Space Astronomy Teacher Guide Part 1

National Aeronautics and Educational Product Space Administration Teachers Grades 5-8 SpaceSpace BasedBased AstronomyAstronomy Teacher'sTeacher's GuideGuide withwith ActivitiesActivities Space-Based Astronomy A Teacher's Guide With Activities National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Human Resources and Education Education Division Office of Space Science Astrophysics Division stro physics This publication is in the Public Domain and is not protected by copyright. Permission is not required for duplication. EG-102 August 1994 Acknowledgments This publication was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with the assistance of educators in the Aerospace Education Services Program, Oklahoma State University. Writer: Gregory L. Vogt, Ed.D. Teaching From Space Program NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX Editor: Carla B. Rosenberg Teaching From Space Program NASA Headquarters Washington, DC Cover Design: James G. Gitlen BDM Federal Scientific and Educational Content Review NASA Headquarters Contributors: Other Contributors: Washington, DC John Barainca Edward Weiler Brighton High School Chief, Ultraviolet and Visible Astrophysics Branch Salt Lake City, UT Cherilyn Morrow Henry Bouchelle Visiting Senior Scientist Colonial School District Planetarium Astrophysics Division New Castle, DE Pamela M. Bacon Leslie Bridgett Education Services Specialist Teacher Intern Education Division Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD Muriel Thorne Education Programs Officer Gail Breslauer Education Division Vermont Space Education Program Moretown, VT BDM Federal Contributors: Douglas Duncan, Ph.D. Washington, DC Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics University of Chicago Paul A. Blanchard, Ph.D. Chicago, IL Astrophysics Edna K. DeVore Sethane Howard, Ph.D. FOSTER Program Astrophysics NASA Ames Research Center Mountain View, CA Patricia R. Pengra Science Education Michael Fitzgibbons Forest Grove High School Forest Grove, OR Aerospace Education Services Program Aerospace Education Specialist Contributors: Steven M. Pompea, Ph.D. Adjunct Associate Astronomer Deborah A. Brown University of Arizona Ralph Winrich Tucson, AZ NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH Michael Reynolds, Ph.D. Chabot Observatory and Science Center Susan Darnell Oakland, CA NASA Headquarters Washington, DC Robert Veilleux Central High School Thomas Gates Manchester, NY NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA Stephanie Wright, Ed.D. Delaware Teacher Center John Ulrich Bear, DE Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK Cyndi Zeger Horizons Unlimited Vernon Smith Salisbury, NC NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD i Table of Contents Acknowledgments............................i Introduction ..................................... 1 How To Use This Guide .................. 2 The Space Age Begins.................... 2 Astrophysics.................................... 3 A Brief History of United States Astronomy Spacecraft and Crewed Space Flights .........................3 Activity Units Unit 1: The Atmospheric Filter ................ 9 Unit 2: The Electromagnetic Spectrum ......................................23 Unit 3: Collecting Electromagnetic Radiation ......................................45 Unit 4: Down To Earth .............................61 Curriculum Application Matrix ..... 80 Astrophysics Slide Set ................. 82 Astronomy Spacecraft Models..... 83 Glossary ......................................... 84 NASA Educational Materials ........ 86 Suggested Reading ....................... 88 NASA Educational Resources ..... 89 Evaluation Card ................Back Cover iii Introduction range from radio and microwave radiation on the low energy (long wavelength) end f you go to the country, far from city lights, through infrared, visible, ultraviolet, and x- Iyou can see about 3,000 stars on a clear rays to gamma rays on the high energy night. If your eyes were bigger, you could (short wavelength) end. Gases and other see many more stars. With a pair of components of our atmosphere distort, filter, binoculars, an optical device that effectively and block most of these radiations, enlarges the pupil of your eye by about 30 permitting only a partial picture, primarily times, the number of stars you can see visible radiation and some radio waves, to increases to the tens of thousands. With a reach Earth’s surface. Although many medium-sized telescope with a light things can be learned about our universe by collecting mirror 30 centimeters in diameter, studying it from the surface of Earth, the you can see hundreds of thousands of stars. story is incomplete. To view celestial With a large observatory telescope, millions objects over the