Astronomy For Kids

Presented by

Paul J. Grim
South East Ohio Astronomical Society (SEOAS)
pjgrim@wildblue.net

for

Athens Community Television, Inc
Athens Ohio
http://www.actv23.com/


Join our local astronomy club. It's free. Together with the OU Department of Physics and Astronomy we have observing sessions and are invited to talks that are of special interest to non professionals. Just go to the website given below and email our president and say you want to join. It's that easy!

South East Ohio Astronomical Society (SEOAS)
Athens Ohio
http://www.athensastronomy.org/

To see a presentation (movie) click on the image below the Short Description. These presentations may not appear in Internet Explorer unless you go into: tools > Internet Options > advanced > scroll to bottom at the security settings > then check the box "Allow active content to run in my files on My Computer". Your computer must then be restarted.

These movies are being kept on a server by blip.tv and each presentation is proceeded by a small amount of advertising. There is an option to have the presentation shown in a large format on your computer monitor.

Note that the presentations by blip.tv (that is, the past presentations you see here) have less resolution than the presentations seen on Time Warner cablecasts (channel 9).


Astronomy for Kids runs according to the following schedule. Each new submission will be repeated for a number of weeks until the next episode is submitted.

Sunday 5:30am and 8:30pm

Monday and Wednesday 1:30pm

Thursday and Friday 2:00pm


Click on one of the presentations listed below to get additional information and references on that topic

Total Solar Eclipses
Stars on the Move
Planets of our Solar System
The Reason for the Seasons
Phases of the Moon
Moon Comparisons and Blue Moon and Moon Illusion



Total Solar Eclipses
for presentation January 2011


Short Description: This presentation is about total solar eclipses where the moon completely blocks the sun. Included are: The geometry of the earth, moon, and sun; the effects of totality; details on an eclipse close to Athens, OH in 2017.

To See Movie Click here

Names and Websites mentioned in presentation:

Software Bisque, Inc (THESKY software) for animations
http://www.bisque.com/

CNES for image from MIR space station
http://www.cnes.fr/

Ian Sharp for image of Diamond Ring effect
http://www.astro-sharp.com/

Jerry Lodriguss for image of Total Solar Eclipse and Corona
http://www.astropix.com/

Xavier Jubier and Google Maps for interactive map showing 2017 eclipse path
http://xjubier.free.fr/
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/SolarEclipsesGoogleMaps.html

There are many books and websites that give details about eclipses. Several of the websites that you might find especially interesting are

Two websites maintained by Fred Espenak, Mr. Eclipse himself:

http://www.MrEclipse.com and a site he has at

NASA

Also, for those of you who are interested in the 2017 eclipse be sure to visit

Dan McGlaun's website on the 2017 Eclipse
http://www.eclipse2017.org/

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Stars on the Move
for presentation February 2011


Short Description: Using Software Bisque animation, we see the stars and a planet (Saturn) in fast motion from sunset on March 1, 2011 to sunrise on the following morning. Constellations, asterisms, and stars are pointed out as the night hours advance. This is done four times viewing the night sky from the North, East, South, and West.

To See Movie Click here

Most of the animations for this presentation were taken from
Software Bisque, Inc
(THESKY software)
http://www.bisque.com/

There are many sources of information on constellations on the Internet. See for example:

The constellation section in
Jim Kahler's website

and the website of
Dibbon Smith

The local libraries within Athens County will have additional books on constellations


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Planets of the Solar System
for presentation March 2011


Short Description: The eight planets of the solar system are shown in animation as they orbit the sun. This gives the viewer a good feel for the distances involved and relative times for the planets to complete a circuit around the sun. A still picture shows the sun and all planets next to each other. This gives a good idea of relative sizes. A short description of the highlights of each planet is given.

To See Movie Click here

Most of the animations for this presentation were taken from
Software Bisque, Inc
(THESKY software)
http://www.bisque.com/

A special thank you is due to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA for using their image of all planets drawn to scale

There is an abundance of information on Planets both in libraries and on the Internet. One thing you can do is go into a search engine such as Google, and simply put in key words. For astronomy books for kids, you can find them at online book stores such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I am listing several websites that I think will be of special interest to Kids.

