Blog Archives
Teaser Trailer: A Child Astronomer’s Christmas!
I’m excited to announce that I’m making a new holiday-themed interactive online astronomy class just in time for Christmas! The course will cover heavenly objects like comets, shooting stars, and meteors, and conclude with a magical message from Santa! Kids will laugh and learn and wonder about the science behind this most magical time of year!
Click here to register: https://outschool.com/classes/a-child-astronomers-christmas-bhmPRpND#usMaRDyJ13
Brand New Children’s Astronomy Course
I’ve just been approved by the good people at Outschool.com to teach a Christmas-themed astronomy class for children. It’s all online and it teaches kids aged 6-11 about comets, meteors, and other celestial objects while at the same time it’s a chance for kids to send a message to Santa from the comfort of their own homes!
Class Description
The children will learn about space, and Christmas, in the context of using astronomy to find Santa in the night sky. We will start by "tracking" Santa using a telescope and the NORAD Santa Tracker. Once we mark his location on a map, the kids will watch a video about other sky objects like comets, meteors, and supernovas. When the video ends, we will do a short science experiment where I will show the kids how to build fake snow using simple ingredients they have right at home. I will then point out and teach the kinds how to identify heavenly objects they can see right from their own backyard. The class will conclude with each learner receiving a special letter from Santa, and some downloadable handouts full of games, experiments, and a list of holiday books! I will be performing in character as a bumbling scientist and will engage the kids through interactive games, engaging questions, and some corny jokes to get them to laugh and learn, while also being entertained as we learn about space and Christmas together.
If you want to sign up, go to this link: https://outschool.com/classes/a-child-astronomers-christmas-bhmPRpND?sectionUid=57a3e3f1-44ba-4283-9245-b14822704617&usid=MaRDyJ13&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link
Classes this week are on December 23 and 24rth at 1PM, and will continue throughout December. Hope to see you there!
Adorable Astronomy Mobile from TV’s Bluey!
My kids and I have fallen in love with the adorable Australian family show Bluey, which is quickly becoming an international sensation. So imagine my joy when I saw this clip that teaches young children about the solar system!
Then imagine my absolute delight when I found out that the official Bluey website has a solar system Mobile activity that you and your children can download and put together! This is a charming and educational activity that will help you bring a love and curiosity for space to your little Heelers!
https://www.bluey.tv/make/make-a-bluey-sleepytime-solar-system-mobile/
New Scary Posts for Halloween!
Here are my best posts on Halloween:
- History of Halloween, NEW https://memiorsofanastronut.wordpress.com/astronomy-myths-and-legends/
- My exploration of the myths of Werewolves! https://memiorsofanastronut.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/new-page-astronomy-myths-and-legends-new-wolf-moon-hooowl/
- Harvest Moons: https://memiorsofanastronut.wordpress.com/2013/09/
Stargazers Watch Earthbound Satellite Make Fiery Reentry | Video – ABC News
Today the GOCE European Space sattelite came crashing down to the South Atlantic Ocean! Scientists caution that there is a huge garbage dump of sattelites orbiting our planet and that this could happen again at any moment. The lesson here appears to be: “Space to Earth, CLEAN UP YOUR SKY!”
Stargazers Watch Earthbound Satellite Make Fiery Reentry | Video – ABC News.
SUPER MOON MADNESS!
Tonight is the beginning of what astronomers call the Moon’s Perigee, the point in which the Moon is closest to the Earth. This means that tonight, the Moon will appear 12% bigger than usual!
Not only is this the biggest Moon of the year, it’s also one of the most interesting. June 23rd’s full moon is classified as a “Strawberry Moon,” or “Rose Moon” It was called Strawberry by the Algonquin Native Americans because they knew this full moon was an ideal time to gather fruit. To learn more about this particular full moon, I’ve posted a link to a video created by the good folks at “The Farmer’s Almanac”, a trusted astronomy resource for over 100 years.
So I hope to see some of you down at Primland to look at this beautiful full moon. I know I’ll be training the telescope on it!
Happy Stargazing
Is NASA headed for “The Abyss?”
