.doc
MERCURY
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/mercury_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mercury.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mercury
Mercury Hot Topics:
1) Significant difference in perihelion and aphelion. How much different? What is the percent difference?
2) How does the length of a day (rotational period) on Mercury compare to the length of a year (orbital period)? What would it be like on Earth if we had a similar day/year cycle? About how many months would the sun be out during one day? How does Mercury’s unusual cycle affect surface temperatures? Use the solarviews website to help with this one.
3) Make sure you talk about the unmanned missions to Mercury, Mariner and MESSENGER. Maybe you could show a couple pictures from MESSENGER in your presentation.
VENUS
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/venus_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/venus.htm data charts, pictures and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Venus click the tabs at the top
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VenusAnimation.ogg a great animation of Venus rotating that can be downloaded and embedded into keynote
Venus Hot Topics:
1) How does Venus’ atmosphere compare to Earth’s? Gases, pressure, average temperature, etc.
2) There have been several unmanned missions to Venus. One to pay particular attention to would be the Venera missions by the Soviet Union (Russia). They actually landed a robot on the planet and took pictures of the surface. Find some pictures of this and put them in your presentation. What problems did the Venera probes have?
3) What are the two strange thing about Venus’ rotation? One has to do with the rotational direction, one has to do with the day/year cycle.
THE MOON
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/moon_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/moon.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Moon click the tabs at the top
http://space.jaxa.jp/movie/20080411_kaguya_movie01_e.html check out this video taken by a Japanese lunar satellite
1) What causes the phases of the moon?
2) Gotta talk about the Apollo missions, putting man on the moon. Focus on Apollo 11: who went up there, how long was the mission, what did they do, etc.
Here’s one website that has info: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_11/
3) There are some great pictures, videos, and diagrams on Wikipedia.
MARS
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/mars_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mars.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mars click the tabs at the top
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/03/22/the-mars-curse-why-have-so-many-missions-failed/
Mars Hot Topics:
1) How does Mars’ atmosphere compare to Earth’s? Gases, pressure, average temperature, etc.
2) What is the “Mars Curse”, the “Mars Triangle”, and the “Galactic Ghoul”? Use the universetoday website.
3) Check out this site: http://www.marssociety.org/portal or look for others that discuss certain people’s desires to send manned missions to Mars and eventually colonize the planet.
CERES AND THE ASTEROID BELT
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/asteroid_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/ceres.htm
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/asteroid.htm
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Asteroids
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Dwarf
Asteroid Belt Hot Topics:
This is a tough topic as there will be no good answers for many of the worksheet’s questions. Find interesting facts about the asteroid belt and focus on the Dwarf planet Ceres in particular.
1) What do scientists believe caused the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter?
2) How much mass does Ceres have compared to the rest of the asteroid belt? How many asteroid belt objects have actually been found? Does the density of the asteroid belt surprise you?
3) Some other cool asteroids to research and find pictures of would be 951 Gaspra, 243 Ida, and 4 Vesta.
JUPITER
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/jupiter_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/jupiter.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jupiter click the tabs at the top
Jupiter Hot Topics:
1) Some important points: Jupiter’s rings, it’s many moons (don’t focus too much on the 4 big moons, another group is doing that), the Great Red Spot.
2) Jupiter has had a few unmanned missions sent to it. Focus on the Voyager Missions (though, Cassini had some pretty cool flyby pictures) and the upcoming Juno mission.
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter I know it’s wikipedia, but there are some excellent pictures and videos on this site.
JOVIAN MOONS
The “Jovian Moons” are what we call the moons of Jupiter. In particular, focus on the 4 big ones: Callisto, Europa, Io, and Ganymede. The websites above for Jupiter will help, but here are some more:
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/io.htm Sorry for the annoying ads.
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/callisto.htm
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/europa.htm
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/ganymede.htm
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jupiter&Display=Moons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jovian_moons Cool pictures at wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilean_moons
Jovian Moons Hot Topics:
1) Why are the big ones called the “Galilean Moons”?
2) Scientists are particularly interested in Europa because of a certain chemical that makes up its surface? What is the chemical and why does it interest scientists?
3) Io is volcanic and spacecraft have taken some pretty neat pictures and videos of volcanoes and lava flows. Find some here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_%28moon%29
SATURN
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/saturn_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/Saturn.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Saturn click the tabs at the top
Saturn Hot Topics:
1) Obviously, you gotta talk about the rings. Who discovered them, what are they made of, etc.
2) Write some info about Saturn’s many moons. Don’t focus too much on Titan, however, as another group is doing that.
3) Many missions have gone to Saturn, but the one with the best pictures is Cassini, a mission which is still active today. Find some cool pictures on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens
TITAN
Titan is the largest of Saturn’s moons, and the largest moon, period, in the solar system. Use the Saturn links above, as well as these below:
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/titan_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/titan.htm lots of good info and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sat_Titan
Titan Hot Topics:
1) Titan has been proposed has a possible location for extraterrestrial life and human colonization. What’s up with that?
2) The Cassini space mission has taken the best pictures of Titan. Find some good ones on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens
3) The Huygens probe was dropped from the Cassini Spacecraft and took pictures of the surface of Titan. Here is an article with pictures. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/feb2005/titn-f14.shtml
URANUS
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/uranus_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/Uranus.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Uranus click the tabs at the top
Uranus Hot Topics:
1) Gotta talk about the rings
2) Uranus had a very strange rotation. What’s up with that?
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus I know it’s wikipedia, but there are some excellent pictures and videos on this site.
NEPTUNE
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/neptune_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/Neptune.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Neptune click the tabs at the top
Neptune Hot Topics:
1) What was the “Great Dark Spot”? What Happened to it?
2) Neptune has some rings, though they are very faint. Check out Wikipeda for some good pictures, as well as pictures of Neptune’s largest moon, Triton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune
PLUTO
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/pluto_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/Pluto.htm data charts, pictures, and annoying ads
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Pluto click the tabs at the top
Pluto Hot Topics:
1) Debate about planetary status and the IAU’s 2006 decision
2) It’s moons, in particular, Charon.
ERIS AND THE KUIPER BELT
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/eris.htm
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/kuiper.htm
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Dwarf
http://www.astronomytoday.com/astronomy/eris.html
1) Some other TNOs in the Kuiper belt to research are Haumea and Makemake.
2) How many objects have scientists actually found in the Kuiper belt. How many do they think there are?
3) Wikipedia has some good pictures, as well as an animation of the pictures used to discover Eris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_%28dwarf_planet%29
HALLEY’S COMET AND THE OORT CLOUD
You can really talk about whatever comets you want. Halley’s happens to be the most common as it has been passing Earth periodically for thousands of years, so it might be a good one to focus on for the questions. The Oort cloud is a region beyond the Kuiper belt where many astronomers believe many comets originate.
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/comet_worldbook.html
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/comet.htm
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/halley.htm
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/oort.htm
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Comets
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=OortCloud
http://www.ianridpath.com/halley/halley1.htm
1) What’s the difference between long-period and short-period comets? Check out the solarsystem.nasa.gov sites.
2) Here are some other comets to talk about and find pictures of: Hale-Bop (I remember standing in my backyard to see this one in 1997, it’s a long-period, so none of us will ever see it again L), Hyakutake, Holmes, The Great Comet of 1882, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, and Shoemaker-Levy (which crashed into Jupiter in 1994 and left scars across its surface)
3) Space probe missions to check out: Giotto (got up close and personal with Halley’s comet in 1986) and Deep Impact (got close and even crashed a probe into Tempel 1.