Celestial Wanderers

TES Teaching Resource of the Year - 2011

• 88 Miles per hour
• Alien Life
• Astronomy Master Class
• Celestial Wanderers
• It's full of stars
• Recreating the Big Bang
  

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Why would we fly to another planet to study its rocks?

Lesson idea. A look at the geology of solar system and the fleet of robotic explorers that have provided much of the information we have. This is session three of a series of 6 entitled 'Astronomy masterclass' (SC0018).

Teaching approach. Drawing on a rich range of sources, this presentation allows the teacher to introduce planetary geology^(topic), something not normally studied until degree level. It uses the narrative^(ta) of the Voyager Probes journey to illustrate the vastness of the solar system^(topic) and also the challenges of designing a spacecraft to travel that far. It ends with a discussion of the history^(topic) of Mars, and how the differences between it and the Earth resulted in Mars loosing its water and atmosphere whereas we have kept ours.

Resource details
Title	Celestial Wanderers
Topic	[[Topics/Geology|Geology]],  [[Topics/Solar system|Solar system]],  [[Topics/History|History]],  [[Topics/Astronomy|Astronomy]]
Teaching approach	[[Teaching Approaches/Narrative|Narrative]]
Learning Objectives	appreciate the vast differences between the bodies in the solar system and some of the reasons for these differences understand why robots are used to explore these distant worlds understand how asteroid cratering can be used to date surfaces on rocky bodies and how is leads to evidence of water flows on mars and Europa
Format / structure	An 30 minute narrated screencast which is part of the full, six hour 'Astronomy Masterclass'. Also supplied as a Prezi and a Acrobat file should you wish to do the presentation yourself. The Astronomy Masterclass overview tells how the resource was used.
Subject	[[Resources/Science|Science]]
Age of students / grade	[[Resources/Secondary|Secondary]],  [[Resources/KS4|KS4]]
Related ORBIT Wiki Resources	Astronomy Masterclass, It's full of stars, From Earth to Moon, Recreating the Big Bang, 88 Miles per hour, 88 Miles per hour
Files and resources to view and download	Choice of formats: Narrated video - 30 mins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVBU4SrVNvU&feature=relmfu Astronomy Masterclass - Prezi Slide presentation - http://prezi.com/2hk390sfkqjh/the-astronomy-masterclass/ Acrobat PDF document - for session 3, use pages 69-97 of Astronomy masterclass.pdf at https://www.box.com/shared/aqnk3lvr09 (241Mb) TES Resources link - http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-Astronomy-Masterclass-6070303/ This also includes links to other YouTube videos. Title page graphic only:

Teacher's Notes

Session 3 – Celestial Wanderers

Having looked at the moon last session we turn our attention to the rest of the solar system – specifically focusing on the geology and evolution of these rocky bodies.

• The voyager probes were the first close up look at the outer solar system – taking advantage of a rare “lining up” of the gas giants allowing one probe to flyby them all. Video – The story of Voyager 2. Music is NOT Bach but I doubt any student will notice.
  

- http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2

• Feb 14th 1991 Voyager took a departing valentine of the solar system – 6 of the 8 planets would prove visible in its final image before its cameras were shut down.
  

- http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager-20100212.html

• The outer planets
  

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune

• Rocky bodies more interesting as we can see their surfaces.
  
• Mimas has a Massive Crater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimas_(moon)
  
• Such craters also exist on Earth
  

- Manicouagan is clearly visible to astronauts

- http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=3325

• The moon also has many craters – although lava flows in the “seas” have covered over many of them.
  

- Image taken by Apollo 8

- Dating surfaces possible by looking at crater counts. No craters = young surface

• Tycho crater can be seen unaided from the earth. The lines of ejecta cover ¼ of the near side of the moon.
  

- Craters can be dated by the layering of the ejecta’s over older craters.

- Possible that the asteroid that formed tycho was linked to the asteroid that caused the K-T boundary extinction.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_(crater)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptistina_family

• Olympus Mons – Not a crater but the biggest volcano in the solar system.
  

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Mons

• The moons of the gas giants are also rich with surface geology
  
• Io – Jovian System – extremely volcanically active (notice no craters) due to extreme tidal heating from its close orbit with Jupiter
  

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_force

• Europa – Jovian System – Surface also new – but made of water Ice. Theorised to be an ocean of liquid water beneath – kept liquid by the heat generated from radioactivity and tidal energies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B8mer%27s_determination_of_the_speed_of_light

• Titan is the biggest moon in the solar system – all 3 phases of Methane appear to be present on Titan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)
  
• The two stacked images are taken from Mars (top) and from Earth (bottom) only noticeable difference is the more red coloration in the sky.
  
• Venus – covered in cloud – need Radar (next image) to see the surface
  

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

• Mercury – a planet smaller than titan...
  

- No atmosphere as it has been lost due to excessive heat, lack of a magnetic field and low gravity.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_planet

• The final image is one of the surface Mars showing evidence of the Martian Past.
  

- There are plenty of craters however also evidence of water flowing over this surface.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars

End of session 3

Useful cloudy weather applications

• Build a model space probe to carry a delicate payload into orbit.
- Instrumentation simulated by an egg
- Launch simulated by a large plastic box which you shake around for 10 seconds...