Like most of us in this economy, NASA has had to make some budget cuts. When they released their 2014 budget, it cut over $55 million from the previous year. Planetary studies have been hurt the most with 300 million cut from the budget. Looking at this, it’s clear that studying our solar system is just not a priority anymore; NASA is taking new directions with its research and some of its new plans are quite exciting.
For Example, NASA is increasing its funding to support Earth science; tracking man made and natural changes to our planet, including pollution and climate changes. The idea is that hopefully learning more about how to protect our planet and to protect ourselves.
In addition, there is also a program in place to start manned missions into space once again. I’ve written about this before when I mentioned the Orion Spacecraft, the first manned spacecraft designed for interplanetary orbit in 30 years. NASA is already building the space capsule, and the whole project should be finished by 2021.
BUT, there is one item on the NASA budget that seems right out of science fiction- The capture and mining of ASTEROIDS!
That’s right, President Obama approved a new project designed to send a special craft out into space for the purposes of finding and capturing a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), and then bringing it back down to Earth to study, and eventually mine it for its contents. This might sound like something out of a James Cameron movie, but it really is part of the NASA budget, and the project is getting underway as we speak.
So why mine asteroids? To answer this question, I’ll break down the arguments and, (to continue with the Sci-Fi theme I’ve begun), I’m going to list them one by one, and name them after some awesome Sci-fi movie titles.
1. The Abyss/ Avatar-
According to scientific estimates, one asteroid may contain over $20 TRILLION dollars worth of precious metals, as well as iron, nickel, and cobalt. Ultimately, it might improve NASA’s budget and the world economy greatly to invest in asteroid mining. Plus, unlike Avatar, all of these asteroids would be uninhabited, making mining comparatively easy from a socio-political standpoint. Still, as you can see from the video above, to make this plan economically viable on a large scale we would need to develop vastly superior rockets, to keep the cost of sending rockets up into space all the time lower than the profits reaped from the asteroids themselves. As far fetched as this idea may seem, companies are already working to make it a reality. Imagine NASA beginning a new industry as unlimited as the universe itself!
2. Titan AE
If our planet were to suffer a cataclysm, (which could literally happen any day now), we will need to find a new way of getting water, oxygen, and the ingredients to create plant life. In addition to precious metals, asteroids also contain all of these. Bits of oxygen and hydrogen are locked up within the rocks. In addition, we know that asteroids contain ingredients for life, since 3.5 billion years ago, they helped develop life on our own planet. Therefore, if we ever need to leave the Earth, it makes more sense to mine our raw materials from asteroids, rather than taking everything with us. Of course, getting us off the Earth, is a much bigger problem:
3. Armeggedon
As the Russian meteor explosion grimly reminded us, Earth could literally be hit by an asteroid at any time without warning. This is why the primary goal of the Asteroid Retrieval project is to study asteroids and determine how best to combat a potential threat. Lest we forget, an asteroid destroyed entire species on our planet 65 million years ago, and we need to be careful to make sure it doesn’t happen to us (cue the dramatic music).
So there you are, the major reasons why it’s a good idea to find asteroids and bring them back here. We eagerly await NASA making this project a reality, so that they make space a safer and more profitable place to live. As one more treat, here is a NASA animation of how the project might look, with dramatic Hollywood music underscoring for good measure.
Cool Astronomy Resources For Kids
Hello everyone!
In addition to running this blog and giving nightly astronomy tours, I am also working on developing a kid’s astronomy program for the resort. In my quest to make astronomy fun, accessible, and interactive for young people, I came across some valuable free resources that I’d like to share with you. Obviously there are hundreds of blogs, podcasts, video channels, and websites out there and I could never share them all, so if you like this post and think something should be added, let me know! I’d be happy to make this a new page on the blog and follow up weekly with new resources.
So here is a short multimedia collection of links that you can show to your young ones to get them excited about space:
Video channels
Deep Sky Videos– An excellent channel, not only for astronomy, but for science all together. It features great pictures by professional astro-photographers and lots of valuable data.
NASA TV- Here’s NASA’s official YouTube Channel, which provides you with simple, clear explanations of what our space agency is doing. Sometimes they interview astronauts on the International Space Station, and get them to talk about life in space.
