Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets - Class 6

[stargazer-ellie.livejournal.com]

Week 6 -- October 11: Mars, the red planet

Syllabus | Class Roster

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

The strains of Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War" greeted the students today as they arrive. Ellie had several pictures of Mars on display as she began the lecture.

"Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system and is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. Mars is also known as the 'Red Planet' due to its reddish appearance when seen from Earth.

Until the first flyby of Mars by Mariner 4 in 1965, it was thought that Mars had channels of liquid water. Observations later showed that these channels do not exist. Still, of all the planets in our solar system other than Earth, Mars is the most likely to harbor liquid water, and perhaps life. Its rotational period and seasonal cycles are also similar to those of the Earth. It has the highest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, the largest canyon in the solar system, Valles Marineris, and polar ice caps.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and oddly-shaped. These may be captured asteroids similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan asteroid. Mars can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Its apparent magnitude reaches -2.9, a brightness surpassed only by Venus, the Moon, and the Sun. For much of the year, Jupiter may appear brighter to the naked eye than Mars."

Ellie continued with the lecture, going on about the geology and atmosphere of Mars, occasionally showing slides of scenes from "War of the Worlds" and "Mars Attacks!" just to see if people are paying attention. She finished up with:

"Two notes before I let you go. First, there is going to be a science fair in December, and I encourage all of you to submit a project. See me for approval if you need it. Second, Ms. Frizzle has invited our class to join her on an exploration of the Solar System with her Science! class tomorrow during period 7. If you have that hour free, please consider going. Anyone who does go -- and anyone who submits a science project for the fair -- will get extra credit for this class."

Comments

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

"Okay, tell me you were sensible enough to say no to the purple food?" Shawn said raising an eyebrow. "That's just unnatural."

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke blushed. "I'd say I was, but I totally ate them." He smiled. "In my defense, at home blue milk is totally normal."

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

"Okay, blue milk, also kinda unnatural to me," Shawn said. "That's seriously normal for you?"

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded. "But I'm from a different planet."

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Shawn nodded. "Well, that makes more sense. I'm from Seattle, where we have white milk."

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I've been told not to drink any milk that's gone blue on this planet," Luke said. "Where's Seattle?"

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

"Probably really good advice," Shawn agreed. "Blue colour in milk is generally seen as a bad trait around here," he added. "And Seattle is approximately ten states that way," Shawn said pointing across the classroom.

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"A lot closer than Tatooine," Luke said with a smile.

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

"Tatooine is your planet? or a place on your planet?" Shawn asked.

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"It's the name of the planet," Luke said, nodding. "There's not a lot of anything else on the planet to name. It's mostly desert."

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

"Sounds... well, quiet actually," Shawn said. "Must be very different to be here."

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"This is soooo much better," Luke said enthusiastically. "It rains here, for one."

Re: During the Lecture -- talk, pass notes

[justmisplaced.livejournal.com]

Shawn chuckled quietly, "Never met anyone who counted that as a high point." He risked a quick glance to the front of the class, just to make sure. At least with planet-talk, they were on topic.