For years amateur astronomy has fascinated both mankind, but kids astronomy is probably the most rewarding, especially if it is your kids that you are teaching. The nighttime sky has been a source of wonder, even before telescopes were developed. Many things have sprouted up around the night sky such as superstitions, the constellations and even telling of ones future.
The mystical side of astronomy continues to make people look up at night and day viewing the sun, moon and the vast number of stars, and even though science and common sense tells us that these celestial bodies can’t possibly influence our lives, we all check our horoscope and we all have either lied down on a blanket at night or thought about doing so and just stared up at the stars.
There are several tools that you and your kids will need for observation, and believe it or not, many of them are not that expensive, and easy to get. The most obvious thing offhand is a telescope, but you can even get away with a good pair of binoculars for a while. If you choose to buy a telescope, you can even get one with light filters and digital cameras built right in.
Another must have is a star chart. With this, you will be able to tell where all of the known constellations are as well as most of the known celestial bodies such as stars, planets and far away galaxies. Many of these charts will even tell you when certain objects are visible complete with dates and times so you can plan your evening ahead of time.
The last thing you should have is something to use for an observation log. It doesn’t matter if it is a computer or a note pad; keep track of what you are looking at at all times. You never know when you might come across something new and interesting. The universe is a big place.
With these tools you and your kids can become armature astronomers, but even before you purchase these tools, you can just use a simple blanket and just observe on a clear night. Kids astronomy is a great hobby and will bring your whole family together.
Technorati Tags: Kids Astronomy
(Pluto is no longer classified as a planet, but it’s there for size comparison. As for the Sun, it was never a planet but is here for the very same reason.)
I always wanted to see a one-by-one comparison of the sizes of the planets, so I put the numbers into my 3d program. These are all correct proportions (of size, not distance).
Tamen, the final planet, was a world we created when we were children. Obsessed with size, we said it was 1,000 times larger than Earth’s sun (this was actually only 100 times larger, because 1000 made the sun so small you couldn’t really see it). We later learned that such a planet would have to much gravity that not only would no living thing survive, but you may get a nice little black hole started right there in the planet!
*Music Appropriately taken from season 1&2 of the BBC’s Red Dwarf.
Duration : 0:1:29
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Technorati Tags: Earth, geckos, gscrean, jupiter, mars, mercury, neptune, olyvians, planets, pluto, size, solar, Space, sun, system, tamen, uranus, venus
A philosophical discussion by a 4 & 7 year old about the solar system
Duration : 0:1:32
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Technorati Tags: kids, pluto, solar, sun, system
One must be basic information about the terminology of a subject if they want to study it deeply. Astronomy is not an exception in this case. Astronomy terms are comparatively easy to understand and easy to remember. There are hundreds of terms are in astronomy but we are going to discuss some of the basic astronomy terms. It helps the person who is interested in astronomy and physics to understand the subject well.
‘Absolute magnitude’ is an astronomy term which defines the brightness of an object if it is seen from the remoteness of 32.6 light years. ‘Angle’ is another basic term used in astronomy to express two directions. It is used to measure the deviation between to direction. Angle is commonly measured with the parameter, degree. ‘Apparent dimension’ is used to measure the angle of an object which appear to an observer. Arc minute is the unit for apparent dimension.
When a celestial object is seen by an observer or the apparatus fixed for the observation will instantly calculate the ‘brightness’ of the object. The brightness of an object is measured in magnitudes. ‘Distance’ is another astronomy term which defines the length between two or more celestial objects. The distance is measured with the units of length such as feet, kilometer, light year etc. usually earth is one object and other celestial bodies considered as the second object. ‘Light year’ is the common unit for measuring the length. The one year traveling time of light with its speed of 299,792 km/sec is considered as one light year.
The astronomy term ‘distance module’ define the difference between the apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude of an object with the accepted interstellar absorption. Measuring a time or a particular point of time is termed ‘Epoch’ in astronomy. The ‘Magnitude’ has important role in astronomy terms because; magnitude is the logarithmical measure of the brightness of an object.
‘Orientation’ is related with the rotation of earth. Because, sky or other celestial space is determined by the rotation of earth. It defines North, South, East and West. ‘Parsec (pc) defines the mean distance of the orbit of earth around the sun. ‘Position angle’ is another important astronomy term. This term gives defined orientation to an object in space.
There are hundreds of terms in astronomy. As astronomy is part of physics, there is considerable number of common terms. Astronomy terms are comparatively common because, we all are interested in one or other way with the astronomic physics.
Technorati Tags: astronomy terms
Here is a nice article that I found that should help you a bit on finding a nice telescope.
Enjoy…
For those interested in buying a telescope then it is important to know how buy a good telescope. Since telescopes do cost quite lot, then it is important to ensure that the money being invested is well spent and this would mean putting a great deal of time and effort in the buying process.
If you want to know how to buy a good telescope, there are a few issues in particular that you are going to want to be aware of.
Budget
You will first need to know what your budget is when you want to buy a good telescope. To do this you will need to first take some time to look around and familiarize yourself with the average prices of the telescopes available, so that you have an idea of the amount of money that you may have to spend in buying a good telescope.
Keep in mind that there are many different features and functions that you can find offered on telescopes, and so you are going to need to figure out which you need and want on your model, and then find one within your budget that is going to meet these standards.
The cost of a telescope will increase depending on the features that come with the telescope. In general one of the better ideas for deciding on how to buy a telescope is based on your level of experience.
Where to Shop
If you want to buy a good telescope, one of the most important steps is going to be for you to decide on the right retailer to shop at. This is important because if you really want to buy a good telescope then you are going to want to make sure you are buying it from a retailer that knows what they are doing, who has experience in the telescope industry and is going to be able to offer you everything that you need here.
The Extras
Part of buying a telescope dictates that you should be aware of the refund and return policies in addition to the warranties on the telescope. This should always be considered so that if anything does go wrong with the telescope or should you need an extra part then your know that you are covered.
Technorati Tags: buying a telescope, telescope
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