"Astronomy" End of Unit Reflection

1. Students will understand that the earth's and moon's motions affect the tides and seasons of earth. Explain what you know.
 The moons motion is what affects tides. Tides in other words happen in relation of the position where the moon and the sun are compared to the Earth. The 2 types of tides are: spring tides and neap tides, every day there are 4 tides, 2 of which are high tides while 2 and low meaning 1/2 of the day the water will be high while the other 1/2 it will be low. A high tide is when the water rises to a high level for example:

and low tides is when the water goes back:

Spring tides happen when the moon is in between the Earth and the sun, causing the tides to be extra high and extra low because it is using all of its force to attract the water, however when the moon is causing a 90 percent angle with the sun on the Earth, there is a neap tide. This is when the tides aren't as high because the suns pulls fights against the moons, so the tides are more controlled.
Seasons on the other hand, are caused by the motion of the Earth and its axis. The rotation of the Earth causes night and day, but its orbit causes a year. Due to the axis of the Earth, when it revolves, at one point it is closer to the Sun then at an other point causing colder periods and warmer periods. The atmosphere also plays a part in the seasons, but the weather is caused by the sun heating, the earths uneven heating and the rotation on its axis.

2. Students will understand that scientists are using the knowledge they have on Earth's surface and atmosphere in search of extraterrestrial life. Explain what you have learned.
There are a lot of things humans need to survive, such as: shelter, food, water and air. Scientists have been exploring space for some years now, and when they look at other planets, they search for any alive bacteria (since some people believe we came from bacteria). In Mars for example they found DNA suggesting that in centuries humans could evolve or extraterrestrial creatures. There are a lot of things to think about when talking about human needs, does the planet have the amount of nitrogen/oxygen for humans to breathe in, would the atmosphere protect the planet?is there any gravity? The Earths surface is made of 70% water and 30%land, humans of course live on land, would there be land for humans to live on? For example, humans would most probably not be able to survive on Neptune because it is a gassy planet and humans would have no where where to build shelter, get water etc. How about climate? Is it always cold/hot/or a series or extreme changes? Humans are very adaptable creatures, however it could be hard to adapt to a totally different place. Our atmosphere is made up of different layers which have different assignments for example:  there is the Troposphere, about 12 km thick around the Earth, which is where all the weather happens.  The stratosphere is where airplanes fly, and the exosphere for example is where our satellites are found. Lastly, the Mesosphere, is the layer of the atmosphere which destroys meteorites so they don't crash into  Earth, but all those layers are essential in their own way. Scientists compare spacial planets to Earth and its characteristics to figure out how other life forms react to different planets, and to see if there is any chance of extraterrestrial/alien existence, or simply if people could survive on other planets.

3. Students will understand that the International Space Station and space probes as well as satellites are excellent tools for further space study. Explain what you have learned.
 During this whole unit I have learned that the Space station is very important to space studies, and that about 16 different countries have contributed to its development for studies. The Space Station is used for multiple reasons such as testing what other organisms react like in space to see how their life span, reproduction and feeding are different than the other on Earth. This way we can learn if other organisms could be in space and how they are different. Satellites basically take pictures of space and send them down to Earth, it is a good way for scientists to study because they can see multiple pictures of space without having to travel anywhere and they can direct the satellites which angle to take the picture from etc. Not being in space is an advantage and a disadvantage, because you can't be there with the satellite and might not have an exact imagination of the thing you are looking at, however you don't have to travel. Since the space station is open to any country, any of them can come and study, it is a place where the people are safe, have air/water and other needs, and can still study. After all, satellites and the Space Station are a great way for studying further into space and make any comparisons to Earth.

4. How has the development on technology and space flight helped astronomers learn more about the other parts of the solar system and the structure of the universe?
Technology has been developing, and one of the things it has been developing in would be Space Exploration. The development of space flight has allowed astronomers to go into space and explore different planets, knowing more about more planets we can try to find DNA, figure out if the planets have different or similar structures to ours etc. Technology allowed astronomers to explore new parts of the solar system, widen our knowledge and have new information. Technologies such as satellites, also helped astronomers see space through different ways and in a picture format.


