Page1 Earth s Formation Unit [Astronomy] Student Success Sheets (SSS) HS-ESSI-1; HS-ESS1-2; HS-ESS1-3; HS-ESSI-4 NGSS Civic Memorial High School - Earth Science A Concept # What we will be learning Mandatory Practice 1 An Introduction into Space Practice problems 1 2 Light Practice problems 2 3 Telescopes Practice problems 3 4 Movements of the Earth Practice problems 4 5 Formation of the Sun Practice problems 5 6 Formation of the Planets Practice problems 6 7 Inner Planets Practice problems 7 8 Outer Planets Practice problems 8
Page2 QR Code links to Videos and WSQs Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4 Concept 5 Concept 6 Concept 7 Concept 8
Page3 #1 An Introduction into Space The was studied long before. Farmers observed changes to track and to predict and droughts. Sailors focussed on the to navigate unknown. Today most interest in comes from a curiosity to the. The Scientific study of the universe is called. Scientists who study the are called. Astronomers believe that the Universe began billion years ago in a giant called the big. Since that time the has continued to expand. The universe is so astronomers must use and computer and models to study it. The solar which is made up of the,, and many smaller objects are the closest part of the. The Solar System is part of a which is a large collection of, dust, and gas bound together by. Beyond galaxy, the Way Galaxy, there are more.
Page4 are so large in new units are required. Astronomers often use Units (AU) and Years. An AU is the distance between the and Sun, 150 km. A light year is the distance can travel in a, 9.46 x 10 12 km Practice Problems 1: 1. What is the difference between the solar system and the universe? 2. How long ago did the universe begin? #2 Light When looking at the night sky, you see because of the the. The light is only a small amount of the that comes from these. do not emit light; they light from the stars. light is a form of that is part of the spectrum, The spectrum is all of the of electromagnetic radiation.
Page5, radio waves, and are all examples of electromagnetic. The eye can only see in the visible light range of the. When white light passes through a is gets broken down into a set of we call a. Every will always have the colors. This happens because each has a wavelength with it. The wavelength of visible light is. The wavelength of visible light is and. Electromagnetic that has wavelengths than violet or than red be seen by eyes. Those wavelengths be by other and sometimes other. The electromagnetic is made up of waves, microwaves, radio waves, waves, X rays, and rays. Practice Problems 2: 1. Why are we able to see planets in the night sky? 2. What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
Page6 # 3 telescopes To measure distance in the solar system, astronomers use. An (AU) is the approximate distance between and the which is 149,597,870.691 km. The speed of is also used to measure. The speed of is 300,000,000 per second or 3.o x 10 8 m/s. In one light can travel 9.46 x 10 12 km. This is one light. Other than the Sun the closest is light years away. A is an instrument that collects radiation from the sky and it for better. Modern can see radiation that is invisible to the naked eye. The first that could only collect light are called telescopes. There are two types of optical telescopes, and telescopes. are clear objects shaped to light in special ways. The of light by lenses is called. These have some. They focus different of light at different.
Page7 Ex: An object can be in focus in light and out of focus in light. It is difficult to make lenses of the required and. The amount of collected is limited by lense. In the 1600 s solved the color separation issue of telescopes. He invented the telescope that uses a curved to gather and focus light. Unlike objective lenses can be made very without affecting the of the image. Practice problems 3: 1. What is the difference between reflecting telescopes and refracting telescopes? 2. Using the development of reflecting telescopes as an example, explain how scientific inquiry can lead to advances in technology. #4 Movements of the Earth The spinning of the Earth on its is called. The rotation creates the and. It takes hours for the Earth to rotate.
Page8 Evidence of the of Earth can be seen in ocean and wind. Currents and wind don t move in a line. The Earth s causes them to be deflected to the in the Hemisphere and to the in the Hemisphere. This curving effect is called the effect. In addition to on its axis the Earth also around the Sun. It travels around the Sun at an average speed of km/s. Each around the Earth takes 365.25 days or about one. This is why have an extra day and occur once every years. The path that a body follows as it travels around another body in space is called an. Earth s and all other planet s orbits are in the shape of an. An is a closed curve whose shape is determined by two points, or. The Earth is not always at the same from the Sun. The point in the orbit where a planet is to the Sun is the. The point in the orbit where a planet is from the Sun is the. The Earth s axis is tilted. The at which the Sun s rays strike each part of the Earth s surface changes as the Earth completes its orbit.
Page9 This change causes the. Practice Problems 4: 1. Describe two lines of evidence that indicate that Earth is rotating. 2. Explain why today s calendars have leap years. 3. Explain how the tilt of Earth s axis and Earth s movements cause seasons. #5 Formation of the Sun The Solar System consists of the and all of the and other that revolve around the Sun. Planets are any of the that orbit around the Sun. In, the mathematician Pierre- Simon, de Laplace, advanced the hypothesis. The states that the sun and the came out of the cloud of dust called a. Modern support this and can help how it occurred. Matter throughout the. Some of this gathers into of dust and gas. Almost billion years ago, increased due to a or other forces.
