Developing the Gifted and Talented Young Learner

FACTSHEETS FOR STAFF

STARS

• The Earth is surrounded by stars. When there are no clouds in our night sky, we can see the stars clearly.
• The Sun is actually a star. The reason it looks so different is because it is so close to us.
• We can see patterns in the stars. Different civilizations saw different patterns and they thought they related to their gods.
• In the southern hemisphere (Antarctica, parts of Africa and Asia, Australia, most of Southern America), you will find the following constellations:
  • –
    Aquarius (the Water-Bearer)
  • –
    Orion (the Hunter)
  • –
    Scorpio (the Scorpion)
  • –
    Southern Cross
  • –
    Hydra (Water Snake)
  • –
    Libra (Scales)
• In the northern hemisphere (Europe, 2/3 of Africa north of the Congo River, North America, Central America, small part of South America north of the Amazon River, Asia, although Indonesia is primarily in the southern hemisphere), you will find the following constellations:
  • –
    Pegasus
  • –
    Perseus
  • –
    Pole star
  • –
    Plough (or Little Bear)
  • –
    Great Bear
  • –
    Leo (the Lion)
• Stars look small but they are in fact huge balls of hot gas. They look small because they are so far away.
• Stars would be just like our Sun if you were close to them.
• Galaxies are made up of billions of stars. On a clear night we can see part of our galaxy. It is known as the Milky Way.
• There are billions of galaxies in space, each made up of billions of individual stars.
• Galaxies are grouped into clusters, groups of clusters are known as super clusters.
• All the galaxies, clusters of galaxies and super clusters together make up our universe.
• A shooting star is really smaller pieces of dust from space. They are known as meteoroids. Some of these are quite small, as small as a grain of sand, but others are quite big. They are travelling so fast that as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere they burn up as they fall to Earth, but some are too big to burn and cause damage when they land on Earth. A hundred years ago a meteor landed in Siberia and exploded like an atomic bomb.
• When a star comes to the end of its life, it can explode. Supernovae are the biggest explosions in the universe.
• Once a star has exploded as a supernova, the bit that is left shrinks quickly. If it is big, it shrinks to almost nothing. The area of space that is left has enormous gravity. This gravity sucks in any other nearby material, including other stars. This is known as a black hole.
• Black holes are called black holes because gravity is so strong not even light can escape from it.
• Stars come in different colours. The colour is related to the temperature of the star. Hot stars are blue. Cooler stars are red. Hot stars can be 30,000°C. Cooler stars are as little as 1000°C.
• The temperature of a star is related to its mass.
• The solar system includes the following:
  • –
    the Sun
  • –
    the inner planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
  • –
    the outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
  • –
    the dwarf planets – Pluto, Eris, Ceres
  • –
    small solar system bodies – asteroids, comets, meteors and meterorites, near Earth objects

Photocopiable

‘Developing the Gifted and Talented Young Learner’ © Margaret Sutherland, 2008.

THE SUN

• The Sun is the one star we can see in great detail.
• The Sun is not solid but made up of gases – hydrogen, helium and small amounts of 90 other elements.
• Number facts:
  • –
    The Sun is 149.6 million kilometres away from Earth. This is close in space terms!
  • –
    The diameter (width) of the Sun is approximately 1.4 million kilometres (about 109 times that of the Earth).
  • –
    The surface we can see is 5,500°C.
  • –
    The core is 15 million°C.
• The Sun looks like it is burning but it is actually exploding.
• The Sun fires out invisible particles into space. When these pass the North and South Poles they can make the air glow.
• The Sun is a relatively cool star. Its temperature is about 6000°C.
• We just see the outside surface of the Sun, inside the sun there are unimaginably violent explosions going on. Some children will be ready to use the correct terminology for the process:
  • –
    Inside our Sun atoms of hydrogen gas fuse (or join together) to form another gas called helium. This is known as nuclear fusion and is where the Sun's energy comes from.
  • –
    This energy travels outwards to the surface of the Sun, throwing hot gases millions of miles into space before the Sun's gravity pulls it back.
  • –
    Heat, light and radiation stream off the Sun into space.

Photocopiable

‘Developing the Gifted and Talented Young Learner’ © Margaret Sutherland, 2008.