5. How are the conditions in space different from those on Earth? How has space technology benefited modern society?
When astronomers first get ready to go to space, they excersize in water, why? Well, because the resistance of water is pretty much the one of space, there is no air, it is hard to move and the conditions are pretty similar. The biggest difference, would probably be that in space there is no air and probably no water either. Our Earth is made up of alive organisms, we have some layers of atmosphere which other planets don't and our planet is smaller than most of the others. It is very hard to move in space, which is why when ever you watch astronomers, they move extremely slowly, just like in slow motion, because there are forces acting upon them. Technology now a days has benefited society because it allows us to go into space, and while researching about the things we need to take up there, some technologies have been created which are now a days even used on Earth such as the robotic arm which was originally created for space if anything happens, and is now used in surgical procedure. The covering astronomers use while going to space, is also the covering we use to light off fire. Space research has a lot to do with Earth, and even if we might not know it, if something has been created for space, it might serve just as much of a purpose on Earth which is a benefit. Lastly, because we can now go into space, we can understand why we get seasons, how the moon is connected with tides, and many more facts.

6. Did you enjoy this unit? Did you feel like this was something of importance to your life to learn about? Did you make any connections in your life while you were studying this unit? What are some things you liked and didn't like? What are some ways for me to improve this unit, other than making it shorter?:)
I liked this unit a lot, because it included not only note taking and ONLY text books, but it had a lot of fun experiments in it. I think it was important to learn about space because it is where we are found, and yes sure, maybe one doesn't need to know where we are in space and doesn't have to be interested, but it is always good to understand why things are how they are except for only have imaginary myths. I now clearly understand why seasons/tides/stages of the moons happen and how they are connected to our Solar System. The parts I liked the most about this unit was when we were working with the Styrofoam balls and relating them to seasons while we were rotating them on an axis. The planet project was also very fun because we got to choose everything about the planet and we had to research about different galaxies which we never might have heard from. After all, I think next year most of the things should be the same and just as fun!

Is space exploration worth it? What do scientists hope to find? Do we, as a society, get any benefit from space exploration?