NASA JPL Live This is not Youtube, but a live feed from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Whenever there is any kind of live event at NASA, such as the docking of a spacecraft, or live pictures from Mars, you can access it with this link!
Video streaming by Ustream
Apps
Exoplanet- A free app that allows you to keep track of any new planets discovered outside our solar system. You can use your mobile device to find each planet in an interactive map of the galaxy, zooming at warp speed to newly discovered worlds.
Sky Viewer- This app tells you exactly what planets and constellations you are looking at by overlaying names and a connect-the dots pattern over the night sky. A GPS compass keeps track of where you are, and you can see the stars using the display. There is a pay version that also shows you more planets and keeps track of satellites, but the free version is a nice way to learn the constellations and keep track of where you are in the sky.
NASA Space Weather Map (Android App only)
View near real-time images of outer space from current NASA missions. Learn about weather near the Sun, Solar Wind, Magnetosphere, Aurora, and Heliosphere from scientists who study them
I did find some neat pay apps from this website too, just in case you aren’t satisfied with the free stuff:
Websites
Astronomy.com– The official website of Astronomy Magazine, loaded with pictures, articles, and tips for amateur astronomers, and yes, there’s a kids’ page.
ISS Tracker- A website that allows you to know where the International Space Station is at all times!
NASA’s JPL Planet Quest- A great interactive site which teaches kids about planets beyond our solar system, by allowing them to create one, studying the ideal conditions for creating life in the universe.
Social Media
The Curiosity Rover’s Twitter Page- Updates from the mission, written in the first person by the robot.
Kids Needs Science (Tumblr Page)-Full of beautiful pictures of space objects and links to articles.
International Space Station Facebook -Regularly updated with videos, pictures, and news articles.
So there’s a rough start to the vast world of astronomy for kids on the web. Like I said earlier, I’d be happy to post any of your suggestions, or turn this into a regular feature on the blog. Let me know in the comments. In closing, just to show you how far we’ve come with online education, I’d like to post an oldie but a goodie- Bill Nye the Science Guy explores comets and meteors:
Happy Stargazing!
Happy Earths Day!
Hi everyone, and no, that is not a typo- Today marks not only the celebration of Earth Day on our planet, it also heralds the discovery of not one, not two but THREE Earth-like planets!
Just three days ago, the Kepler Space Telescope, which is designed to look for planets beyond our solar system, discovered a group of planets known as Kepler 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. These planets come from two star systems over 1,200 light years away. Although the discovery was a few days ago, we’re celebrating now because it coincides with the celebration of our own planet.
Now, there are over 600 confirmed extra-solar planets in our galaxy and certainly there may be many, many more, but these planets are special because they orbit their respective stars within what’s called the “habitable zone,” that is, a safe distance from the star that keeps the planet from being scorched like Mercury, or frozen like Neptune. Since we can’t actually see the surface of these planets, this is our best guess to determine if a planet is capable of supporting life.
This isn’t the first time scientists have attempted to find inhabited planets in this century. In our tours at Primland, we go into detail about the search for Earth like planets outside our solar system in our presentations, including the search for planets that might be inhabited by intelligent life! Hope you’ll come down and join us soon!
So Happy Earth Day everyone! Also, (as a special bonus), I thought I’d include a video of Earth from space, so that you can see our planet in a new, special light:
Happy Stargazing!
Happy Anniversary, Hubble!
That’s right, today is the 23rd anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope’s year in space. Its mission: observe the furthest objects ever seen in our universe, further beyond any human’s reach. After 1,000,000 peeps through the mighty space telescope, scientists have learned more than ever thought possible about the origins of our universe, the nature of planets beyond the Earth, and our place in the cosmos. Just today, Hubble scientists released a photo of the Horsehead Nebula, which Hubble last photographed in 2001. Using infra-red light, the telescope peered deeper into this mysterious dark cloud, and found the filaments that give it structure. Check it out in the video below!
If you like looking at Hubble photos like I do (and who doesn’t?), check out their facebook page, and their website: http://www.spacetelescope.org/, which also has videos, merchandise, and educational materials for teachers and students.
Memoirs Of An Astro-Nut 