In Pursuit of Perfection: Astronomy

PROFICIENCY 1-- Galaxies
Proficiency 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

     "Elliptical and Spiral Galaxies." library.thinkquest.org.  N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 

    2011.  <library.thinkquest.org/C0126626/evo/evolution%20of%20the%20universe.ev 

    olution%20amount%20galaxies.elliptical%20and%20spiral%20galaxies.htm>.    

"Facts About the Milky Way." Universe Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2011.

<http://www.universetoday.com/22285/facts-about-the-milky-way/>.

     "Fragmentation Into Protogalaxies." library.thinkquest.org.  N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 

    2011.  <library.thinkquest.org/C0126626/evo/evolution%20of%20the%20universe.ev 

    olution%20amount%20galaxies.fragmentation%20into%20protogalaxies.htm>.    

     However, their infrared emission (i.e. their heat)., they are very faint, and very 

    far. "galaxy formation." Mac OS X Server. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. 

    <http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/lectures/lec25.html>. 

"NSSDC Photo Gallery: Galaxies and Globular Clusters." Welcome to the NSSDC!. N.p., 
    n.d. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. <http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-
    astro-galaxy.html>.   

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PROFICIENCY 2-- Technological Advancements

*I  can identify key technological advancements that helped in making our  knowledge of space expand. My research will show the past, but I will  also predict what future advancements may stretch our limits even more.

Dating way back, from the time that man could walk, they based all their theories of space, just by looking up. As men got smarter, they created new technology and figured out that by looking through glass magnified the stars. Galileo created the telescope in 1609 and he soon found out that looking through the telescope, was not much different from looking through a pair of opera glasses. The first telescope provided limited magnification. In 1704, Sir Isaac Newton came up with a modified version of the telescope. This one contained a curved mirror instead of glass lenses. That way the light gathered would reflect back on the point he wanted to focus on. Newtons creation was proven to magnify things, far more intensely then a regular lens.

This sparked up new theories and suspicions of the world beyond what they knew. Mankind was inspired to figure out more about what was to be our solar system. From there we started launching monkeys into space in shuttles, then actual people to build satellites. Now, we have things like the Hubble Telescope. The Hubble Telescope is a large telescope that NASA launched into space in 1990, to orbit the Earth and get pictures of space that we could not see from the telescopes here on the ground. By sending Hubble into orbit, it has helped determine the age of our galaxy, and many other things.

Space exploration is greatly expanding our knowledge on many things such as health and medicine, computer technology, transportation and environmental management. Since Hubble launched, it has proven theories and has discovered black energy. Black energy is a weird force that causes that the universe to get larger. Hubble has also found the galaxies in different stages of development which helped prove the theories on how galaxies are formed.

In the future, I predict we will just keep getting more mechanically inclined and come up with new ideas for space exploration. Also, I think that with all the new discoveries coming our way, it will give Earth a better understanding of space.

NASA and the United States goals for the future is to create more helpful spin offs and build a new space craft. The United States is also working on building a space station to orbit around the Earth and is expected to stay up there for up to 30 years. The goal that NASA has is to organize tests that effect gravity on different materials.

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Biboliography:

" HubbleSite - The Telescope - Hubble Essentials ." HubbleSite - Out of the ordinary...out of this world.. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. <http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/>.

"NASA spinoffs, space benefits, space history, NASA space spinoffs, NASA technology products." Space

history, education, space collectibles, astronaut autographs, space memorabilia, NASA spinoffs, astronaut

autographed collectibles. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. <http://www.thespaceplace.com

/nasa/spinoffs.html>.

"The US Space Program Benefits." Problem Solving Techniques . N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.

<http://www.problem-solving-techniques.com/US-Space-Program.html>.

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PROFICIENCY 3-- Constellations

The constellations were not discovered, they were invented. Stars are already in the sky for everyone to see, but associating them into patterns has no meaning - it is just a way to organiz3e them in our heads. Constellations are a pattern of stars in the sky that make up and story. A total of twelve constellations of the Zodiac appear to have been invented by the Babylonians. Adding another thirty-two constellations, the Ancient Greek made up stories about a formation of stars. Other then the Babylonians and the Ancient Greeks, there are are 40 different constellation that are used today. They were invented by explorers and astronomers between the 16-18th centuries. Today, there are a total of eighty-eight constellations used, that were approved by International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Constellations and their Myths:

Libra: The Scales

The Libra is the only sign on zodiac that represents an inanimate object. Libra represents the day and night equinox. Now it has been more related to the Virgo, which is the Goddess of Justice.

Pisces: The Fish

Pisces is a constellation that tells a story about this big storm coming and to get away from it, Eros and Aphrodite dove into the water. Then they turned into fish and swam away to be safe. Later, Zues came back and made the fish immortal constellations and placed the two fish among the stars.

Story: Fred the Penguin

In the land of Zo, there was a penguin that just might be the most known creature to walk this Earth. This penguins name, was Fred(pronounced Bob, but spelt F-R-E-D). Fred was not your ordinary penguin. NO! Fred was a part of the SS-SANTA(Secret Service-Slanted Allan Nitrogen Tragedy Association.) Why was he part of this association you may ask? Well, he doesn't have any idea what it even means so therefore there is no reason. One day, Dog came to Fred and told him to build an ark to save man kind. It took Fred seven days to build this ark, he soon named this great creation Twitonic. It started to rain and everyone in the land of Zo got onto the ark. After a few hours of sailing, this Twitonic came upon an iceberg. Everyone thought it was the end and they tried to all go on one side of the boat to make it turn. But, there was one very very large kid that weighed a ton(literally) named Ryan that was walking the other way. If you would even consider his "walk" a walk. It was more like a waddle but at the speed of 0.213 miles per hour. Of course, he was walking to the food. Someone got in the way of this journey to the food bar. It was his worst nightmare. A ginger. He then died instantly. Everyone was franticly screaming because now there was no way of having to boat turn. Ryan was dead on the opposite side of the ark and the ark was still going straight ahead. Fred knew what to do. He ran over to Ryan and picked him up off the ground and threw him off the ark with every ounce of strength he had. Everyone cheered as the ark, Twitonic, turned just barley avoiding the iceberg. Fred saved history from a tragically tragic tragedy so everyone in the land of Zo agreed to name a constellation after Fred the Great to show their appreciation for what he did that night.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

" What Are Constellations? ." UW Astronomy. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Feb.2011. 

   <http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra

   /constellations.html#History>.

McCartel, Norm. "Constellation Legends." www.tcoe,org. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2011.<www.tcoe.org/SCICON

/InstructionalGuide/Constellations.pdf>.

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PROFICIENCY 4-- Origin of our Solar System

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PROFICIENCY 6-- Meteors, Asteroids, Comets and Moons

Proficiency 6: on Prezi