whole range of the of stars become visible. electromagnetic spectrum it is essential to climb above the atmosphere into outer It would seem that when it comes to space. observing the universe, the larger the instrument, the better. This is true up to a From its earliest days, the National point, but there are limits—limits not Aeronautics and Space Administration imposed by technology but by nature itself. (NASA), has used the emerging technology of rockets to explore the universe. By lofting Surrounding Earth is a life-sustaining telescopes and other scientific instruments atmosphere that stands between our eyes above the veil of Earth’s atmosphere, NASA and the radiations that fall upon Earth from has delivered a treasure house of outer space. This radiation comprises a information to astronomers, leading them to very broad spectrum of energies and rethink their most fundamental ideas about wavelengths. Collectively, they are referred what the universe is, how it came to be, how to as the electromagnetic spectrum. They it functions, and what it is likely to become. 1 How To Use This Guide The Space Age Begins his curriculum guide uses hands-on ithin months of each other the United Tactivities to help students and teachers WStates and the Soviet Union launched understand the significance of space-based their first artificial satellites into orbit around astronomy—astronomical observations Earth. Both satellites were small and made from outer space. It is not intended to simple. Sputnik 1, a Soviet spacecraft, was serve as a curriculum. Instead, teachers the first to reach orbit. It was a 58- should select activities from this guide that centimeter-diameter aluminum sphere that support and extend existing study. The carried two radio transmitters, powered by guide contains few of the traditional chemical batteries. The satellite reached activities found in many astronomy guides orbit on October 4, 1957. Although an such as constellation studies, lunar phases, extremely primitive satellite by today’s and planetary orbits. It tells, rather, the standards, Sputnik 1 nevertheless enabled story of why it is important to observe scientists to learn about Earth’s celestial objects from outer space and how geomagnetic field, temperatures in space, to study the entire electromagnetic and the limits of Earth’s atmosphere. spectrum. Teachers are encouraged to adapt these activities for the particular A much larger Sputnik 2 followed Sputnik 1, needs of their students. When selected carrying a small dog as a passenger. activities from this guide are used in Although primarily investigating the conjunction with traditional astronomy response of living things to prolonged curricula, students benefit from a more periods of microgravity, Sputnik 2 did sense complete experience. the presence of a belt of high-energy charged particles trapped by Earth’s The guide begins with a survey of magnetic field. Explorer 1, the United astronomy-related spacecraft NASA has States’ first satellite, defined that field sent into outer space. This is followed by a further. collection of activities organized into four units: The Atmospheric Filter, The The cylindrical, 13.6 kilogram Explorer 1 Electromagnetic Spectrum, Collecting rode to space on top of a Juno I rocket on Electromagnetic Radiation, and Down to January 31, 1958. It was launched by the Earth. A curriculum matrix identifies the United States Army in association with the curriculum areas each activity addresses. National Academy of Sciences and the Jet Following the activities is information for Propulsion Laboratory of the California obtaining a 35 mm slide set with descriptions showing current results from NASA spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). The guide concludes with a glossary, reference list, a NASA Resources list, and an evaluation card. Feedback from users of this guide is essential for the development of future editions and other classroom supplementary materials. Artist's concept of Explorer 1 in space 2 Institute of Technology. NASA was not NASA defines astrophysics as the formally authorized by an act of Congress investigation of astronomical bodies by until the following October. remote sensing from Earth or its vicinity. Because the targets of the astrophysicist are Explorer 1 carried scientific instruments generally beyond human reach even with designed by Dr. James Van Allen of the our fastest rockets, astrophysicists University of Iowa. Circling Earth in an orbit concentrate solely on what the electromag- ranging from 360 to 2,531 kilometers, the netic spectrum can tell them about the satellite radioed back radiation measure- universe. NASA’s astrophysics program ments, revealing a deep zone of radiation has three goals: to understand the

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