Governments since a few years already have been putting large amounts of money into space exploration, for scientists to go up into what we call space, but is it worth anything? There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. NASA, is one of the most known scientific space exploratory. They have put a lot of effort into space exploration, with all of that, they were able to create a space station about 250miles (350km) above us, in other words the distance from Serbia to France. The space station has pieces from 16 different countries which all participated. What exactly is the point of a space station? One of the main goals of scientists is to experiment in space to see if humans could survive there, to study other organisms and their behavior in space, and also to understand more about our world itself. Preparing for a space exploration takes a lot of time as well, drills get practiced under water since the resistance of water and space is very similar so scientists can prepare for a different environment. Some people believe it is more convenient to spend money on poor countries and help orphanages rather than having space explorations from which we only learn bit by bit every time, there are many points to support both yes, it is worth going to space, and no it's not. For example, let's look at the space station which is made of many pieces which were changed many times. You bring a big piece you want to add to the space station, and once there, it breaks or it doesn't fit (or any other complication happens), what now? You just spent all your money on building the piece, all the fuel for launching the rocket cost a lot of time, and all for nothing. Paying for space explorations costs a lot of money, however it does also have advantages it improves: health and medicine, transportation, public safety, consumer goods, environmental and agricultural resources, computer technology and industrial productivity. “In 1994: Relying on technologies created for servicing spacecraft, a Santa Barbara-based company developed a mechanical arm that allows surgeons to operate three instruments simultaneously, while performing laparoscopic surgery. In 2001, the first complete robotic surgical operation proved successful, when a team of doctors in New York removed the gallbladder of a woman in France using the Computer Motion equipment.” Also, by studying in space, we can learn about new substance, if humans could survive there and space is also where all our satellites are. Can you imagine living without INTERNET, TV, FACEBOOK, TWITTER and all the other internet connected things?? By building a space station we have also shown that we are sophisticated human beings and even thought there is a lot of cost involved, we can produce products as a result. For food poisoning, NASA invented a way for astronauts to have safe food all the time, which was then 15 years later also used for us on Earth. So inventions used for space, also helped our Earth which is an advantage. Space exploration includes various types of explorations, the ones around different planets and the ones around Earth. I think spending money on eploring space around our planet is understandable, but spending a lot of money on exploring other planets doesn't bring us as many benefits, and we should concentrate more on learning about our Earth and somewhere where we could live instead of studying places we are far away from living on. So after all, there are many advantages to space exploration but still the costs and all the disadvantages won’t disappear that easily, however due to space exploration and its research, we have now advanced technologies .
2.  Make suggestions for three different approaches to space exploration:  sending humans to the moon or another planet, doing only Earth-based research, and one other opinion/suggestion for possible space exploration
            Space can be observed from earth with the help of telescopes or satellites which send pictures down to Earth. Sending humans to the moon is one way people have been exploring space, this way we have eye witnesses. However every time we send a rocket ship up to space it costs money. As we send people to space, we also develop new technologies which are being used on Earth now for protection and more. However NASA's FY 2011 budget of $18.4 billion represents about 0.5% of the $3.4 trillion meaning even thought it looks as if we spend a lot of money on space exploration, it doesn't even make 1% of the United States budget. Researching other planets helps us figure out if people could really live on other planets, but if we really do consider this, we would have to rebuild shelter, make sure there is enough water and make people want to live there which is hard. The last way used to research about space is from satellites sending pictures to Earth or the space station where people stay. Satellites are human controlled and send pictures down to Earth

If I were a member of the government, and I were to vote on a new budget I don’t think space exploration would be the number priority, because even though it is important, there are things that have to be resolved before that. Education, Medical research and health, transportation, and then maybe space exploration. I find education important because for our community to be successful it needs to have educated citizens who make mistakes, but know how to think. Within education, it would also be included for orphanages to educate the children and give them a better home. If I were to vote for a way for money to be used in Serbia I would suggest also doing something with the stray dogs. Either taking them to a different place or putting them to sleep if that’s the case. I’ve seen other places accomplish this, for example Slovakia. They used to have a lot of stray dogs until the government finally decided to do something about it, and now dog owners can walk around the streets without having dogs all around. I find medical research and health a privilege as well. Instead of going out into space, which only some people can do anyways, people should be concentrated on creating some medicines against sicknesses for which no medicine exists. Lastly, I believe transportation is part of a communities system which nearly every person uses daily no matter if it is a bus/train/car/bike etc. After all of this, then I would think about spending money for space explorations, there are many complications which could happen while the launching of a rocket, or in space, that can all be reflected on the government for giving the program support. After having said all of this, I still believe space exploration is important and does benefit us with multiple things, and its research has brought us new technologies so it is beneficial to spend money on space exploration, think what it would be like without any INTERNET or PHONE CONNECTION! And if you actually compare how much money is being spent on space exploration compered to other things such as social security(12.4%), Military Spending (5%) or Medicare (2.9%), space exploration is not having so much money spent on it even thought at times in history it has needed more money for example when the space station was being created or the first time Americans approached the moon.
So after all, space explorations have provided us with many new systems, ideas and information. For some people it may seem worth spending so much money into space exploration because they really believe they are going to find something, however I think it is even more reasonable to spend money on space spin offs-things that we can actually use on Earth. For example the robotic arm which was created for space, was even useful on Earth, but relating the costs to other subjects, space exploration is worth its cost, even thought sometimes we could lower the amount of times we go to space or improve our satellites so they can become a major part of space.Space has helped us develop, gain new knowledge, and open a whole new mystery world.


http://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/benefits.html
http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget