Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sky Objects

Students spent a recent class period brainstorming and discussing sky objects. What are sky objects visible to the naked eye? Visible with the aid of something like a telescope? Visible at night or during the day?

Are planets visible to the naked eye? Satellites?

We had a great discussion. I reminded students that I am still learning a lot about space and the solar system, and that some of them know much more than I do. It's great to have a classroom where we are ALL learning.

Here are a few of the resources I used to inform our discussion.


NASA International Space Station Site

 The ISS is visible to the naked eye (on cloudless nights in Bellingham of course)! Just click on the photo below to visit the Satellite Sighting Information  page. Click on Bellingham, and then you will be taken to the  page that lists all the dates and times the ISS will be visible in the few weeks.  
Photo Credit: NASA


Have you looked up the ISS schedule? Have you seen the ISS or what you think might be other satellites? Have you used Earth Sky or other astronomy webpages or apps to help you identify what you are looking at in the night sky?

15 comments:

  1. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    The video was very interesting; it’s nice to know when I can see planets and other things in space.Hopefully we will learn more about the universe soon!
    Sincerely,
    Sophia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sophia,

      Yes! I love being able to find out what interesting things are happening in space and finding out what I am looking at when I gaze into the starry sky. We will be learning more about the universe tomorrow as a matter of fact!

      From,
      Mr. Pahl

      Delete
  2. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    That is amazing that a meteor almost hit earth. But in Russia a meteorite hit and damaged a bunch of buildings and glass shattered and a lot of people got hurt.
    Sincerely, Xavier

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Xavier,

      I heard about that. It sounds pretty scary. The videos from the meteor in Russia were truly amazing. Have you seen them? Luckily, that is something that is very rare.

      From,
      Mr. Pahl

      Delete
  3. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I’ve never seen an asteroid and now with this video I’ll be able to look for one! Thank you for posting it!
    From, Linnea

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Class,
    This video reminded me to look for planets. One night I went on the blog to post comments and saw this post. It reminded me to look for planets and stars in the sky. And that night I ended up seeing the international space station! I hope that everybody in and the class sees it cause it is so cool. Happy bloging!
    From, Gavin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Gavin,
      This video also reminded me to look for stars and planets at night. I have been trying to find some planets and the international space station. on the night I watched the video I looked up in the sky and sall the international space station! I also hope that every one in the class can see it to!
      From,
      Karoline

      Delete
  5. Dear Mr.Pahl,
    I haven’t looked for the planets yet but I except it will be intrusting when I get around to doing it. I was wondering if you have seen any planets lately and what they were because I have not seen any.
    Sincerely,
    Phoebe


    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I think that it is very extrordinary that you can see so many planets in February! Like Mars, Jupiter and Mercury.
    Sincerely,
    Avery

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Mr. Pahl ,
    In the NASA video you can see Mars and Jupiter mercury Its in February.
    From , Nyzel

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear Mr. Pahl
    I really think that this http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
    It is so interesting.
    From, Eli

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I really like http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html because I like mars on NASA!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I want to learn about space belts and the size of the planets. I want to learn the stars and their sizes. I want to know which the hottest star is. I want to know the wind power out in space.
    Alex

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. I want to learn about these things also. I want to learn some diffrent things also. like how big is the sun? What is a star? Other than that, I agree.
      from, Sebastian R

      Delete
  11. Dear Mr.Pahl,
    I love learning about space. But in all of my other schools we learned about water. For the last three years I have wanted to learn about space.
    From Kayden

    ReplyDelete

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