SPACE EXPLORATION

• All early civilizations studied the night sky, for example the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the ancient Chinese, the Mayan people of South America. Even Stonehenge was probably for studying the sky.
• Hans Lippershey from the Netherlands, built the first telescope in 1608.
• Galileo, from Italy, was one of the first people to use a telescope to study the night sky. He first recorded his observations in 1609–1610.
• Edwin Hubble, an American, was the first person to show us that there are other galaxies. The Hubble telescope is named after him.
• Robert Oppenheimer is another famous astronomer. He helped us to understand more about black holes and neutron stars.
• Telescopes collect light and other kinds of energy from objects in space, record it and then use it to make images which help us find out more about the stars and planets. Some telescopes are put in space and others are put on Earth.
• Earth telescopes have been used for 400 years; space telescopes have been used in the last 40 years.
• Space probes are designed to investigate particular planets or targets. Some fly past their target, others orbit their targets and some land on their targets. We have landed space probes on the Moon, Mars, Venus and the asteroid Eros.
• We have been sending rockets into space since 1957.
• The first people went into space in 1961.
• Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first astronauts to land on the Moon on 20 July 1969. They were from the crew of Apollo 11.
• The International Space Station (ISS) is 230 miles/370 km above Earth. It is being built and used by 16 countries. Crews have lived on the ISS since 2000. They conduct experiments and see how things behave in space.

Photocopiable

‘Developing the Gifted and Talented Young Learner’ © Margaret Sutherland, 2008.

• Asteroid A rock in space that is orbiting the sun. Most are found in the Asteroid or Main Belt.
• Astronaut Someone who travels into space.
• Astronomer Someone who studies the universe and everything in it.
• Astronomy The study of space.
• Astrophotographer Someone who takes photographs of the night sky and objects in it.
• Astrophysics The physics of the universe.
• Atmosphere Gases round a moon or planet and held in place by gravity.
• Atom The basic building blocks of everything in the universe.
• Billion One thousand million.
• Black hole A collapsed star that has so much gravity that everything close to it, even light, is pulled in.
• Cluster Stars or a group of galaxies.
• Comet A small object made of dust and ice. Sometimes known as a ‘dirty snowball’.
• Constellation An area of sky where bright stars seem to form together in the shape of an animal or human.
• Crater A hollow on the surface of a planet, moon or asteroid formed by an asteroid colliding into it.
• Element Hydrogen, oxygen and carbon. A substance made up of one kind of atom.
• Equator An imaginary line drawn round the middle of a planet, moon or star. It divides it into the northern and southern hemispheres.
• Fireball A very bright meteor.
• Galaxy A large collection of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity.
• Gravity A force of attraction.
• Light year A unit used to measure distances across the universe. The distance light travels in one year.
• Magnetic field Space round a star or planet where the magnetism of the star or planet is felt.
• Mass The amount of material in an object. The more mass the heavier an object is.
• Meteor The streak of light produced by a meteor as it travels through the Earth's atmosphere.
• Meteorite A space rock that crashes into Earth, the Moon or another planet.
• Meteoroid A very small piece of dust from a comet or asteroid.
• Milky Way The part of our galaxy we can see at night.
• Moon A small planet that orbits another planet rather than the sun.
• Nebula A cloud of dust and gas in space.
• Nuclear reaction The process when elements change to other elements inside a star.
• Observatory The name for buildings that house telescopes.
• Orbit The path taken by one object round another larger object.
• Planet A large, round object made of rock and/or gas that orbits round a star.
• Protostar A star in the process of forming.
• Satellite An object held in orbit round a planet or moon. Human-made satellites orbit Earth. The Moon is the Earth's largest satellite.
• Solar system The Sun and all the objects that orbit it.
• Star Like our own sun, a huge flaming sphere of gases.
• Sunspot A cooler spot on the surface of the Sun.
• Supercluster Cluster of galaxies at the end of its life.
• Supernova An immense star that explodes and shines brightly for a few days.
• Telescope A piece of equipment that through the use of lens and/or mirrors collects light from a distant object and forms that light into an image.
• Trillion One million million (1,000,000,000,000).
• Universe Everything that exists.

Photocopiable

‘Developing the Gifted and Talented Young Learner’ © Margaret Sutherland, 2008.