woodchurch science » astronomy

planet facts for year 7

woodchurchscience — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:57:10 +0000

go here for some basic research information about our solar system…
mercury
venus
earth
mars
jupiter
saturn
uranus
neptune
pluto (not strictly a planet any more! see here for details)

amazing 3d visualisations from nasa

woodchurchscience — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:09:17 +0000

go here: eyes on the earth, to see real time satellite tracking data, as well as sea ice, CO2, global temp, sea level and ozone data levels. stunning.

birth of the moon

woodchurchscience — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:00:22 +0000

there are four main theories: spin theory, capture theory, double planet theory and large impact theory. do some research using these links.

satellite videos: sputnik and telstar…

woodchurchscience — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:19:46 +0000

here are a couple of videos you could show to introduce the topic of satellites…first up is a newsreel showing how sputnik was launched in 1957, followed by telstar in 1962…
1950s: Reds Launch First Space Satellite, 7th October 1957

1960s: Satellite Brings The World Closer, 12th July 1962

feeling small?…this might put things in perspective

woodchurchscience — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:04:11 +0000

Relative Sizes Of Planets And Stars
View more documents from woodchurchscience.

eclipse videos for 7L

woodchurchscience — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:22:12 +0000

here’s a link to a few videos to watch whilst you are doing 7L solar system and beyond. scroll down and click the ‘download .wmv files.

celestia software

woodchurchscience — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:12:16 +0000

here’s a link to some free software that lets you travel the universe on your computer in three dimensions. unlike most planetarium software, celestia doesn’t confine you to the surface of the earth. you can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. very quick and easy to use…

7L solar system and beyond revision resources

woodchurchscience — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:48:57 +0000

here’s a load of revision resources for 7l (solar system and beyond). there are 16 resources available plus a load of projectable classroom activities for teachers to use.

how long could you survive in the vacuum of space?

woodchurchscience — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:26:22 +0000

apparently i would last 1 minute and 29 seconds. what about you? click here and find out!

job vacancy: free spacesuit

woodchurchscience — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:20:20 +0000

an advert will be in the papers next week looking for europe’s first astronaut to walk on the moon. this will mark the beginning of one of the most exciting recruitment drives in more than 40 years. the european astronaut centre needs more astronauts, and if you’re physically fit, cool under pressure, willing to work away from home and have a good head for heights this could be just the job for you. read the rest of the article here

first google earth…now google moon!

woodchurchscience — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 19:01:29 +0000

this is good. it shows you where apollo missions 11 to 17 landed (13 never made it). amazing that the landings were all so close to each other! google moon. you can also zoom in on each landing site and look at other sections of the moon. fascinating facts and figures.

national schools observatory 7l

woodchurchscience — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:30:07 +0000

this link takes you to the national schools observatory. you will need to register first but once done you can point the telescope to anywhere in space and download images. useful for 7l.

update: mr pooley has registered the school at this site and has about 100 pupil and 10 teacher sign ins to use up.

annual perseid meteor shower this weekend

woodchurchscience — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:04:19 +0000

the perseid meteor shower is an annual event and shooting stars are set to grace the night sky with a spectacular light display this weekend. the meteor shower will reach its peak during the early hours of monday, but it will be visible from saturday night until tuesday morning. the celestial show will be most apparent in the north-eastern part of the sky near the perseus constellation. if the skies remain clear, it will offer stargazers the best opportunity for a few years to see the perseids. the shower this year coincides with a new moon, providing sky watchers with the dark skies necessary for excellent observing conditions.

the moon wiki

woodchurchscience — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 18:31:31 +0000

if you’ve seen our wiki site (where you can write our webpages) you’ll know that it’s only about 10 to 15 pages. here’s a fantastic example of a wiki page where there are over 2000 pages! if you ever need any information about our moon this is the place to go.

best eclipse in years – tonight!

woodchurchscience — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 19:38:36 +0000

the eclipse begins at 2018 gmt, with the moon totally immersed in the shadow of the earth between 2244 and 2358 gmt.
during “totality”, only light that has been filtered through the earths atmosphere reaches the moons surface, making it appear a reddish colour. should be largely cloudless in the northwest tonight so get out there…

that new ‘planet’ gets a name: eris

woodchurchscience — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 17:56:06 +0000

astronomers have decided to call what was originally xena or snappily 2003 ub313, ‘eris’. in greek mythology, eris caused a quarrel among goddesses sparking one of the trojan wars. in astronomy circles, eris has also caused strife, forcing scientists to produce a strict definition of the term planet – and has led to pluto losing its planet status that it had held since its discovery in 1930. both eris and pluto (together with the largest asteroid, ceres) are now classified as ‘dwarf planets.

back to the moon

woodchurchscience — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 13:12:11 +0000

[listen to this blog entry!]

nasa has selected lockheed martin as the prime contractor to design, develop, and build orion, america’s spacecraft for a new generation of explorers.

the orion crew capsule will carry astronauts back to the moon and later to mars. the first flight with astronauts aboard is planned for no later than 2014. orion’s first flight to the moon is planned for no later than 2020.
orion improves on the best features of the apollo project and the space shuttle program, increasing the likelihood of success. orion is being designed to fly to the moon, but could also be used to service the international space station in low-earth orbit. more information together with simulated video clips here

honk if pluto is still a planet!

woodchurchscience — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 12:47:51 +0000

yesterday astronomers agreed (?) to demote pluto and strip it of its planetary status so that the new solar system contains both planets and ‘dwarf’ planets – pluto amongst them. this has upset a lot of people, who have claimed that the vote was hijacked. apparently there were 10000 astronomers eligible but only 424 stayed to vote!

some people are so upset that they have even started selling bumper stickers in support of pluto. you can buy them here!

the new solar system?

woodchurchscience — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:08:28 +0000

click here for a bigger version, or here for an enormous version!
the world’s astronomers have concluded two years of work defining the lower end of the planet scale – what defines the difference between “planets” and “solar system bodies”. if the definition is approved our solar system will consist of 12 planets: mercury, venus, earth, mars, ceres, jupiter, saturn, uranus, neptune, pluto, charon and 2003 ub313. the three new proposed planets are ceres, charon (pluto’s companion) and 2003 ub313.
in this artist’s impression (above) the planets are drawn to scale, but without correct relative distances.

goodbye pluto?

woodchurchscience — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:34:26 +0000

so there’s a meeting today to decide if our 9th planet is to be downgraded, deleted or left where it is. apparently a bigger lump of rock, though equally far away is up for recognition as a planet with the catchy name of 2003UB313 (it has been nicknamed xena, of warrior princess fame). caltech’s mike brown has a really interesting and easy to understand website about it’s discovery.
if pluto does disappear from the 9, then it’s going to be interesting trying to come up with a mnemonic for our solar system: my very easy method just speeds up naming xena? doesn’t quite work now does it?

blue rings discovered around uranus

woodchurchscience — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 18:25:26 +0000

the outermost ring of Uranus, discovered just last year, is bright blue, making it only the second known blue ring in the solar system, according to a report this week in the journal science. both blue rings are associated with smaller orbiting moons. you can read more about these findings here or here or even here.

aerogel

woodchurchscience — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 16:29:04 +0000

so just what is that amazing material that was used by the stardust comet project to collect space dust? it’s actually made of the same material as glass (silicon oxide) but is 1000 times less dense and is nearly all air (99.8%). it was discovered in california in the 1930s but largely forgotten because there was no use for it. it can be used as an insulating material: an inch thick pane has the same insulating properties as 15 panes of glass and air. read more about the stardust project and aerogel here.

new horizons – mission to pluto

woodchurchscience — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 19:19:50 +0000

the new horizons mission to pluto takes off today at 1930hrs (weather permitting) on a 9 year mission to pluto. visit nasa’s main site, learn more about the mission at this bbc guide, or read about the whole project at johns hopkins university applied physics laboratory (if you are quick you could see the launch live on their webcam!)

women in space

woodchurchscience — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:52:57 +0000

it seems that there are some women being paid to lie in bed for two months! to aid research into weightlessness scientists are studying what happens to the female human body when it’s immobile for weeks on end (they have plenty of data about men, but not so much for women). so some female astronauts are being paid (!) just to lie in bed. great job if you can get it. read more here

mars

woodchurchscience — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 14:03:22 +0000

the planet mars is at its closest to earth today (a mere 43 million miles). with a clear night and reasonably powerful binoculars or a small telescope the planet should be visible as a small bright disc. read a bbc news article