LPI Earth and Space Science Newsletter
October-November 2008
December 13 – Geminids Meteor Shower Peak
December 21 – Winter Solstice
January 1 - December 31 – International Year of Astronomy
January 4 – Earth At Perihelion (closest point to the Sun)
Web Seminar: Discover the Universe
Educators are encouraged to join NASA and NSTA for two free Web seminars featuring scientists and education specialists. The seminars will focus on key science concepts -- Earth’s place in the universe; light, energy, and optics; and models and evidence in science. Designed for educators of grades 5-12, the 90-minute seminars will begin at 6:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 16, 2008, and 6:30 p.m. EST on Jan. 20, 2009.
Pre-Service Earth and Space Science Institutes for College Faculty
The Faculty Institutes in NASA Earth and Space Science Education (FINESSE) are for community college and university faculty instructing future teachers. In these free two-day participant-driven workshops, NASA Earth and space scientists and educators share Earth and space science activities, data, and resources related to key science topics from the national science standards. Participants will receive a $300 stipend, lunches, and more. The Institutes will be delivered in 2009 at the American Astronomical Society, the Association for Science Teacher Education, and the National Association for Community College Teacher Education Preparation conferences.
15th Annual Space Exploration Educators Conference
This completely immersive conference February 5-7 2009 offers engaging and energizing space related sessions. Teachers will attend sessions hosted by scientists, astronauts, and engineers working on exciting projects such as the Constellation program, International Space Station, Mars exploration, and missions to the planets and beyond. Workshops presented by educators include ready to implement classroom ideas.
NASA Invites Students to Name New Mars Rover
NASA is looking for the right name for the next Mars rover. Students are welcome to enter a naming contest for its car-sized Mars Science Laboratory rover that is scheduled for launch in 2009. Students will submit essays explaining why their suggested name for the rover should be chosen. Essays must be received by Jan. 25, 2009. The Mars Science Laboratory rover will be larger and more capable than any craft previously sent to land there. It will check whether the environment ever has been favorable for supporting microbial life.
Space Academy for Educators Scholarship Program
The INSPIRE Project Inc., NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL are offering two full scholarships to the Space Academy for Educators. The
Space Academy for Educators is a 5-day program offered every July. Teachers from around the world participate in 45 hours of intensive classroom, laboratory and training time, focusing on space science and space exploration. Application Deadline: February 16, 2009.
2009-2010 Einstein Fellowships for K-12 Teachers
The Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship is a paid fellowship for K-12 math, science, and technology teachers. Einstein Fellows spend a school year in Washington, DC, serving in a federal agency or on Capitol Hill. Placement opportunities may include NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Applications Due: January 13, 2009.
Toyota Tapestry Grants for Science Teachers
A partnership between Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and the National Science Teachers Association, the Toyota Tapestry Grants for Science Teachers program offers grants to K-12 science teachers for innovative projects that enhance science education in the school and/or school district. The program will award fifty large grants and a minimum of twenty mini-grants for projects implemented during the 2009-10 school year.
NASA Quest Challenge: Exploration Through Navigation: Voyages Across Sea and Space
This Challenge connects students in grades 5-8 to NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission while teaching them about different methods of Earth-based and space-based navigation. Weekly challenge questions will be posed for 5th - 8th grade students who compete for prizes to deliver the best answer to us first. At the end of the Challenge, students will be asked to compare and contrast navigation methods used on Earth and in space.
2009 Thatcher Scholars Award
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) announces the 2009 Thacher Scholars Award, to be given to secondary school students (grades 9-12) demonstrating the best use of geospatial technologies or data to study Earth. Three cash awards will be given: 1st place -- $2,000; 2nd place -- $1,000; and 3rd place -- $500. Entries must be postmarked April 6, 2009.
Sally Ride Climate Conference Presentations
In July, Sally Ride Science held an Educator Conference entitled ‘Earth Then, Earth Now: Our Changing Climate.’ The conference was designed to help educators teach today’s hottest topic and learn how to integrate the science of the Earth’s changing climate into their classrooms. Many of the presentations and activities discussing climate science and various educational resources are now available online.
International Year of Astronomy song "Shoulders of Giants"
2009 is the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). This song was commissioned by the Johannes Kepler Project, written and arranged by Padi Boyd and performed by The Chromatics, specifically for IYA. This song is freely available for educational and IPY non-commercial use.
International Year of Astronomy Discovery Guides
Monthly IYA Discovery Guides are
internationally accessible and complete with articles, activities,
instructional videos, and finder charts. These resources support NASA's monthly themes and
featured celestial objects. The guides are part of a fully searchable online database which can help explain the
universe, from eclipses to black holes with simple models,
presentations, and hands-on demonstrations.
NASA eClips
NASA eClips are short (5-10 minute) video segments, designed to inspire students to learn more about science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to understand the application of these subjects in the real world. The NASA Web site also provides lesson plans and instructions for educators on how to use the videos in the classroom.
