June 20

Blog Post 7 Capstone Reflection

Now that Capstone is complete, I think it was a great experience overall.  However, there were definitely some parts of the process that I found boring.  For me, the best part of the project was selecting images for the slides and making the slide show presentation.  One other thing I enjoyed about Capstone was writing the script. It was fun writing the script because it was finally putting all my information together and it was fun writing it in a way that I could express it to other people.  I also really liked the interview. I got 70% of my information from my interview. I think it was cool to ask questions and record it and then listen back to it and put the information from that interview on paper. I also liked writing the questions.  I was able to ask a person the things I really wanted to know without having to look in a book or read an article. Don’t get me wrong, I liked reading up on my topic, but I found the idea of meeting someone live much more fun and informative.

The most challenging part of Capstone has been the process of memorizing the script.  I have read my script like 15 million times. Even the most interesting topic (such as how technology has effected our understanding of planetary science) can become boring after reading it so much.  In general, memorization is not my thing, so this was doubly challenging for me. It was actually the worst thing of the entire process. Although I really liked my topic and thought it was cool, I found the research part pretty boring too.  After researching one topic for so long it gets so boring going through the information that you already found to find new stuff to add to the pile. It may seem easy, taking information and writing it down, but putting it in your own words was the hard part for me.   

Overall, I really think that Capstone has been an amazing experience.  It had its good parts and it had its challenges. I hope I can take my knowledge from this experience forward into middle school.  Specifically, learning how to research a topic and putting my work into a speech.

 

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June 18

Blog Post 6 Finishing The Final Project

 

My capstone project is coming to an end. I got all my information, and now I really have it all put together. My capstone presentation is all done with my script 90% memorized, which is pretty good I particularly have my slides done and I just need a bit sort of more practice. My script definitely has been through a lot. It f started as a fairly short 6 slide script, or so. Then became a still short 8 slide presentation, then medium 10 slides, then super long 12 slides, then regular 13 slides, after cutting some parts off with Mrs. Cooper. Now the slides were a bit actually hard too with the slides. I kind of had a lot of trouble with what to do with the slides. They, for the most part, were tricky to figure out what to write on them to really help support my words. But I really pulled through in a major way. I actually think I’ve pretty basically good image support and it ‘ll definitely keep the audience interested, which actually is fairly significant. My timing is a bit off in a subtle way. I actually think it might be a lot.  my Slide show is basically 10 minutes and it’s supposed to only be six. but I think I’ll definitely pull through. I actually have a lot of practice to do but I definitely will make it in time. In all, I think I’m doing great in capstone and I will practice until I perfect it. Below is my script and I think is a particularly good one.

 

 

Slide 1 Have you ever looked at the night sky and wondered what else is beyond those twinkling stars? How can we see all this and learn so much? The answer is space technology. Telescopes have helped us see the wide variety in space. Rovers and probes helped explore our solar system. Rockets have let us experience being in space. Today I will be telling you all about how space technology has affected our knowledge of planetary science? .  

Slide 2 Planetary science is a study of planets moons and planetary systems. Basically the study of space. Planetary science is huge part of astronomy. We need planetary science to even think of one day terraforming a planet. In fact we need planetary science to even think about planets themselves!

 

Slide 3 Space technology is very important to our learning. Telescopes and satellites are a huge part of this technology. They see more of space and help us study the earth too. Have you texted a friend? Well the text you sent goes to a satellite and the satellite sends it to the other phone. In less then a second too! Satellites are also used for learning about the weather, and gps! Space technology is all around us!

 

Slide 4   Now Let’s go deeper into telescopes I’ll give you a brief give you a brief view of telescopes through the Ages Telescopes go way back to the early 1600s with gallello and his telescope. The First telescope. John kepler improved the magnification but the telescope was upside down! A while later Isaac Newton made the newtonian telescope which was the first reflector telescope. Even further towards the present nasa and esa launched the Hubble space telescope, which we still use today.

 

Slide 5 Now let’s zoom in on galileo galilei. Galileo was the first astronomer. He did not make the telescope but he was the first to aim it up at the sky. With that old telescope, he did do some amazing things. First of all, he discovered 4 moons of jupiter, that we now call the galilean moons. They were, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. These are the largest Jupiterian moons. Galeleo also discovered the rings of saturn, as on the screen.

