Seasons By Christian Boschetto

Seasons of earth
http://www.edb.utexas.edu

    This week in school we learned about seasons and how they where caused. Seasons are a big part of  the lives of humans. Seasons affects what plants grow at certain times in the year and how we dress. In the winter we need to dress up warm and in the summer shorts and a t shirt are all that's needed. Seasons matter.
      Seasons are caused by the earths 23.5 degree tilt on its axis creating indirect and direct heating. Direct heating is when something is hit straight on by heat. That heat has to cover less area and then creates more heat in that area. If something is barely getting hit by the heat, its indirect, therefore making that heat have to cover more area causing less heat to be created. So if the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, it gets direct heat due to the sunbeams hitting it straight on making it hotter, and creating summer. But if your in the southern hemisphere you get indirect sunlight because the beams have to reach around part of the earth (the northern hemisphere) creating less heat and winter.  But then when the southern hemisphere is pointed towards the sun its summer there and winter in the north. Here is a picture to help.

Earth northern hemisphere seasons and sunlight
http://www.learner.org

    You'll notice there are equinoxes and solstices. An equinox is when both hemispheres are hit with same amount of sunlight and heat making it equal as seen in the diagram, with complete light on both hemispheres. During the equinox the days are exactly 12 hours and the night is exactly 12 hours. Now solstices are different. A winter solstice is the shortest day of the year for whichever hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, which is low in the sky caused by  indirect heating. Summer solstice occurs for the hemisphere tilted towards the sun. Making the longest day of the year with the sun highest in the sky caused by direct heating.
     Some people might ask " well, are there seasons on other planets?" That all depends on the tilt of the planet, so usually yes, but there either more severe changes or less severe changes depending on how tilted it is toward the sun. For instance if you look at Uranus its tilt is close to 90 degrees! The seasons have very dramatic changes do to the sun beams hitting one side directly but having to reach all the way around the planet to heat the other side, as its freezing in the east but burning in the west during the western summer. But if you were on Mercury which has close to a 0 degree tilt, the seasons would barely change as the planet would get hit in about the equator all year. This is a diagram of Uranus seasons.

Uranus es seasons and sunlight
http://airandspace.si.edu/

      To learn all this in class we looked at diagrams on the board and in the textbooks while Btags explained it to us. We also did a homework which helped the facts to really sink in. I learned a lot about earths seasons and indirect and direct heating. It was a very fun and knowledgeable unit. Like I said seasons are important.

Planet earth
http://geology.com

NASA Curiosity Rover Fins Evidence of Water on Mars

Many of you may know that NASA has a new rover on Mars called Curiosity. Yesterday the rover found evidence of an ancient stream bed and water flowing on the Martian Surface. This is particularly neat as in our NY Unit we will always be talking about how "Rocks Tell A Story". The rocks we see today on the Earth, on our geology trip, and even on Mars tell us about past conditions on the Earth.

Click on the image below to go the the NASA article on this great discovery. Be sure to read the entire article and also click on the images to get larger versions of what the rover captured in its cameras.

When you are done be prepared to explain how the rocks types, shapes, and location tell the story of flowing water on Mars.

Also found on the NASA website one of the scientists on the Curiosity Team explaining how what they found on Mars in the crater is similar to what is found in Death Valley, California
 Click on the icon below to load the movie (make sure you have your headphones on)

Phases of the Moon by Rosa Vitiello, Black Science

Over the history of the Earth, people have been fascinated by the moon. Early civilizations believed the moon showed signs and explanations of the world. When the moon turned red, they knew war was coming. In recent years, scientists studied the moon, learning about these phenomenons. They studied eclipses and the gravitational pull of the moon, they even sent man to the moon. Scientists also studied what we see everyday, the phases of the moon.

The moon’s phases are what the moon looks like as we see it in the night sky. These different phases or “looks” of the moon are caused by sunlight hitting the moon while it orbits and rotates around the Earth. The sun always lights half of the moon. As the moon orbits and rotates we see different amounts of the lit side of the moon, causing a different phase.

The different phases of the moon.
http://www.gwit.org/students/fremont/assign/moon/moonphases.jpg

When you look at the moon, you will notice it always looks a little different every night. You could see only a sliver of the moon, a completely full moon, or even none of the moon. Those are only a few phases of the moon, the moon has eight different phases. It takes 29.5 days for the moon to go through all of its phases. The cycle starts with the new moon. A new moon is when the moon is aligned between the sun and the Earth. The sun lights the far side of the moon, the side we never see from Earth, leaving the side we see completely dark. As the moon starts to orbit and rotate , some of the lit half of the moon starts to appear and we see a small sliver of the moon. This is called the waxing crescent. When the moon travels one quarter of its revolution, it is at the phase called the first quarter. In this phase, we can see only half of the moon. The third phase of the moon is the waxing gibbous. Most of the lit part of the moon is showing, but a small part of the moon is dark. When the sun, Earth and moon align, the whole lit side of the moon appears. This is a full moon phase. The sun completely lights up the moon.

