We are a way for the

cosmos to know itself.

-Carl Sagan

Mr. Daniel Peluso

BUILDING A MAP TO THE UNIVERSE

Agenda:
Very, extra brief, history of the universe
Spaceship Earth
Light pollution
Naked eye astronomy and constellations
Star Wheelsyour map to the universe
Tour the cosmos with your maps using the
Galaxy Guide

POP QUIZ!

What is the brightest star in the night

sky?
A.) Vega
B.) Sirius
C.) North Star (a.k.a Polaris)
D.) Arcturus

What is the brightest star in the night

sky?
A.) Vega
B.) Sirius
C.) North Star (a.k.a Polaris)
D.) Arcturus

What is the brightest object on this list?

A.) Jupiter
B.) Sirius
C.) Mars
D.) Venus

What is the brightest object on this list?

A.) Jupiter
B.) Sirius
C.) Mars
D.) Venus

The planets can be found by looking in

the direction of this imaginary
coordinate line?
A.) The ecliptic
B.) The celestial equator
C.) The Zodiac
D.) The meridian

The planets can be found by looking in

the direction of this imaginary
coordinate line?
A.) The ecliptic
B.) The celestial equator
C.) The Zodiac
D.) The meridian

THE BIG BANG

~13.8 billion years ago

~13.5 billion years ago

MILKY WAY GALAXY FORMS

~13.5 billion years ago

~5-6 billion years ago

~4.6 billion years ago

OUR SUN IS BORN

~4.6 billion years ago

~4.5 billion years ago

EARTH & MOON ARE BORN

~4.5 billion years ago

~3 billion years ago

SPACESHIP EARTH
Where is space?
How far away is it?

LIGHT POLLUTION
Light pollution wastes billions of
dollars annually to illuminateas
one way to put itthe bellies of
birds and low-flying aircraft.
(Timothy Ferris, 2003)

80% never see MW

1990s, L.A., 911

The Celestial Sphere

The Celestial Sphere

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/celhorcomp.html

Latitude and Longitude

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/longlat.html

ASTERISM = STAR PICTURE

Dratini

88 official
constellations

Polaris

a.k.a. The North Star

a.k.a. the pole star

Polaris

a.k.a. The North Star

a.k.a. the pole star

Latitude, Longitude
32.7 N, 117.2 W
San Diego, CA
13 August 2016
10:00 pm, pst

Star Wheels/Maps to the Universe

Polaris

a.k.a. The North Star

a.k.a. the pole star

Star Wheels/Maps to the Universe

Directions:
1.) Cut out star wheel outer sleeve along solid black line (do not
cut out bottom blank rectangle!). Also, cut out inner oval.
2.) Cut out the circular sky map
3.) Fold up bottom rectangle on outer sleeve. Staple rectangle
to the front at locations marked by short white lines on both
sides of the bottom.
4.) Slip in the circular sky map so it shows through the inner
oval.
While you construct Star Wheels:
Talk to your neighbor about what you know about
constellations, astronomy, space, etc.
How do you think constellations are used in modern
astronomy?

Star Wheels/Maps to the Universe

Entire night sky squeezed in a circle
Edge is horizon
Center is straight up (zenith)
Just spin outer wheel to local date/time
Face direction and turn entire Star Wheel so direction text is right
side up
Better versions available for purchase (e.g. ~$10-$15 on Amazon)
Number deep space objects and planets using your galaxy guide

Star Wheels/Maps to the Universe

Polaris

a.k.a. The North Star

a.k.a. the pole star
a.k.a. Alpha Ursae Minoris

Now for our first deep space

object!

M42, NGC 1976, Orion Nebula

Stellar nebula, a.k.a. star factory
~1300 lys away
Mass roughly 2000 times our Sun!
Hubble and other telescopes have
directly observed stars forming,
protoplanetary disks, brown
dwarfs, and turbulent motions of
gas

1.

1.

RESET TO NORTH

M13
Globular cluster
Halo of MW
Over 300,000 stars
~25,000 ly away
Arecibo message
1974 Arecibo radio telescope (Puerto Rico)
Francis Drake & Carl Sagan
Encoded: DNA, atomic numbers, Earths
position

2.

Exoplanet?
3.

Kepler Spacecraft
Launched in 2009
1284 new exoplanets, 3199 candidates
All Methods
3518 exoplanets confirmed since 1992 (most in
past decade)
1/5 sun-like stars have Earth-sized planet in
habitable zone
Assuming 200 billion MW stars
11 billion potentially habitable Earth-sized
planets in MW alone
Proxima Centauri
4.2 ly
Red dwarf
ESO
Proxima Centauri b: 1.27 of Earth mass

3.
Artist interpretation

4.
Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
2.5 million ly away
Largest of local group
4 billion yrs collision
Most distant object with
naked eye (really hard
though)

RESET TO NORTH

?
5.

Sagittarius A*

Supermassive black hole

4 million solar masses
Singularity = physics fails
Time = SLOW
Spaghettification
Lots of other cool stuff, no
time, need black hole

5.

Supermassive Black Hole by Muse

5.

Planets
Planet = wanderer in Greek
They wont always be in these constellations!
Dont twinkle as much

7.

Mars
Venus

6.
Saturn

M31, Andromeda Galaxy

NGC 869 & NGC 884

M27, Dumbbell Planetary Nebula

M42, Orion Nebula

M13

Credits:
Astronomy Simulations Astronomy Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Earth Black Marble image Courtesy of NASA
Dark Sky Maps www.darksitefinder.com
Ferris, Timothy. Seeing in the Dark: How Amateur Astronomers Are Discovering the
Wonders of the Universe. Simon & Schuster (2003).
San Diego Skyline Ted Ross 2007
Star fields taken from Stellarium, GNU General Public License
Star trails video taken by Larry W. Brown, (2014, YouTube).
Supermassive Black Hole. Written by Mathew Bellamy. Performed by Muse. Warner
Bros. Records (2006).

All our science, measured against reality, is

primitive and childlikeand yet it is the
most precious thing we have.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
(1879 1955)