 

Slide 6 Let’s zoom in on Hubble space telescope. The Hubble space telescope was  launched in 1990, had 5 repair missions and still used today. Hubble was launched into space to avoid the earth’s atmosphere, which distorts what we see.  Hubble is in space to avoid that. Hubble has helped us like no other telescope has. It showed us what we now call “The Hubble Deep Field.” Hubble has helped us look super deep into space. A Supernova Supernova 1987A gave off a huge radiation making rings of gas around light up letting hubble get a clear view of it,  seen the surface of pluto, a comet hitting jupiter making splotches in jupiter. Even a picture of a storm on saturn bigger than earth. Despite its age of about 30 years, it is one of the best telescopes we ever created! Even my interviewee Andrew Bundas, a astrophysicists agrees!

 

Slide 7 Now let’s go into rovers. Rovers study a planet by driving on a planet and then collecting data A great rover on Mars has helped us for many years. The curiosity rover it is well known and very helpful rover. It is a great help to NASA’s Mars study! Curiosity is not the only rover on Mars, there are plenty others too! Rovers are special pieces of technology that help study the terrestrial planets and their moons.  

 

Slide 8 Now Probes look at the planet from the outside, like satellites on earth!  There are probes on mars venus and mercury and many others. They don’t have to be studying a planet also. For example, Voyager 1 & 2!  Also Mariner 2 flew past venus and confirmed the planet was cold. Later maner 9 discovered the largest volcano in the solar system On mars. So telescopes aren’t the only helpful things!

 

Slide 9 The Hubble space telescope is great! It helps us so much.  But what do we do with Hubble’s information, not just Hubble all telescopes, rovers and probes? What we use that information toards is learning more! We just take that knowledge and use it towards more knowledge.

 

Slide 10  Hubble information is great but its getting old. The James Webb space telescope is the next generation of space technology and the successor of hubble. James Webb will be very ambitious as it will be 1 million miles from Earth, farther than the moon.  They sent it this far to get out of earth’s heat and light which can distract james webb from its mission. It’s very risky. If It fails as Andrew said “It will be a very expensive chunk of metal floating around space. So Hubble could be better in some ways but What do you think???

 

Slide 11 So I found out that space technology is very helpful and we will become more dependent on it in the future as we make it better and better. Our Space technology now will be a stepping stool to make space technology better and better. That’s what will happen forever always repeating… Forever.

Slide 12 Thanks for coming, for more information visit my blog at blogs.scarsdaleschools.org/dkaplan26, or scan the QR code with your Iphone/smartphone

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June 5

Blog Post 5 Answering my Main Inquire question

How does space technology affect our knowledge of planetary science?

 

So much in space. There are so many stars and planets. How can we see all this and learn so much. The answer is space technology. Telescopes have helped us see the wide variety in space. Rovers and probes helped explore our solar system. Rockets have let us experience being in space. I will tell you how all of this helped. I came up with a question, made other to help answer that question and then got the information I will share.

 

Sub question question #1: What is planetary science.

So Planetary science, which is also known as Planetology, is the study of planets, moons, and planetary systems (like the solar system) and how they are formed. It is widely accepted that Planetary science began as part of the study of astronomy. The original planetary astronomer was Galileo Galilei who lived from 1564-1642. Galileo discovered the 4 largest and most commonly known moons of Jupiter. He also discovered mountains on the moon and first observed the rings of Saturn. Today, the main purpose or goal of planetary science is to learn the “composition, dynamics, formation, interrelations and history” of objects in space. Planetary Scientists work by studying the atmosphere, understanding the origins of planets and using radar to detect the physical characteristics of asteroids. It is a huge field. The study of planetary science began as a study of astronomy and Earth science, but now has a big range of areas of study including planetary geology, cosmochemistry, geophysics, atmospheric science, oceanography, hydrology, theoretical planetary science, glaciology, exoplanetology, space physics and astrobiology. Within the study of planetary science there are two branches – observational Planetary Science – which involves space exploration (e.g. robotic spacecraft missions) and theoretical planetary science which involves computer simulations. So planetary science is an umbrella term for space study.

