WHO WAS GALILEO GALILEI?
PLANET OF THE MONTH
WHY DOES THE MOON HAVE PHASES?
THE OBSERVATORY
WHAT'S INSIDE
1.
The life and times of Galileo Galilei
3.
All you need to know about black holes
4.
The stars and their constellations
5.
Why the moon has phases
7.
Planet of the month
G A LILEO G A LILEI
Li f e a n d Ti m e s Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy. During his life he made many important contributions to further the study of astronomy. Initially, Galileo planned on studying philosophy and medicine. While studying at the University of Pisa, he decided instead to pursue mathematics. Eventually, Galileo received a job at the University of Pisa as a professor of mathematics. In 1609, Galileo developed the universal law of accelaration. This law challenged previous discoveries and did not sit well with the Catholic Church.
Galileo begin compiling material that supported Copernicus's theories and contradicted Aristotle and Church doctrine. In 1616, Galileo was ordered by the church to Later in 1609, Galileo discovered a stop teaching his theories. When Galileo's telescope made by eyeglass makers friend was selected as Pope Urban VIII, and decided to use this telescope to Galileo was allowed to continue his research as long as it remained objective to look at the sky. Doing this, Galileo Copernican theory. Galileo, however, made some very important discoveries about the universe. He published a controversial book that portrays found that the moon is not flat and advocates of Aristotelian beliefs as simpletons. The Church's reaction to this was smooth, but rather has mountains and craters. He also discovered that swift and Galileo was charged with heresy Venus has phases like the moon and and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. During this time, Galileo wrote Two that Jupiter has revolving moons New Sciences , a summary of his life's work. that don't revolve around Earth. Both of these discoveries prove that Galileo made many important contributions everything in the universe does not and discoveries to the field of astronomy. It revolve around Earth but rather the is no surprise he is remembered as "The Sun. Father of Modern Science."
Black Holes Black holes ar e a fascinating object in this massive univer se. A black hole consists of a lot of matter packed into a ver y small ar ea. This cr eates a gr avitational pull that nothing can escape fr om. Not even light! Most black holes ar e for med fr om the r emains of a lar ge star that dies in a super nova explosion Black holes gener ally exist on two ver y differ ent size scales. Thr oughout the
univer se ther e ar e "stellar mass" black holes which ar e about 10 to 24 times as massive as the Sun. Most stellar black holes ar e impossible to detect, however . Scientists estimate that ther e 10 million to a billion of these in the Milky Way alone. The second kind of black holes ar e known as "super massive" black holes and ar e millions and billions of times as
massive as the Sun. Scientists believe that these black holes lie at the center of almost all lar ge galaxies, including the Milky Way. Histor ically, Scientists have found that mid-sized black holes do not exist, but based on r ecent discover ies, ther e is a possibility that mid-sized black holes do exist.
Constellations The constellations we see and use today ar e based on the findings of Ptolemy in the 2nd centur y. In 1930, the Inter national Astr onomical Union took these 48 constellations and divided the sky into the 88 constellations we use today. We can use the constellations to or ient our selves with wher e we ar e on Ear th. For example, if you live in the nor ther n hemispher e, you can use the Big Dipper to find the dir ection nor th. Polar is, the Nor th Star , is located at the tip of the handle of the big dipper , so when you locate and face the Nor th Star , you ar e facing nor th. Being familiar with a few constellations also makes it easier to locate star ts and other constellations. Not all constellations ar e visible year r ound. Dur ing the winter months, the constellations of Or ion (the Hunter ), Canis Major (The Lar ger Dog), and Canis Minor (the Smaller Dog) ar e all visible. Dur ing the summer months, you can see the constellations of Lyr a (the Lyr e), Cygnus (the Swan), and Aquila (the Eagle. Astr onomer s also use the constellations to locate celestial objects in the sky.
