STEM for TY Teachers
Discovering Our Place in the
Universe
Day 2
Mark Bailey and Libby McKearney,
Armagh Observatory
H&S, Housekeeping etc.
!  This is a non-smoking building
!  Morning tea and lunch will be served:
!  Fire alarm, fire escapes – I will lead you to our fire assembly point,
please remain there until I check your name off the register and only
return here when advised to do so.
!  Please be aware of any trip hazards (trailing leads, steps etc.)
!  Location of facilities
!  Evaluation – please continue to fill out your evaluation form as we go
through today and tomorrow!
!  Second form on your table.
Our Programme for Today
Reminder:
Main Learning Objective
To provide TY Teachers/Coordinators with
sufficient knowledge of astronomy and related
sciences to give them the confidence and
skills to introduce some aspects of astronomy
to their TY students.
“Earth’s Place in Space: Bringing
䇺Heaven䇻 Down to Earth”
Talk by
Mark Bailey
Gap tasks!
Suggested Core Themes
!  Here we begin to look at 4 core themes that you will
perhaps use back at school (Moon, Constellations,
Solar System and Sun, Stars and Galaxies.) The 5th
is Research and Presentations: Students presenting
the knowledge gained to peers and possibly to
feeder primary school children in future
!  1. The Moon: Phases, physical properties; tides
(very relevant in costal parts of Donegal); physical
and cultural relationships with the Earth; craters
and cratering history; eclipses (now in with Solar System);
space travel etc.
!  Task: Observing, e.g. with binoculars, and complete an
observing sheet over a month.
Moon – revision of basic facts
!  Our nearest neighbour, 384,400 km on average away.
Has a quarter of the Earth’s diameter.
!  A natural satellite, rich in stories; religious festival dates.
!  Shines by reflecting the Sun’s light, has virtually no
atmosphere.
!  Takes approx. 27.3 days to make a complete orbit of
Earth (relative to background stars).
!  Period to show same phase to Earth is approx. 29.5
days (e.g. from one Full Moon to the next Full Moon).
!  For something that appears to us so bright, the Moon
has a similar reflectance to coal!
!  1/6 Earth's gravity
How did the Moon come to be?!
!  Moon is thought to have formed shortly after origin of
solar system (4.567bn + 30-50 million years later)
!  The current most widely accepted explanation is that it
formed from debris left over after a giant impact between
the proto-Earth and a Mars-sized body. The material
blasted into orbit around the Earth accreted into the
Moon.
!  The dark lunar plains which can be easily seen with the
naked eye are called maria (Latin for seas) these are vast
solidified pools of ancient lava which filled the impact
craters on the surface. (Think – why were they called seas?)
!  More dark maria on the near side of the Moon possibly
because there are more heat producing elements under
the crust on the near side.
Observing: it is easier to pick out features along the terminator at quarter Moon
Other Features
!  The lighter coloured regions of the Moon are called
highlands as they are higher than the maria. Again
very obvious to the naked eye.
!  The lunar impact craters formed when asteroids and
comets hit the surface, they are well preserved – why
do you think this is?
!  Ans: lack of atmosphere, weather and recent
geological processes.
!  How does this compare to Earth’s surface and
cratering and why?
!  Tycho crater is famous for its ‘rays’ of debris from
when it was formed, some of which stretch for
1,500km.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Moon_names.svg
Cratering history
!  Impact-melted rocks gathered by Apollo missions have
been radiometrically dated to being between 3.8 and
4.1 billion years old. This has been used to propose the
Late Heavy Bombardment of impacts.
!  There are estimated to be approximately 300,000
craters wider than 1km on the near side of the Moon
alone.
!  Some named after scientists, scholars, artists and
explorers – student research potential!
!  Formed by the impacts; a finer, broken down layer called
regolith blankets the Moon’s crust.
!  You may remember that the Earth tilts on its axis at 23.4
degrees to its orbit around the Sun - the Moon’s is 6.68
degrees to its orbit.
!  The Moon’s distance from Earth increases by 38mm per
year, this is confirmed by measurements with laser
reflectors left during the Apollo missions to the Moon.
!  Gravitational coupling between the Moon and Earth
drains the rotational kinetic energy from Earth’s spin, in
turn angular momentum is added to the Moon’s orbit,
accelerating it and lifting it into a higher orbit with a
longer period, thus distance increases between the two
bodies, as above and Earth’s spin is slowing down.
