- 11 February 2010
Each time a comet comes close to the sun’s heat, frozen gases evaporate. This results to solid particles as small as grains of sand to be ejected, leaving a stream of floating debris, known as meteoroids. Meteoroids stay on a specific path following the comet’s trajectory. Meteor showers occur when meteoroids ignite as it comes in contact with the earth’s atmosphere. The ignition produces streaks of light and this light phenomenon is called a meteor.
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- 11 February 2010
The Torino Scale is a “Richter Scale” for categorizing the Earth impact hazard associated with newly discovered asteroids and comets. It is intended to serve as a communication tool for astronomers and the public to assess the seriousness of predictions of close encounters by asteroids and comets during the 21st century.
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- 3 February 2010
When asked about their belief in the existence of alien life, nearly 70% of the American public says that they believe in the possibility of life on other planets. The discovery of extra-terrestrial life would be one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time. The announcement that fossilized microorganisms may have been found in a Martian meteorite fueled excitement in the scientific community.
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- 3 February 2010
Most people don’t realize how advanced aboriginal astronomy truly was. Although many cultures attributed religious aspects to the astral world, they understood many fundamental facts of the universe far earlier than most people want to admit. It may have been primitive but it was also very impressive.
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- 27 January 2010
According to Jesse Allen, an astrophysicist with NASA, “A supernova is an explosion at the end of the life of certain types of stars.” They are celestial events, when a tremendous amount of energy is released. For a few days after the explosion, the supernovas are extremely bright, and rival all the light of all the stars in a galaxy combined. They can occur in galaxies anywhere throughout the Universe. The last one seen in this galaxy was in 1604.
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- 19 January 2010
Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences in the world. Space has been studied for thousands of years. In the modern world, the fascination with space and astronomy has only increased. It’s important for students to learn about astronomy and space so they understand that the universe is a large place with many wonders. Finding the right lesson can be tough so here are some great lesson plans for astronomy teachers.
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- 18 January 2010
The Internet offers a whole new world in teaching. There are hundreds of websites geared toward learning the basics such as math, history, language arts and many others. There are also exciting and intriguing ways to learn through Webquests or virtual field trips — take your students on a Webquest to Egypt or a virtual field trip to the land of the dinosaurs. Games teach shapes, spelling and the alphabet. Money matters are learned through group or individual lesson plans. Add the Internet as one of your teaching tools, and you’ll be amazed at how excited your students will be about learning.
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- 18 January 2010
Our solar system is an awesome sight and contains an array of planets, moons, stars, comets, and asteroids, along with the Sun. All of the planets in the solar system revolve around the Sun, which is itself a giant star. But this is not all there is to outer space. The Sun revolves around the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is just a small part of a larger group of galaxies. The area of space occupied by our solar system is tiny when compared to the rest of outer space and the Universe, which contains billions of other galaxies.
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- 10 January 2010
For thousands of years, astrologers have been studying the sun, the moon, and the stars. There have been theories about how the planets revolved around the earth or the sun, how they effected the earth’s own tides, and there have been discoveries of new planets. Here is an overview of the history of astronomy.
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- 15 December 2009
A chronology is an arrangement of historical events according to their dates of occurrences. Chronologies are very useful as they enable people to understand and appreciate history. In education, chronologies assist scientists and historians in their attempts to estimate the ages of certain objects, theories, or plant and animal species. They also promote understanding of various historical cultures and help scholars evaluate the relationships between events that happened in the past and those of the present and future.
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