 

Sub question question #2: What is space technology.

We know about planetary science but we need something to learn about it. We use space technology. Space technology is technology developed for use in spaceflight, satellites, or space exploration. Space technology includes spacecraft, satellites, space stations, equipment (such as space suits). Space technology is used for most space exploration and satellites. Space is such a huge environment that trying to work in it takes tons of new tools and techniques. Basically there are three types of space technology: satellite technology, space exploration technology and space flight technology. Satellite technology is used for various things such as Earth observation, communication, weather forecasting, military planning, navigation and tracking data. This includes a space telescope or space observatory which is an instrument located in outer space to observe distant planets, galaxies and other astronomical objects. Space telescopes avoid many of the problems of ground-based observatories, such as light pollution and distortion of electromagnetic radiation. A second type of space technology is space exploration technology which is used for exploring planets and finding information, like our Mars rovers. Finally, there is Space flight technology, which is like rocketry and rockets to travel into space. Space technology is man made objects used to study space.

 

Subquestion 3 What is the history of telescopes.

 

The oldest space technology is telescopes. We can learn about telescopes through there history. Here is a TIMELINE about telescopes. In 1609 Galileo Galilei designed and built a telescope that could magnify up to 20 times.Gallello Galle was the first recorded person to use his telescope to look at the sky. With his telescope he was able to see the cratered surface of the moon, to study the moon phases in detail and to see the Milky Way. Galileo also was able to discover the rings of Saturn, see sunspots and Jupiter’s moons. Johannes Kepler in 1611 greatly improved the telescopes magnification, but the image in his telescope was upside or inverted. He was the first person to explain how a telescope actually works. Christian Huygens in 1655 built the most powerful telescope of his day. His telescope was 12 foot in size. He was able to observe Saturn in detail and he saw the bright moon that orbited Saturn which he named Saturni Luna. It was later renamed Titan in 1847. Huygens telescope allowed him to document the true shape of Saturn’s rings. Sir Isaac Newton created the Newton telescope in 1668 which uses a series of mirrors rather than lenses. Newton’s telescope had a lot of advantages over the existing models of telescopes. The telescope had no color distortion (also called Chromatic aberration), it was cheaper to build and the construction was a lot simpler. It has a wider field of range due to a short focal view and the design was much shorter and more compact than earlier telescopes making it easier to move. In 1789 the first giant reflector (Newtonian) telescope was built in the United Kingdom. It was 12 meters long. It was invented by William Herschel. This giant reflector telescope would be known as the Herschelian telescope. Herschel was able to discover moons around the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). He is credited with the discovery of the 6th and 7th moons of Saturn. Throughout the 1800s giant telescopes NASA (National Air and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency) co-operated to build and launch the Hubble Space telescope in 1990. Although not the first telescope to be launched into space, it was one of the most flexible. Hubble was not affected by the Earth’s atmosphere, which distorted images from land telescopes, allowing it to provide very clear images of space.

The second largest telescope in the world is the W.M. Keck Observatory (WMKO). It is located near the summit of Mount Kea in Hawaii. It is 13,600 feet above sea level and offers some of the best views of space from Earth. It was built between 1990 and 1996.

The Herschel Space Observatory which was active between 2009 and 2013 was built by the ESA. It was the largest infrared telescope ever to be launched into space. It was specifically made to observe the coldest and dustiest objects in space. It also studied where stars are being formed and new galaxies were being created (stellar nebula).

The James Webb telescope was a joint effort by NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency. It was created to replace the aging Hubble telescope and provide even better information by giving us unknown detail through higher resolution and sensitivity. The JWT is scheduled to launch into space May 2020 from French Guiana. The history of telescopes was long, and each generation of telescopes gotta step up from its predecessor.

 

Subquestion 4 How has the Hubble telescope helped develop the growth and knowledge of planetary science?