Phases of the Moon
These repeat over the (29.5 day) month; 䇾quarter䇿 indicates the
part of the cycle, not the shape at that time!
!  New Moon (dark)
!  Waxing Crescent
!  First quarter D – shape
(N Hemisphere)
!  Waxing Gibbous
!  Full Moon (bright)
!  Waning Gibbous
!  Last quarter C – shape
(N Hemisphere)
!  Waning Crescent
The Moon is the farthest that humans have travelled so far!
The Phases of the Moon
Phase
Crescent Moon
2-3 days after
the New Moon
First quarter of
the cycle
Full Moon
Last quarter of
the cycle
Crescent Moon
2-3 days
before New
Moon
Appearance
Rises in the
East:
Sets in the
West:
Just after
sunrise
Just after
sunset
Around
midday
Around
midnight
At sunset
At sunrise
Around
midnight
Around
midday
Just before
sunrise
Just before
sunset
View
Just after
sunset in the
west, not far
from the Sun
which is about
to set
From evening
to midnight in
the western
sky
All night, from
sunset to
sunrise
From around
midnight to
around midday
Just before
sunrise in the
east, not far
from the Sun
which is about
to rise
Lets do an activity to gain confidence in teaching phases!
Activity
http://sciencenetlinks.com/media/filer/2011/10/14/moon_worksheet.html
Space travel
f
Students need to realise that the Moon is the
farthest that humans have travelled so far.
!  Discuss with students the viability of humans travelling to
Mars, cost, how would they get back again etc.
!  Life aboard the ISS – ESA educational materials, web etc.
!  The Soviet Union’s Luna programme was first to reach the
Moon in 1959 with unmanned spacecraft.
!  The US’ NASA Apollo programme achieved manned
missions, beginning with manned orbiting by Apollo 8 in
1968 followed by 6 manned lunar landings between 1969
and 1972.
!  The iconic image above of Neil Armstrong, recently
deceased, Apollo 11 1969.
Cultural relationships
!  The regular waxing and waning of the Moon have
made it the basis of many of the oldest calendars.
!  Notched bones, believed by some to be showing
phases of the Moon, are dated back to between 20
and 30,000 years.
!  In language, taking the root Moon, led via Latin, we
get the word measure showing the importance of
the Moon to ancient cultures in measuring time.
Moon image is found on many flags
!  The Moon is the subject of countless works of art,
literature and the inspiration for many others.
!  In Knowth, Ireland, a 5,000 year old rock carving
may represent the Moon, if so this would be the
earliest depiction discovered.
!  The physical features of the Moon, those maria and
uplands have created the patterns seen by different
cultures across the world.
Moon Rabbit/Jade Rabbit
This is a rabbit which in folklore lives on the moon. The story exists in
many cultures, particularly in East-Asian folklore, where he is seen as
pounding a mortar and pestle. In Chinese folklore the Jade rabbit is
usually portrayed as the companion of the moon goddess Chang’e,
pounding the elixir of life for her, In the Korean and Japanese versions
it is seen as pounding the ingredients of a rice cake.
Similar legends of the rabbit occur in Mexican folklore, where people
identified the markings as a rabbit. “According to an!Aztec!legend, the
God Quetzalcoatl, then living on Earth as a man, started on a journey
and, after walking for a long time, became hungry and tired. With no
food or water around, he thought he would die. Then a rabbit grazing
nearby offered himself as food to save his life. Quetzalcoatl, moved by
the rabbit's noble offering, elevated him to the moon, then lowered him
back to Earth and told him, "You may be just a rabbit, but everyone will
remember you; there is your image in light, for all men and for all
times."”
I wonder – did he eat the rabbit then?!!!
Moon Fun Document
Moon: Relative Size and Phases
Moon’s diameter (3476 km) is 27%, i.e.
roughly one quarter, that of the Earth
Lunar phases depend on relative
positions of Earth, Moon and Sun as
both Earth and Moon revolve around
the Sun …
Images from NASA
From RAS Leaflet
Moon: Orbit Always Concave
With Respect to Sun
Heliocentric View
New Moon
Last Quarter
Full Moon
First Quarter
Geocentric View
Orbit Around Common Centre of Mass:
Produces Two Tidal Bulges
From RAS Leaflet
From McCully “Beyond The Moon”
“Spring” and Neap Tides: Depend on
Alignment of Moon With Sun