Page10 The cloud of that began our solar system is called the solar. from and from gravity caused the center to get and. When the star became enough of hydrogen was able to begin. Once started to fuse the was. The sun is composed of about of the matter that was in the solar nebula. Practice Problems 5: 1. Explain what a Nebula is. 2. What marks the birth of the sun? #6 Formation of the Planets While the sun was in the center of the nebula the were forming on the regions. Small that planets from are called. joined together through and to form larger bodies called. These between and continues until and moons are form. When the planets and form they down and become but more than.
Page11 The of a new planet on the between it and the. Our protoplanets the sun became, Venus, Earth, and. These p contain percentages of heavy, such as iron and. These planets their less gases because was not enough to hold them there. As the dense material to the center, formed. This means that the dense material is found near the and more dense near the. The planets, Saturn, Uranus, and formed very differently. These planets formed in regions of the solar. They were because they were far away from the. Because they were so they did not their lighter such as water ice, methane ice, and ice. These planets are referred to as giants because they are composed of mostly and are low. Jupiter has a of only 24% of but has a diameter times that of. Practice Problems 6: 1. What are the two beginning stages of a planet? What is the difference between them?
Page12 2. Why are planets smaller than planetoids? #7 Inner Planets More recently there have been strict guidelines put in place that define what criteria something needs to be considered a Planet. 1. 2. 3. These rules are why is no longer considered a. The Sun Terrestrial Planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars Asteroid Belt Jovian Planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Kuiper Belt Oort Cloud Terrestrial Planets The terrestrial planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are all made of primarily rocks or.
Page13 Have a planetary. Mercury Mercury is closest to the Sun and orbits it every It rotates on its axis once every It is highly and has little to no This causes huge fluxes from 427 o C to -173 o C Venus It has an orbital period of 225 days and rotates on its axis once every 243 days meaning that one on Venus is longer than one Venus s pressure is 90 times that of Earth and is made of 96% Venus is the object in the sky apart from the Sun and Moon. Earth Earth s unique atmosphere and distance from the Sun allow to exist in a state. Earth is the only known planet to have of water. Earth is the only known planet that has the proper combination of,, and to support life. Mars Mars is about farther from the Sun that Earth is. It s orbital period is 687 days and it rotates on its axis every 24 hours and 37 minutes.
Page14 There are many on Mars. The and of Mars atmosphere are too low for water to exist as a on the surface. Several NASA spacecrafts have found evidence that liquid water occur in the. Asteroid Belt Scattered in orbits around the Sun are bits and pieces of left over from the of the Solar System. Most of these objects orbit between and in a grouping called the. The region contains the planet which is a quarter of the size of the Moon. The force of gravity is thought to be the reason for the belt. Practice Problems 7: 1. Explain why Mercury has such drastically different temperatures during its day and during its night. 2. Identify the aspects that make Earth hospitable for life. #8 Outer Planets Jovian Planets
Page15 Also referred to as the Gas Giants. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called the Gas Giants because they are large planets with massive made of. Even though they are much larger than the planets they are much less All four have systems that are made of dust and icy debris that the planets. Jupiter Jupiter is the planet in the Solar System. Its orbital period is almost 12 years but it rotates on it s axis than any other planet taking only and Jupiter has over four of which are the size of small planets. These are known as the moons and are named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Saturn The planet from the Sun and has an orbital period of 29.5 years. Saturn has at least 30 moons with its largest being the size of Earth, named Saturn like Jupiter is mostly made of and and is the least planet in our Solar System. Saturn is known for it's that span two times its diameter. Uranus Uranus is nearly kilometers from the Sun.
Page16 It has at least 24 moons, 11, and it s orbital period is almost 84 years. The most unique feature of Uranus is the of its. Uranus rotates almost completely on it s as it revolves around the Sun. Neptune Neptune is very similar to Uranus in size, being only slightly It takes nearly 164 years to revolve around the Sun. Neptune s existence was before it was actually discovered. After Uranus was discovered astronomers noted variations in its orbit caused by the pull of an unknown Pluto Pluto is the object in the belt It is approximately of the mass of the Moon. Pluto periodically comes within the orbit of The fact that Pluto can not it s own orbit is why it is no longer considered a planet. Pluto has at least five moons the largest of which is which is a little over the size of Pluto. Kuiper Belt A doughnut shaped ring that extends just the orbit of There may be hundreds of thousands of larger than 100 km and a trillian in the Kuiper Belt. Many planets including exist within the Kuiper Belt.
Page17 Oort Cloud The Oort Cloud is the area in the Solar System. The Oort Cloud is a that surrounds the of the Solar System. Practice problems 8: 1. Explain how pluto differs from the jovian planets. 2. What part of our solar system is at the very edge?