THE BIG BOOK OF

SCIENCE

TEAM MEMBERS:
1) KEERTHINIE a/p
2) PENNINA RESHMI JACKSON

CLASS
4 MAWAR
 ASTEROID FACTS
 Asteroids are small Solar System bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain
organic compounds (some scientists suggest that asteroids could have brought they necessary chemicals to start
life on Earth).
 Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do.
 Asteroids are also known as planetoids or minor planets.
 Asteroids vary greatly in size, some feature diameters as small as ten metres while others stretch out over hundreds of
kilometres. Note that objects under ten metres in diameter are generally regarded as meteoroids.
 The first asteroid was discovered in 1801 by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. Named Ceres, it features a diameter of around
950 kilometres and is now regarded as a dwarf planet. Ceres was given dwarf planet status in 2006, along with Pluto, Eris,
Makemake and Haumea.
 The asteroid belt lies roughly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in the Solar System. It is home to a large amount of
irregular shaped asteroids that range in size from dust through to the dwarf planet Ceres.
 The technology used for discovering asteroids has improved dramatically since original discoveries and astronomers now have
access to a range of powerful telescopes to aid in their research and discoveries.
 It is believed by many scientists and researchers that an asteroid impact was the cause behind the extinction of the dinosaurs
around 65 million years ago.
 The possibility of an asteroid colliding with Earth has received increased attention over recent years. The Shoemaker-Levy
comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994 were given widespread media coverage and Hollywood also played its part with moves
such as Deep Impact (1998) and Armageddon (1998). While these movies sometimes featured dubious science they certainly
increased public awareness of the topic.
 There are now many groups and organizations that use automated systems to discover near Earth asteroids. While many are
discovered, they rarely have the potential to cross paths with Earth.
 There have been many ideas suggested as ways to avoid the unlikely but potentially devastating impact of an asteroid collision
with Earth, these include using nuclear explosions to break the asteroid into smaller pieces or other weapons to deflect it off
course.
 COMET FACTS
 Enjoy these fun comet facts for kids. Learn interesting info about Halley’s Comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9 (the comet that collided
with Jupiter in 1994), what comets are made of, why they have tails and lots more.
 A comet is a relatively small solar system body that orbits the Sun. When close enough to the Sun they display a visible coma (a
fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation) and sometimes a tail.
 The coma is created as the comet gets closer to the Sun, causing water, carbon dioxide and other compounds to sublime
(quickly changing from solid to gas) from its surface.
 Comets are made of ice, dust and small rocky particles.
 The name comet comes from the Greek word meaning ‘hair of the head’, it came from the Greek philosopher Aristotle who
observed comets as ‘stars with hair’.
 Short term comets (also known as periodic comets) have orbital periods of less than 200 years while long term comets have
orbital periods of over 200 years.
Halley's Comet
 Halley’s Comet (or Comet Halley as it is also known) is the most well-known comet.
 It is known as a periodic comet (or short term comet) because the time it takes to orbit the Sun is less than 200 years.
 Records of humans observing Halley’s Comet go back thousands of years, with appearances noted by Babylonian, Chinese
and European star gazers.
 It can be seen with the naked eye from Earth every 75 to 76 years (although the time period has between 74 and 79 years in the
past).
 It last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986 and will return again sometime in 2061 (start charging your camera battery).
 Halley’s Comet is named after English astronomer Edmond Halley who first determined its period of orbit. It was the first comet
to be recognized as having a periodic orbit.
 Halley’s Comet appearance in 1986 allowed researchers to investigate its make up more closely using spacecraft. While some
previous theories were proven correct, other models were altered with the new information. For example, while earlier models
predicted the comet to feature many volatile ices, the actual amount was less than first expected.
 The tail and fuzzy glow you see around Halley’s Comet is known as a coma. It occurs when the comet gets close to the Sun and
compounds such as frozen water and carbon dioxide sublime (rapidly change from solid to gas) from its surface.
 While the coma over Halley’s Comet can stretch up to 100,000 km across, the nucleus is actually small, only around 15km (9.3
miles) long, 8km (5 miles) wide and 8km (5 miles) thick.

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
 In July 1994, the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet broke apart and collided with Jupiter. This event gave astronomers a unique
opportunity to observe what happens when such a collision occurs.
 The largest fragments were 2 km (1.2 mi) in diameter and struck Jupiter at a speed of around 60 km/s (37 mi/s). The impact
scars were clearly visible for months after the impact.
 Shoemaker-Levy 9 was originally located by astronomers Eugene M. and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy in March 1993.
 GALAXY FACTS
 A galaxy is a massive group of stars, star clusters, interstellar gas and dust, and dark matter which is all gravitationally bound
together.
 The word 'galaxy' is derived from the Greek word galaxias which means "milky", it is a reference to our own galaxy the Milky
Way.
 There are potentially more than 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe. Some, called dwarf galaxies, are very small with
about 10 million stars, while others are huge containing an estimated 100 trillion stars.
 Based on shape astronomers have identified various kinds of galaxies including, elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies, lenticular
galaxies and irregular galaxies.
 Spiral galaxies are rotating flattened disk-shapes with at least two spiral arms of newer stars extending out from a central bulge
of older stars.
 The dense molecular clouds of hydrogen gas and dust in the spiral arms of spiral galaxies are areas of intense star formation.
 Barred spiral galaxies (like our Milky Way) contain a long bar in the middle with spirals arms coming off the ends. Around two-
thirds of spiral galaxies contain a barred structure in their center.
 The Hubble classification scheme, lists spiral galaxies as type S, with an 'a', 'b', or 'c' depending on how tight the spiral arms are
and the size of the center bulge. Barred spiral galaxies have the symbol SB.
 Spiral galaxies are believed to be younger than elliptical galaxies, as spiral galaxies burn through their gas and dust star
formation slows, they lose their spiral shape and slowly evolve into elliptical galaxies.
 Elliptical galaxies are a mass of stars bunched together in the shape of an elliptical disk.
 Elliptical galaxies are often larger, very old and contain little gas and dust, so therefore form very few new stars.
 The Hubble classification scheme identifies elliptical galaxies with the letter E, followed by a number representing the degree of
ellipticity.
 Lenticular galaxies (S0 symbol) have a bright central bulge with a disk-like structure but, unlike spiral galaxies, the disks have
no spiral structure and are not actively forming many stars.
 Any galaxy that has no obvious spiral or elliptical structure are called irregular galaxies. Some irregular galaxies would have just
formed that way while others are the result of other galaxy types crashing into each other.
 Our Milky Way Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy about 120,000 light-years in diameter containing up too 400 billion stars and
possibly just as many planets.
 Our Solar System is located within the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy, around 27,000 light-years from the Galactic Center of the
galaxy.
 Supermassive black holes are believed to sit at the center of most galaxies.
 Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of a 'Local Group' of galaxies in which the galaxies move relative to each other. The Andromeda
Galaxy is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, followed by the Milky Way and the Triangulum Galaxy, there are around 30
other smaller galaxies in the group.
 Galaxies often collide with each other. Usually, the stars within each will move past one and other due to the vast space
between them. Any gas clouds and dust will interact, forming new stars. Gravity can pull the galaxies into new shapes, two
spiral galaxies might join into a new elliptical, others produce bars, rings, or tails.
 Starburst is a name for galaxies that form a lot of new stars at a fast rate, usually after much molecular cloud is produced as two
galaxies merge.
 METEOROID FACTS
 A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 metres in
diameter (larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids).
 A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is known as a meteor. If you’ve ever looked up at the
sky at night and seen a streak of light or ‘shooting star’ what you are actually seeing is a meteor.
 A meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and colliding with the Earth’s surface is known as a meteorite.
 The fastest meteoroids travel through the solar system at a speed of around 42 kilometres per second (26 miles per second).
 The Earth’s atmosphere experiences millions of meteors every day.
 Meteors are easier to see during the lower light conditions of night.
 A small percentage of meteoroids fly on a path that goes into the Earth’s atmosphere and then back out again, they are known
as Earth grazing fireballs.
 When many meteors occur in a close time frame in the same part of the sky it is called a meteor shower.
 Around 500 meteorites reach the Earth’s surface every year but of those only around 5 ever make it to scientists for study.
 Meteorites that are observed as they fall through the Earth’s atmosphere and later recovered are called ‘falls’, all others are
called ‘finds’. To this date there have been around 1000 collected ‘falls’ and 40000 ‘finds’.
 Unsure why a meteoroid is different to meteor, comet or asteroid? Learn thedifference between a comet, asteroid, meteoroid,
meteor & meteorite.
 MOON FACTS
 The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite. A natural satellite is a space body that orbits a planet, a planet like object or an
asteroid.
 It is the fifth largest moon in the Solar System. Learn more about the other moons in the Solar System.
 The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384403 kilometres (238857 miles).
 The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.
 Mons Huygens is the tallest mountain on the Moon, it is 4700 metres tall, just over half the height of Mt Everest (8848m).
 The Moon rotates on its axis in around the same length of time it takes to orbit the Earth. This means that from Earth we only
ever see around 60% of its surface (50% at any one time).
 The side that we can see from Earth is called the near side while the other side is called the far side (it is sometimes called the
dark side despite the fact that it illuminated by the Sun just as much as the near side).
 The effect of gravity is only about one fifth (17%) as strong on the surface of the Moon compared to the strength of gravity on
the surface of the Earth.
 The Soviet Union’s Luna program featured the first successful landing of an unmanned spacecraft on the surface of the Moon in
1966.
 The USA’s NASA Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was the first manned Moon landing.
 The first person to set foot on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.
 The far side of the Moon looks quite different due to its lack of maria (ancient pools of solidified lava).
 The surface of the Moon features a huge number of impact craters from comets and asteroids that have collided with the
surface over time. Because the Moon lacks an atmosphere or weather these craters remain well preserved.
 Although research is continuing, most scientists agree that the Moon features small amounts of water.
 The Moon is very hot during the day but very cold at night. The average surface temperature of the Moon is 107 degrees
Celsius during the day and -153 degrees Celsius at night.
 The Earth’s tides are largely caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon.
 The phases of the Moon are: New Moon, Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter,
Crescent, New Moon….
 A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.