Phases of the moon
The Moon goes thr ough each of it's phases appr oximately once a month. But why does the Moon have phases at all? Well, the Moon or bits the Ear th once ever y 29.5 days and while this is happening, it is lit at differ ent angles by the sun. One half of the Moon is always illuminated by the
sun. The Moon's phase that we see is deter mined by how much of its sunlit hemispher e is facing the Ear th. When the Moon is closest to the Sun, its dar kest hemispher e faces the ear th; this phase is called the new Moon. Each day following this phase exposes mor e of the Moon's illuminated hemispher e. This gr adual phase is called the waxing
cr escent Moon. The fir st quar ter Moon comes next. Dur ing this phase, it looks like the moon is divided in half. We see half the illuminated side and half of the dar k side. the name "Quar ter Moon" actually r efer s to how far the Moon is in its cycle r ather than how much of the Moon we see.
Dur ing the time following the quar ter Moon, mor e and mor e of the Moon's illuminated hemispher e can be seen. This phase is called the waxing gibbous phase. When the Moon ar r ives on the opposite side of Ear th fr om the Sun, we see all of the fully illuminated hemispher e. We call this phase the full
Moon. Following this phase, we begin seeing less and less of the Moon's illuminated hemispher e. The phases thr oughout these days ar e called waning gibbous, thir d quar ter , and waning cr escent. Finally, at 29.5 days, the Moon has completed its cycle and we have ar r ived back at the new Moon.
The "far side" of the Moon appear s in a few songs and is a matter of much cur iosity. The far side of the Moon r efer s to the side that is facing away fr om Ear th and is not illuminated by the Sun. We do in fact see the far side, however when we see just less than a full Moon.
PLA N ET O F TH E M O N TH
Mar s is the planet r ight next to Ear th and is ther efor e a matter of much cur iosity, as well as the topic of many science fiction shows and movies. Mar s is named after the Roman god of war and is known for its r eddish appear ance. The r ust color of this planet is due to ir on-r ich miner als in the dust and r ock on the sur face. Mar s has a cold, thin atmospher e which can become ver y dusty. Mar s is known for its giant dust stor ms which cover the planet and can last for months. Being fur ther away fr om the Sun than Ear th, Mar s is much colder than our planet. The aver age temper atur e on Mar s is about minus 80 degr ees Fahr enheit. Mar s has a much thinner atmospher e than Ear th as well. The atmospher e on Mar s is appr oximately 100 times thinner than that of Ear th's but it can still suppor t clouds and wind. Mar s is home to the solar system's highest mountain and deepset, longest valley. Olympus Mons is about 17 miles high and about 370 miles in diameter . This mountain is also one of many volcanoes on Mar s. Scientists believe that some minor er uptions still occur on Mar s. The Valles Mar iner is valleys can go as deep as six miles east to west for about 2,500 miles.
While Mar s is contains many mountains and valleys, much of its sur face is flat, low-laying plains. The plains in the nor ther n r egion of the planet ar e among the smoothest plains in the solar system. Mar s also contains what appear to be Polar caps. These layer ed stacks of water , ice, and dust extend fr om the poles in both hemispher es. The caps of ice water on these deposits r emain fr ozen year r ound. Mar s has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. These moons ar e car bon-r ich r ock and mixed with ice. They ar e much smaller that Ear th's moon and because of that they ar e ir r egular ly shaped. At its widest, Phobos is about 17 miles and Deimos, nine miles. The Red Planet has been tar get of much r esear ch. Numer ous spacecr afts have been sent to Mar s, pr oviding us with all the details we know about the planet. Ther e is speculation, however , that one day human beings might be making a tr ip to Mar s. Ther e is a possibility of NASA-led manned mission in the 2030s, as well as the Mar s One colony pr oject which is looking to send citizens on a one-way tr ip to the planet.
REFERENCES Bl ack Hol es - NASA Science. Januar y 2015. Febr uar y 2015.
Choi, Char les Q. Mar s Fact s: Lif e, Wat er , and Robot s on t he Red Pl anet . November 2014. Febr uar y 2015.
Comins, Neil F. and William J. Kaufmann III. Discover ing t he Univer se. New Yor k: W.H. Fr eeman and Company, 2012.
"Galileo." Bio. A&E Television Networ ks, 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.
Temming, Mar ia. What ar e const el l at ions | Sky & Tel escope. July 2014. Febr uar y 2015.