SELECTED INTERNET WEBSITES FOR PLANETS

FROM NASA: http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/planetselector.cfm?Object=Sun

NASA Solar System Fun: http://science.nasa.gov/kids/kids-solar-system/

NASA website on retrograde motion: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4212/p3a.html

This is one of the best websites for amateur astronomers. But remember we only have eight planets now. http://nineplanets.org/

A simplified version of the website above: http://kids.nineplanets.org/

From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/

A website for kids and space: http://www.kids-and-space.com/

A website for kids and teachers: http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/samoset/psgk3ex.htm

Another one for kids: http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm

There are many more!

The local libraries within Athens County will have additional books on planets


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The Reason for the Seasons
for presentation April 2011


Short Description: The reason we are warm in the summer and cold in the winter is not due to the distance of the earth from the Sun. The orbit of the Earth is close to being a circle and small differences in distances from the sun have little or no effect on temperatures. The reason for the seasons is that the spin axis of the Earth is tilted away from the Sun in winter and towards the Sun in summer.

To See Movie Click here

The animation of the inner solar system for this presentation was taken from
Software Bisque, Inc
(THESKY software)
http://www.bisque.com/

There are many sources of information on The Reason for the Seasons on the Internet. Your best bet might be to go into Google.com and type two words: Reason Seasons --- you will get a number of hits. Some good ones are on YouTube.

The reference (video) to the Ivy-League college made in the talk can be found at here Go to the section on: 1. A Private Universe. Click on VoD. You should enjoy this unless you plan to go to Harvard.

The local libraries within Athens County will have additional books on the reason for the seasons


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Phases of the Moon
for presentation May 2011


Short Description: This presentation concentrates on the phases of the moon. It starts with a comparison of the Moon with the Earth. This is followed by a diagram showing the orbits of the Earth, Moon, and Sun.

Using a diagram of only the Moon and the Earth, the main part of the presentation, namely the phases of the Moon, starts by describing the new moon, first quarter, full moon, and the third quarter.

Following this the waxing crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, and the waning crescent are explained.

Relations to solar and lunar eclipses are explained.

Seven actual photos of the phases are shown. The eighth would be the new moon but for obvious reasons, this is omitted (see presentation Total Solar Eclipses).

A second presentation of the Moon will be given. This will include some of the properties of the Moon (gravity, density, age, composition, etc,) pictures of craters and Maria, as well as a description of an Ohioan, Neil Armstrong, being the first person to set foot on the Moon

To See Movie Click here

Most of the images for this presentation were produced with Adobe's PhotoShop which were used in MicroSoft's Premiere Elements movie-making software

Photos of the Moon were provided courtesy of Wikipedia.com and Lick Observatory in California

There are many sources of information on the Phases of the Moon on the Internet. Just enter Phases Moon in Google or another search engine.

A good website for the Phases of the Moon is:

University of Texas STARDATE

For the above two references there are many links to information about the moon in addition to its phases.

The local libraries within Athens County will have additional books on the moon including its phases.


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MOON COMPARISONS and BLUE MOON and MOON ILLUSION
for presentation June 2011


Short Description:In this presentation we repeat two short segments from the last presentation to show the sun-earth-moon relationship. Next we show the Moon compared to Mercury, Mars, Ganymede (largest moon of Jupiter) and the Earth. The Moon Illusion is discussed and illustrated. Here we see that the full moon appears large when rising and small when high in the sky. Finally we give two definitions of the Blue Moon and what it means when we use the term "once in a blue moon".

To See Movie Click here

There are many sources of information on Moon sizes, the Moon Illusion, and the Blue Moon on the Internet. See for example:

Moon compared to other solar system bodies. Click here.

The Moon Illusion. Wikipedia has a summary here.

Blue Moon. Be sure to read the discussion made by Sky and Telescope magazine. Click here.

Also for all these topics use Google or another search engine. Enter: Moon Size Comparison OR Blue Moon OR Moon Illusion

The local libraries within Athens County will have additional books on these topics


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