 

Now we have hubble one of the most helpful space technologies.  Hubble is a window that we can see the past and future since 1990 Hubble took a picture of Supernova 1987A In 1994 which showed an exploded star and two mysterious rings of gas. Supernova 1987 A gave off huge radiation which led to the rings lighting up and Hubble getting a clear view of it which helps us learn about space. Hubble has done some remarkable things in our own solar system like getting a view at the surface of Pluto It recorded a huge storm on Saturn even bigger than the Earth.  The Hubble has shown us a comet hitting Jupiter. The Fiery rock smashed into Jupiter leaving splotches on Jupiter’s atmosphere. Hubble took pictures of a nebula and it helped us learn the future of the solar system. Hubble also helped the rover Pathfinder™ with its mission, by helping scientists prepare it after Hubble’s weather report on mars. Hubble can look outside of the solar system and found the the first image of a planet outside the solar system.The Hubble is a very complex machine and has great potential. The Hubble space telescope is an amazing piece of technology and is one of the favorite telescopes.

 

Question #5 How have Space Probes helped develop the growth and knowledge of planetary science?

 

Hubble and telescopes aren’t  the only kind of space technology. A Space Probes is a spacecraft that travels through space to collect scientific information on the planets of our solar system and beyond. Space Probes do not carry astronauts. Scientists on Earth can collect and use that data sent back by the probe to to advance our knowledge. Probes study either the Earth itself or study properties of space. Some probes use telescopes to study other planets, stars and galaxies that are too far away to be seen from Earth.

Since the first probe, which was a simple machine that could study a few features of a planet, probes have advanced technology and become more sophisticated. Probes can now travel longer distances and study more about the farthest planets of our solar system. Today the more sophisticated probes are divided into three categories: (1) orbiters, (2) landers and (3) rovers.

The first space probe ever launched was Sputnik 1 launched by the former Soviet Union in October, 1957. A few months later, in early 1958, the US sent Explorer 1 into space. Both Sputnik and Explorer studied the Earth from space. They also helped scientists learn about what life would be like in space. These first probes began the space race between the United States and the former Soviet Union. Once probes could reach space, both the US and the former Soviet Union decided to send probes past the moon to study other planets. In 1962, a probe called Mariner 2 was the first probe to study another planet. Mariner 2 flew past the planet Venus and confirmed that the temperature on the planet was extremely hot. In 1965, Mariner 4 passed Mars collecting data which showed that the surface of Mars was like a cold cratered moon. It was the first probe to ever take a picture of a planet and sent it back to Earth for study. In 1971, Mariner 9 was launched and it became the first probe to orbit a different planet, Mars. Mariner 9 also took pictures of Mars and discovered the largest volcano in the solar system located on the red planet. In 1977, NASA launched twin space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The probes were meant to study the outer solar system. As of May 20, 2019, Voyager 1 still sends information to the deep space network to get instructions and send information back to Earth. Today it is the farthest man made object from Earth. Voyager 2 was set to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Currently, it is the only man made spacecraft to ever visit these two planets. Voyager 2 also continues its mission today. In 2003, NASA launched twin rovers called Spirit and Opportunity to explore Mars. The probes landed on Mars in 2004. They were sent to Mars to look for traces of water on the planet. The rovers were guided by Earth scientists who told the rovers where to go and what to examine on the planet. They examined soil and rocks and that information was sent back to Earth for scientists to study. Spirit went silent on March 22, 2010. Opportunity continued to study mars until June, 2018 when it also went silent. Both rovers sent back to Earth lots of evidence that water was once present on Mars. The Cassini probe was launched in 1997. It was the biggest and most expensive probe ever. It was sent to Saturn to study the planet and its rings and its many moons. It operated for 13 years until it went silent in 2017. New Horizons was launched in 2006 and flew past Pluto in 2015 (it took 9 years to get there!). It continues to fly past Pluto today searching beyond the dwarf planet. In 2020 NASA will be launching a rover to Mars to further investigate past life on the planet. As great as telescopes are space probes are a huge help too in our “space age”

 

Main Inquiry question.

So It all comes down to this: How does our space technology affect our knowledge of space aka planetary science. The answer is actually simple: It helps us learn more. Every bit of space technology used is used again, to make newer space technology Its a cycle and latter: we make the telescope. Then we use the telescope. Then we take what we from that telescope and make a new one from it. It’s a cycle that is our future of space. So now when you look up at night, you will understand how we learn about all of space.

 

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