Modeling the Orbits of the Outer Planets

Transcription

1 Name Modeling the Orbits of the Outer Planets (a NASA New Horizons activity) Materials Paper clip Scissors Glue Pencil and crayons or markers Planet sheets Safety Concerns: Scissors. Discuss safe and proper use of scissors. Procedure 1. Cut all the shapes following the instructions on the Student Activity Sheets. 2. Glue planets onto the edge of the correct planet s orbital disk. 3. Unbend one end of the paperclip. Using this end of the paperclip, poke a hole through the point marked Sun on each of the orbital disks. Work from the outer planets, inward (i.e. first poke hole through Pluto s orbital disk, next through Neptune s, etc.). 4. Bend the long end of the paperclip back into place so the planets orbital disks don t fall off. Answer the following questions: 1. How does spinning the planets around the Sun model what is happening in space?

2 2. On your model, where would the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars be located? What is different about the sizes of these inner planets orbits compared to the orbits of the outer planets? Select and answer one of the following on a separate sheet of paper. (Your response must be complete, neatly written, and fully cover the topic. A sentence or two will not adequately answer the question): Make a bar graph comparing the distances of the outer planets. Review the New Horizons fact sheet. Write a paper about the mission. Make a model of Pluto. Write a paragraph about Pluto.

3 MODELING THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETS STUDENT ACTIVITY SHEET Cut out the orbits of the five Outer Planets along the dotted lines. Color then cut out the five Outer Planets. Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto Product of NASA s New Horizons Program Education & Public Outreach 1

4 Cut out this piece! Product of NASA s New Horizons Program Education & Public Outreach 2

5 Product of NASA s New Horizons Program Education & Public Outreach 3

6 The First Mission to the Pluto System and the Kuiper Belt Voyage to an Unexplored Planet and a New Realm The New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the planet Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt a relic of solar system formation. The Journey New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006; it swung past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and will conduct a five-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and Charon in summer Pluto closest approach is scheduled for July 14, As part of an extended mission, the spacecraft is expected to head farther into the Kuiper Belt to examine one or two of the ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion miles beyond Neptune s orbit. Sending a spacecraft on this long journey will help us answer basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies. New Science The National Academy of Sciences has ranked the exploration of the Kuiper Belt including Pluto of the highest priority for solar system exploration. Generally, New Horizons seeks to understand where Pluto and its moons fit in with the other objects in the solar system, such as the inner rocky planets (Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury) and the outer gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, belong to a third category known as ice dwarfs. They have solid surfaces but, unlike the terrestrial planets, a significant portion of their mass is icy material. In 2005, using Hubble Space Telescope images, New Horizons team members discovered two previously unknown moons of Pluto, Nix and Hydra. A close-up look at these worlds from a spacecraft promises to tell an incredible story about the origins and outskirts of our solar system. New Horizons also will explore for the first time how ice dwarf planets like Pluto and Kuiper Belt bodies have evolved over time. The Need to Explore The United States has been the first nation to reach every planet from Mercury to Neptune with a space probe. If New Horizons is successful, it will allow the U.S. to complete the initial reconnaissance of the solar system. A Team Approach Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, of NASA Headquarters, leads the mission team. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) manages the mission for NASA, and designed, built and operates the spacecraft. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is responsible for science payload operations, and data reduction and archiving, and participates in the science team. The mission team also includes KinetX, Inc. (navigation team), Ball Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University, Lockheed Martin Corporation, University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy and a number of other firms, NASA centers and university partners. NASA s First New Frontiers Mission Artist s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft and Pluto-Charon

7 Almost Ten Years and Over Three Billion Miles Earth Jupiter Fall 2014: Reconnaissance begins about 200 days before the spacecraft s closest approach to Pluto. Pluto April July 2015: Exploration of the Pluto system begins with a 5-month intensive study to understand these mysterious worlds. On July 14, New Horizons will make its closest approach to Pluto and its moons. January 19, 2006: New Horizons spacecraft lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida the fastest spacecraft ever launched. February 2007: New Horizons gets a gravity assist from Jupiter and gathers unique, exciting science data on the giant planet and its moons : With NASA approval, the spacecraft will be directed toward one or more Kuiper Belt Objects beyond Pluto. SWAP PEPSSI LORRI VBSDC (Under spacecraft; not visible) Join the Adventure New Horizons on the Web REX ALICE RALPH Science Payload Ralph: Visible and infrared imager/spectrometer; provides color, composition and thermal maps. Alice: Ultraviolet imaging spectrometer; analyzes composition and structure of Pluto s atmosphere and looks for atmospheres around Charon and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). REX (Radio Science EXperiment): Measures atmospheric composition and temperature; passive radiometer. LORRI (LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager): Telescopic camera; obtains encounter data at long distances, maps Pluto s far side and provides high resolution geologic data. SWAP (Solar Wind Around Pluto): Solar wind and plasma spectrometer; measures atmospheric escape rate and observes Pluto s interaction with solar wind. PEPSSI (Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation): Energetic particle spectrometer; measures the composition and density of plasma (ions) escaping from Pluto s atmosphere. VBSDC (Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter): Built and operated by students at University of Colorado; measures the space dust peppering New Horizons during its voyage across the solar system. August 2007

8 Pluto's surface as seen by HST-FOC P PLUTO average distance from sun: 5.9 biillion km (39.5 AU) diameter: 2340 km CHARON distance from Pluto: 19,640 km diameter: 1203 km P 1. Cut out globe along thin solid lines. 2. Fold and then unfold the dashed lines. 3. Glue the poles together (tabs marked P). 4. Glue the equator (tab marked E). 5. Put glue on all remaining tabs. 6. Attach poles to equator. Map by A. Stern (SwRI) & M. Buie (Lowell), Projection by L. Young (BU) E

9 Pluto Statistics 1 of 2 10/31/2009 6:06 PM Planetary Symbol: Name in Roman/Greek Mythology: Pluto / Hades Diameter: 2,390 km (1,485 miles) [0.187 x Earth's] Orbital Semimajor Axis: (average distance from Sun) AU (Earth = 1 AU) Mass: Density: Surface Gravity: Surface Temperature: 12.5 x kilograms ( x Earth's) 1,750 kg/m 3 (0.317 x Earth's) 0.58 m/s 2 (0.06 x Earth's) 40 to 50 K ( -233 to -223 C or -387 to -369 F ) Orbital Eccentricity: Maximum Distance from Sun: Minimum Distance from Sun: Minimum Distance from Earth: Tilt of Axis: 123 o Orbital Inclination: (tilt of orbit plane) Rotation Period about Axis: (length of Pluto's day) days (retrograde) Revolution Period about the Sun: (length of Pluto's year) Satellites: AU ( billion km or billion miles ) AU ( billion km or billion miles ) 28.6 AU ( 4.28 billion km or 2.66 billion miles ) years 3 known Pluto Image Archive