Monthly Archives: June 2018

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NASA Space Place And SciJinks Digest For June, 2018

2013february2_spaceplace Poster’s Note: One of the many under-appreciated aspects of NASA is the extent to which it publishes quality science content for children and Ph.D.’s alike. NASA Space Place has been providing general audience articles for quite some time that are freely available for download and republishing.

The following three short articles are reproduced in part below with links to the complete articles.

Space Place – What Is an Earthquake?

An earthquake is an intense shaking of Earth’s surface. The shaking is caused by movements in Earth’s outermost layer.

Why Do Earthquakes Happen?

Although the Earth looks like a pretty solid place from the surface, it’s actually extremely active just below the surface. The Earth is made of four basic layers: a solid crust, a hot, nearly solid mantle, a liquid outer core and a solid inner core.

Caption: A diagram of Earth’s layers. Earthquakes are caused by shifts in the outer layers of Earth—a region called the lithosphere.

The solid crust and top, stiff layer of the mantle make up a region called the lithosphere. The lithosphere isn’t a continuous piece that wraps around the whole Earth like an eggshell. It’s actually made up of giant puzzle pieces called tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are constantly shifting as they drift around on the viscous, or slowly flowing, mantle layer below.

Read the rest at: spaceplace.nasa.gov/earthquakes/en/

Space Place – What Is a Light-Year?

Caption: An image of distant galaxies captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, RELICS; Acknowledgment: D. Coe et al.

For most space objects, we use light-years to describe their distance. A light-year is the distance light travels in one Earth year. One light-year is about 6 trillion miles (9 trillion km). That is a 6 with 12 zeros behind it!

Looking Back in Time

When we use powerful telescopes to look at distant objects in space, we are actually looking back in time. How can this be?

Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles (or 300,000 km) per second. This seems really fast, but objects in space are so far away that it takes a lot of time for their light to reach us. The farther an object is, the farther in the past we see it.

Our Sun is the closest star to us. It is about 93 million miles away. So, the Sun’s light takes about 8.3 minutes to reach us. This means that we always see the Sun as it was about 8.3 minutes ago.

Read the rest at: spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/

NASA SciJinks – What’s A Solstice?

Astronomy has been important to people for thousands of years. The ancient construction known as Stonehenge in England may have been designed, among other purposes, to pay special honor to the solstices and equinoxes. These are the times and locations during Earth’s journey around the Sun that we humans have long used to mark our seasons.

Caption: Here is a guess at how Stonehenge might have looked about 2400 BC. At dawn on the Summer Solstice, the rays of the Sun would have shone straight through what is called the “slaughter stones” to exactly strike the “altar stone” in the center.

But what is the solstice exactly?

It has to do with some imaginary lines on our planet. These lines are important, because they help people navigate and measure time.

The equator is an imaginary line drawn right around Earth’s middle, like a belt. It divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.

Read the rest at: scijinks.gov/solstice/

About NASA Space Place

With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson plans, NASA Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science and technology. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov (facebook|twitter) to explore space and Earth science!

Summerwood Pediatrics Presents: “Be The Astronomer” At The MOST, 30 June 2018

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

A great event happening at The MOST at the end of the month from noon to 4:00 p.m.:

Be the Scientist” Saturdays allow visitors to learn, engage, and explore the activities of a different type of scientist each month. Visitors receive an explorer card to track progress through the program’s three steps: Learn, Engage, Explore. Step 1 (Learn) features a tabling exercise teaching the basic principles of the monthly scientist’s discipline. Visitors move to a different location for Step 2 (Engage), which features a tabling exercise including hands-on interaction in an activity the scientist might undertake in real life. Finally, visitors encounter Step 3 (Explore), which is an exploration of a MOST exhibit relating to the work of the monthly scientist. Make your way through each step successfully and have your explorer card punched to mark your completion. Complete 12 sessions to earn your special mystery prize! All are welcome to participate! Most suitable for children ages 6 and up.

June 30 – Be the Astronomer
July 28 – Be the Marine Biologist
August 25 – Be the Geologist
September 29 – Be the Nutritionist (Food & Exercise)

With luck, the touring Hubble exhibit will be available at the same time:

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe is a 2,200 square-foot exhibit that immerses visitors in the magnificence and mystery of the Hubble mission and introduces the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be NASA’s premier observatory. The exhibit features a scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope as well as several “satellite” units that provide viewers with a hands-on experience with the same technology that allows Hubble to gaze at distant galaxies, and feature Hubble’s contributions to the exploration of planets, stars, galaxies and the universe.

International Astronomical Union 2018 Light Pollution Brochure – Available For Download

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

With thanks to George Normandin of the Kopernik Astronomical Society (and Art Cacciola for emphasizing the importance of getting this PDF distributed), we’re making mention here of the publication of a fairly recent (April, 2018) International Astronomical Union (IAU) report on Light Pollution.

The direct link and additional details are below.

As a more recent point of note, the recommendations of amber/yellow colors for “ecologically responsible and astronomically friendly LEDs” is a relevant extension to a June 2016 article in Sky and Telescope titled “Is Red Light Really Best?” where author Robert Dick presented quite compelling arguments for shifting your nighttime observing lights a bit towards amber.

2018 Light Pollution Brochure – Download

From the IAU website:

This publication is a compilation of important findings of experts worldwide in the area of light pollution. The information was gathered under the umbrella of the Cosmic Light programme, organized by IAU during the International Year of Light 2015. The goal of this brochure is to raise the profile of recent advancements in our understanding of light pollution, in particular regarding the use of LEDs, to support the astronomy community and increase public awareness of light pollution research.

You can download this brochure as a high resolution pdf or as a medium resolution pdf.

Credit: IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach

Updated Bob Piekiel Observing Schedule And June 15th Chittenango Falls Public Session Reminder

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

Quick reminder that the most recent post below still holds – feel free to RSVP with Chittenango Falls (so they know the early interest), otherwise our Facebook and Meetup event pages are also available.

Also: Bob has secured a few more observing sessions for the Summer at Baltimore Woods and Green Lakes. His complete observing list is available on his 2018 Observing Schedule page.