A full moon.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0001/fm1222_gendler_big.jpg

After the full moon, the phases we see of the moon start to become smaller or “wane”. As the moon orbits back to a new moon phase, the phases go to the waning gibbous phase, third quarter phase and then the waning crescent phase. The waning gibbous looks like the waxing gibbous. Almost the whole moon is lit. The third quarter, a.k.a last quarter, looks like the first quarter phase. And last, but not least, the waning crescent looks like its counterpart, the waxing crescent. Then, the moon orbits back to the new moon phase, completing its cycle.

A diagram of the phases of the moon.
http://www.moonconnection.com/images/moon_phases_diagram.jpg

As I said before, the moon takes 29.5 days to go through all eight phases. It seems weird, because the time it takes for the moon to revolve around the earth is only 27.3 days. Logically, people think, if the moon takes 27.3 days to revolve, the phases of the moon should take 27.3 days, the same amount of time. That would be true if the Earth didn’t revolve, but that’s not the case. The reason why it takes longer is because the Earth revolves around the sun while the moon orbits around the Earth. This offsets the time it takes for the phases of the moon than the time it takes for the moon to revolve around the Earth. This is a little hard to explain, but it is much easier to show visually.

In the picture on the top, it shows the moon revolving around the Earth, but the Earth isn’t revolving. After 27.3 days the moon has gone through all of its phases and done a full revolution. Now lets look at the picture on the bottom, in this picture the Earth revolves with the moon. It starts at the new moon phase. Then, the moon revolves around the Earth and the Earth revolves around the sun for 27.3 days. Which means the moon has done a complete revolution around the Earth. Unlike the picture on the top, at 27.3 days, the moon is not at a new moon, its is at a waning crescent. This is because when the Earth revolves around the sun it “offsets” the phases a little.  It has to orbit another 2.2 days before it can get to the new moon phase.

In class, we learned all about the moon and its phases. We learned all of these concepts, and we usually learned them “hands-on”. One activity we did was to show us the concept of 27.3 days vs. 29.5 days. We had a styrofoam ball on a stick and a light. The styrofoam ball represented the moon and the light represented the sun. We imagined we were the Earth and revolved and rotated around. We could see the moon change its phases. It was very cool.

Learning about this subject gave me a better understanding about the moon and its phenomenons

Moon in the sky
http://www.asklubo.com/uploads/attachments/published/8/1342/en/full-moon.jpg

Eclipses by Hugh Jones, Black Science

What causes solar and lunar eclipses?

According to my friend Alex Torres “Lunar and solar eclipses are both wonderful phenomenons. They can either light up the sky or put it out completely. But they are two different things.”  I have to agree with him.

A solar eclipse is caused when a new moon gets directly in between the Earth and Sun.  In other words, the Earth and moon are both in the sun’s plane at the same time.  A portion of the sun’s light ends up hitting the side of the moon that we don’t see from Earth (new moon), leaving a small part of Earth covered by the moon’s shadow.  Everyone who happens to be in the moon’s shadow during the eclipse experiences a total eclipse, which lasts for a few minutes and then becomes a partial eclipse.  Partial solar eclipses may even look kind of like a diamond ring.   Total solar eclipses are less common and occur about once every 18 months.  Lunar eclipses tend to be more common.  

Video of a total solar eclipse by the BBC.

A lunar eclipse is also caused when the Earth and moon are in the sun’s plane at the same time, only this time the full moon gets caught in part or all of the Earth’s shadow.  You might think that this would cause a full moon to become invisible to us during a lunar eclipse.  However, since the sun is larger than the Earth some sunlight can still reach the moon, giving it a red/orange tint.  Lunar eclipses tend to occur about once every six months, total (full) or partial.

How come we don’t have eclipses every new moon and full moon?

There are multiple ways to explain why we don’t experience eclipses every new and full moon.  It is easier to explain with visuals.  In class we began by using a quarter (taped to a stick) as the moon, a model as the Earth and a small lightbulb as the sun.  Mr. Battaglia created a solar eclipse for us by moving the quarter into the sun’s plane.  There was a shadow on the surface of the model Earth where the quarter was blocking the light (See Example 1).  Mr. Battaglia also created a lunar eclipse for us by moving the quarter behind the model Earth.  Mr. Battaglia did not move the quarter directly behind the Earth, only partially behind.  A small part of the model Earth’s shadow was hitting the quarter’s surface, creating a partial lunar eclipse (See Example 2).

Next in class Mr. Battaglia used a model he had made with clay.  The model used a thin, clear disc with a clay Earth model at its center to describe the moon’s revolution path around the Earth.  At one tip of the disc was a clay moon.  The moon’s orbit is only tilted about 5 degrees from Earth’s orbit around the sun.  However, to make this model easier to understand, the disc showing the moon’s orbit path around the sun is tilted at about 30 degrees.  Using a lightbulb as the sun, Mr. Battaglia had the Earth model revolve around the lightbulb, along with the moon model revolving around the Earth.  After a few seconds, he would look and see if there was either a solar or lunar eclipse by observing the model’s shadows on an index card.  If only the Earth’s shadow was visible, then an eclipse had happened at that position.  If the Earth’s shadow and the moon’s shadow were visible on the piece of paper, the model’s position would not represent an eclipse.  You can look below at Examples 3 and 4.

