1. http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Earth/OldStarCharts.html

Once you have looked through this article, use its information and other resources, to address the following topics in this discussion:

• Explain the importance of astronomy to ancient civilizations.
• Describe the practical importance of astronomy and the importance it may have had for yearly traditional practices (for example, planting, growing and harvesting crops, and religious reasons).
• Describe, overall, how science in ancient times allowed for the progression of the human race.
• Identify questions that came to mind as you worked through this discussion.

2.

Share your thoughts by answering the following questions:

• Explain the farthest distance that humans and unmanned missions can travel today. Provide examples.
• Describe how advanced aliens would have to be to visit Earth. Write one to two sentences to discuss the technological differences between these aliens and us.
• Would they be traveling from our galaxy or another galaxy? Why?

3.

In order to defend your responses to, and opinions about, the following questions, you are expected to use at least three references, one of which should be your text, Rocking Stories of the Universe.

• Describe the difference between astrology and astronomy. By taking this astronomy class, did you believe you were taking a class on astrological signs and constellations?
• In modern everyday language, the word theory is used to describe questionable ideas. It is often said that when an idea is disagreeable, "well, that is just a theory." In reality, this is the wrong use of the term theory. In science, what is the correct use of the word theory, and what is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
• Explain how you use the scientific method in everyday life. Provide examples.
• Describe why you think astrology remains so popular around the world even though it has failed all scientific tests of validity.
  • Explain if you think that the popularity of astrology has any positive or negative social and economic consequences.

  4.From Galileo's experiments, Isaac Newton concluded that if all objects fall with the same acceleration, then the gravitational force of an object must be determined by the object's mass. The greater the mass, the greater the gravitational pull on the object. Make an object three times as massive and you will triple the gravitational force acting on it. The gravitational force acting on an object is the object's weight. On the surface of Earth, your weight is just your mass times the constant g = 9.8 meters/seconds per second.Based on your experience using the Mass Versus Weight interactive, answer the following questions:

  • Where did you observe the largest weight among the listed bodies? Explain why.
  • Where did you observe the smallest weight among the listed bodies? Explain why.
  • How would your mass change from the Sun to Pluto?
  • What causes weight?
  • Would you be weightless inside the International Space Station (ISS)? Does this mean that Earth's gravity is zero? What would happen to your mass at the ISS

  5.You want to observe a "monster" stellar flare on a young star referred to as a megaflare with 10,000 times more energy than the most powerful explosion ever observed on the Sun. Such a powerful eruption heats the plasma to the temperature of 220 million Kelvins, which is more than 10 times hotter than the temperature at the Sun's center. What type of technology (telescope, detector) will you use to observe such an event? Defend your choice.

  6.Telescopes are an essential part of observing the sky. There are even telescopes for personal use to see celestial bodies that are the closest and brightest in the sky.Respond to the following questions based on your review of the Sky and Telescope Web site and the other sites you explored about buying your first telescope:

  • What kind of telescope would you suggest, and why?
    • Consider the choices of reflector telescopes versus refractor telescopes, primary diameter, focal length, magnification, and resolution. As you consider which telescope may be the best, keep in mind the things you want to observe, the price, portability, and so forth.
  • How do professional telescopes differ from amateur telescopes?