Space Science Is for Everyone: Creating and Using Accessible Resources in Educational Settings
This collection of helpful hints and resources is based on seven
highly successful "Exceptional Space Science Materials for Exceptional Students" workshops, the expertise of the participants, and product testing in classrooms following these workshops. The brochure is offered as a tool for science, technology, engineering and mathematics educators who are working with students with disabilities.
Download Earth Science Posters
An updated set of four Earth Science Posters--Air, Ice, Land, and Water--are available for download from NASA. Each poster is 24"x36" and includes a wealth of information, front and back.
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Chandra X-ray image of M84. Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/MPE/A.Finoguenov et al.); Radio (NSF/NRAO/VLA/ESO/R.A.Laing et al); Optical (SDSS) |
Black Holes Control the Growth of Galaxies
Modified from http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/18/black-holes-supply-lifeblood-for-galaxies/
Supermassive black holes with masses of more than a billion suns have been detected at the centers of large galaxies. As gas and dust falls into these black holes, it produces bursts of energy. Scientists studying the energy escaping black holes in infrared, submillimeter, and x-rays now say the powerful black holes act as hearts to the systems, pumping energy out at regular intervals to regulate the growth of the black holes themselves, as well as star formation.
The scientists observed and simulated how the black hole at the center of elliptical galaxy M84 regularly sends bubbles of hot plasma into space, heating up interstellar space. This heat is believed to slow both the formation of new stars and the growth of the black hole itself, helping the galaxy remain stable. Interstellar gases only coalesce into new stars when the gas is cool enough.
This finding helps to explain a decades-long paradox of the existence of large amounts of warm gas around certain galaxies, which was expected to cool down and form stars. Astronomers now have determined that like geyser eruptions from "Old Faithful," black holes periodically eject plasma bubbles, heating their surroundings and preventing the gas from cooling.
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| This visible-light image from the Hubble shows the newly discovered planet, Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star. |
Planet Seen Orbiting Another Star
Modified from http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/13nov_fomalhaut.htm?list812372
The Hubble Space Telescope has taken the first visible-light snapshot of a planet circling another star. The planet, called Fomalhaut b, is one of over a hundred planets discovered orbiting another star, but the first one to be seen directly in an image.
In 2004, the Hubble Space Telescope produced the first-ever resolved visible-light image of the region around the star Fomalhaut. It clearly showed a ring of debris with a sharp inner edge. This large debris disk is similar to the solar system's Kuiper Belt, which contains a thousands of icy bodies including Pluto. Now, Hubble has actually photographed a point source of light lying 1.8 billion miles inside the ring's inner edge.
Observations taken 21 months apart show that the object is moving along a path around the star. The planet is 10.7 billion miles from the star, (about 10 times the distance of the planet Saturn from our sun) and about 3 times the mass of Jupiter.
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| This image was snapped by the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) about 90 minutes after MESSENGER's closest approach to Mercury. A striking characteristic of this newly imaged area is the large pattern of rays that extend from the northern region of Mercury to regions south of Kuiper. |
MESSENGER Reveals Mercury as Never Seen Before
Modified from http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=111
On October 6, 2008, MESSENGER successfully completed its second flyby of Mercury, and its cameras captured more than 1,200 high-resolution and color images of the planet – unveiling another 30 percent of Mercury’s surface that had never before been observed by spacecraft.
However, the added resolution is not the main scientific advancement that will be provided by this image. This WAC image is one of 11 viewed through different narrow-band color filters, the set of which will enable detailed color studies of this newly imaged area. In addition, the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) acquired a high-resolution mosaic of most of this thin crescent view of Mercury at a resolution better than 0.5 kilometers/pixel (0.3 miles/pixel) that will enable the MESSENGER team to explore this newly imaged region of Mercury’s surface in more detail.
As the MESSENGER team is busy examining this newly obtained view, data from the flyby continue to stream down to Earth, including higher resolution close-up images of this previously unseen terrain. Collectively, these images and measurements made by other MESSENGER instruments will soon provide a broad range of information for understanding the formation and geologic history of the innermost planet.
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| This illustration shows the location of theTharsis volcanic region and Valles Marineris in the context of the hypothesized larger, ancient ocean and smaller, more recent ocean, in Mars' northern lowland planes. |
Ancient Ocean on Mars
Modified from http://uanews.org/node/22563
An international team of scientists reports new evidence for the controversial idea that oceans once covered about a third of ancient Mars. The scientists analyzed data from the Gamma Ray Spectrometer onboard NASA's Mars Odyssey for particular elements above and below the shoreline of a proposed larger ocean and the inner shoreline of a proposed smaller ocean. The data suggest that past water may have leached, transported, and concentrated specific elements such as potassium, thorium, and iron.
