Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets - Class 4

[stargazer-ellie.livejournal.com]

Week 4 -- September 27: Venus, the Earth's "twin"

Syllabus | Class Roster

Handouts:
Starmaps: North | South | East | West | Overhead

The strains of Holst's "Venus, the Bringer of Peace" greet the class for this session. Ellie hums along before she beings the lecture.

"Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. After Earth's Moon, it is the brightest object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of -4.6. As an inferior planet from Earth it never appears to venture far from the Sun, and its elongation reaches a maximum of 47.8°. Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, and is often referred to as the Morning Star or as the Evening Star.

"A terrestrial planet, it is sometimes called Earth's 'sister planet,' as the two are similar in size and bulk composition. The planet is covered with an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds and its surface cannot be seen from space in visible light, making it a subject of great speculation until some of its secrets were revealed by planetary science in the 20th century. Venus has the densest atmosphere of the terrestrial planets, consisting mostly of carbon dioxide, and the atmospheric pressure at the planet's surface is 90 times that of the Earth.

"Venus' surface has been mapped in detail only in the last 20 years. It shows evidence of extensive volcanism, and some of its volcanoes may still be active today. In contrast to the constant crustal movement seen on Earth, Venus is thought to undergo periodic episodes of plate tectonics, in which the crust is subducted rapidly within a few million years separated by stable periods of a few hundred million years.

"The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and most of its surface features are named after famous and mythological women.

"Before we go, I'd like to explain your midterm project. It will be due November 8th, and should be an interview with a student from a planet other that Earth. If you're not from Earth, make it a planet other than your own. Ask questions about what type of world it is and what kind of society has developed. There's no set form for this; it's meant to be a learning experience. Have fun with it!"

Comments

Sign In

[stargazer-ellie.livejournal.com]

You know what to do.

Re: Sign In

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

Shawn Farrell.

Re: Sign In

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee Frye

Re: Sign In

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke Skywalker

During the lecture

[stargazer-ellie.livejournal.com]

Talk, pass notes, etc.

Re: During the lecture

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

Marie doodled in her notebook, wondering who she should interview for her project.

Re: During the lecture

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

Shawn is actually taking notes today. His attention only wanders when he realises he isn't aware that he knows anyone from another planet, and starts wondering how he intends to solve that little dilemma.

Re: During the lecture

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee took notes and doodled. She also thought about the project.

Re: During the lecture

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke was excited. No one else was from Tatooine, so he could talk to whoever and have it count.

He took notes for a while and then began practicing his levitation. Spinning pens was fun!

Re: During the lecture

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker blinked. And resisted the urge to reach out and spin the pen the other direction, just in case it fell down instead of turning.

"Looks like you're getting the hang of it."

Re: During the lecture

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I'm not quite at glitter levels yet," Luke whispered back.

Re: Talk to Ellie

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Teddy threw a ball of paper at Luke.

Mind if I interview you?

Re: Talk to Ellie

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke dropped the pen, then read the note and grinned.

Not at all! Any time.

He floated it back across the room.

Re: During the lecture

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy did a double take.

Re: During the lecture

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker noted down the due date for the midterm project, then started to list people from other planets. Hmm. Agnes would count, right? That could be fun....

Re: During the lecture

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

Alfons (after having been a good little rocket scientist that takes notes and thinks about what was being taught)... Wasn't so sure about the project. Practically all the people he had met (and it hadn't been that many) had been from Earth or something like it, leaving him rather lost as to who he could possibly ask. He wasn't so sure some of the people he knew would count.

Re: During the lecture

[sakuracchyan.livejournal.com]

Sakura makes a point of sitting beside Alfons. She scribbles idly in her notebook for a bit, frowns, and finally looks over at him.

Re: During the lecture

[modernrocketry.livejournal.com]

What with staring into space, thoughts on the project swirling about his mind, he barely managed to notice Sakura sitting next to him and, furthermore, her actually looking at him. Seemingly receiving a kick back into reality and a few rapid blinks, he turned his head toward her and smiled.

Re: During the lecture

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Teddy was taking studious notes. Seriously, he was.

Not falling asleep at all.

Re: During the lecture

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy was determined to be extra attentive this week to make up for his snafu last week.

Talk to Ellie

[stargazer-ellie.livejournal.com]

Questions?

Re: Talk to Ellie

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"Uhm, any idea how they chose, which planets to name after which gods?"

Re: Talk to Ellie

[stargazer-ellie.livejournal.com]

"Venus is the brightest and most beautiful planet in the sky, so naming it after the goddess of love and beauty makes sense," Ellie explained. "Mercury is the fastest planet and the fastest god. Mars is red like blood, the color of war."

Re: Talk to Ellie

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"That does make sense." Billy nodded. "And uh, Pluto, that's the roman version of Hades right?"

OOC

[stargazer-ellie.livejournal.com]

The end.