In summary, an eclipse is caused when either the new or full moon and Earth are both in the sun’s plane at the same time.

9/11 and 9/12 Description of the Moon - by Marc Bacharach - purple class

              You see it at night and sometimes in the daytime. It lights up the sky when it's full and can become a tiny sliver of light. It is the bright object in the sky that has fascinated humans for centuries. We all know it as the Moon. What are the differences between the Moon and the Earth? How the fascination of the moon turned into exploration.

              The Moon and the Earth are separated by about 384,400 km of space. Even though they are separated by a very short distance (relatively speaking), they are completely different in many ways. The moon is 1/4 the size of the Earth and made up of layers and layers of rock and hot magma in the center. It's surface has many different terrains including mountains, craters, and plateaus. Many craters on the moon were caused by meteors and comets hitting the Moon. Unlike the Earth, the Moon has no atmosphere. On Earth we have clouds and a sky. If you were to stand on the Moon and look up you would see endless space. 70% of the Earth's surface is made up of water, because of the water and oxygen there is diverse life on planet Earth. The Moon is the complete opposite. It's surface is very dry. There is no water, nor any life on the Moon. On Earth we have a perfect amount of gravity, that makes it easier to move around but does not make the pull from the Earth's core feel uncomfortable. The Moon's gravity is 83.3% less than the Earth's. For example, a 200 pound man would weigh about 33 pounds on it's surface. There is no sound in space nor is there any sound on the Moon. On Earth we can hear a variety of sounds.

This is a picture of the near side of the Moon.

       
            The Moon had always been studied but never explored and visited until Apollo 11. Before the US sent a man to the moon they did many test missions. On July 20th, 1969 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins landed on the Moon. It was momentous day for the Americans to beat the Russians in having a man walk on the Moon first. Since then, the Moon has been explored by many astronauts from many countries. The Moon was mainly explored in the 1970's by America and Russia. In later years they had more efficient ways of collecting data. They would land on the Moon and use Rovers to explore. Astronauts could collect Moon rock samples much quicker. Eventually countries developed ways to send unmanned rovers to the Moon for exploration.

Here is a picture of the flag that was placed on the Moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts.

             In class activities and in homework, I learned more about the Moon and the exploration of it. For homework we had to watch a couple of videos about the Moon and Apollo 11. There was one video in particular that really helped me understand what the Moon is like. It was a Youtube video called "A Tour of the Moon". It showed the different craters and sections of the Moon in a way that was easy to understand. The diary of Neil Armstrong was also very helpful because it explained his experience of landing on the Moon. It gave me a better understanding of the Moon and the importance of Apollo 11.

Writing this Blog helped me understand the Moon and the journey it took to get there.


             

9/4/12 - 9/7/12 What are constellations? by Mr. Battaglia

I will make the first post on our class blog as an example of what you will be doing on your assigned week. Here is the post for our first week of school.

Constellations are grouping of stars in space that people through history have connected to resemble various figures, animals, mythological creatures, people from stories, etc. Constellations are not real, they are simply an easier way for humans to identify the stars that are visible in the night sky. Trying to tell which star is which is hard. The constellations help us by breaking up the sky into more manageable bits. Constellations change their position in the night sky because the Earth rotates on its axis. As the Earth rotates on its axis the constellations appear to rotate in the night sky. It's not really the constellations that are moving but actually the Earth rotating! Some constellations are visible throughout the year, these are called circumpolar constellations. Northern circumpolar constellations are those constellations centered around the North Star and can be seen from anywhere in the northern hemisphere because they are "above" the north in space. Other constellations are visible only during certain months or seasons, these are called seasonal constellations. Seasonal constellations are visible only at certain times of year because as the Earth revolves around the Sun it changes our view of the night sky and what we see at nighttime.

http://www.windows2universe.org/the_universe/images/starmaps/map_1_large.jpg
This image shows the northern circumpolar constellations

One of the activities that we did this week was use a star wheel or star finder to figure out what constellations are visible in the night sky and where they would be located by date and time. By setting the star wheels to the correct date and time we can see which constellations are visible and where we should look in the sky to locate these stars. As I rotated the star wheel I was able to see how it appears the constellations are rotating in the night sky around the North Star, really it is the rotation of the Earth causing this. Another activity we did this week was draw our first Star Set. The first star set included many of the northern circumpolar constellations, including the little dipper, big dipper, and cassiopeia. It helped just to learn a few constellations at a time and learn the mythology of them. I thought it was interesting to learn that you can use the pointer stars of the big dipper to locate the north star.

This image shows the pointer stars of the big dipper pointing to the North Star, Polaris
http://astrobob.areavoices.com/astrobob/images/Polaris_map.JPG