PLANET FACTS
Mercury Venus

It's a tough life living next to the sun but someone's got to Similar in size to Earth but just a little hotter, ok make that
do it. Find out why Mercury has more in common with the a lot hotter! Venus is like an oven on a high temperature
Moon than our own Earth. thanks to its thick clouds which keep the heat in.
Mars
Jupiter
The 'Red Planet' hasn't quite been conquered by humans
It's big, its angry and its home to some of the most
yet but it's had a few interesting visitors in recent years.
extreme conditions in our solar system. Welcome to
Find out more about this and the potential for liquid water
Jupiter, where storms rage and intense gravity rules.
on this rocky planet.
Saturn
Uranus
This gas giant is famous for its beautiful rings as well as
Keen to stand out from the crowd, Uranus rolls like a
being the second biggest planet in our solar system.
barrel rather than spinning like Earth. Learn more about
Learn about the ice crystals that make up the rings and
this and its long orbit around the sun.
much more.
Pluto
Neptune
It's tough being the little guy and no one knows this better
Fierce storms rage on this planet at the edge of our solar
than Pluto who isn't even considered a planet anymore.
system. Read about this and other things that make
Still, there's a lot to learn about an object that orbits so far
Neptune such an interesting planet.
from the sun.

SOLAR SYSTEM FACTS

 *Note that in the image above the sizes are to scale, but the relative distances are not.

 The solar system includes the Sun and all the objects that orbit around it due to its gravity. This includes things such
as planets, comets, asteroids, meteoroids and moons.
 The Solar System formed around 4.6 billion years ago.
 There are eight planets in the Solar System. The four inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars while the four outer
planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
 The inner planets (also known as terrestrial planets) are smaller and made mostly of rock and metal.
 The outer planets (also known as gas giants) are much larger and made mostly of hydrogen, helium and other gases.
 As of 2008, there are also five dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake & Haumea.
 There is an asteroid belt which lies between the orbits or Mars and Jupiter, it features a large number of irregular shaped
asteroids.
 For thousands of years humans were unaware of the Solar System and believed that Earth was at the center of the
Universe.
 Astronomers such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton helped develop a new model
that explained the movement of the planets with the Sun at the center of the Solar System.
  The Sun contains 99.86 percent of the Solar System's known mass, with Jupiter and Saturn making up making up most of
the rest. The small inner planets which include Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars make up a very small percentage of the
Solar System’s mass.

STAR FACTS
 A star is a massive, bright, sphere of very hot gas called plasma which is held together by its own gravity.
 Stars radiate energy created from nuclear fusion, which is a process that takes place in a star's core and involves hydrogen
fusing (burning) to make helium.
 As a star is near the end of its life, it begins to change the helium into heavier chemical elements, such carbon and oxygen, and
the star will begin to change color, density, mass and size.
 The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is classified as a G2 yellow dwarf star.
 After the Sun in our Solar System, the nearest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 39.9 trillion km away or 4.2 light
years. This means it takes light from this star 4.2 years to reach Earth. Using the newest, fastest space probe propulsion
systems would still take a craft about 75,000 years to get there.
 There are approximately 200-400 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy alone.
 Each galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars and there is estimated to be over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. So the
total number of stars in the universe is mind boggling, estimated to be at least 70 sextillion and possibly as high as 300
sextillion, that's 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!!!
 Stars are usually between 1 and 10 billion years old. Some stars may even be close to the age of the observed Universe at
nearly 13.8 billion years old.
 Binary stars and multi-star systems are two or more stars that are gravitationally linked, they orbit around each other.
 Stars form in nebulas, which are large gases areas. As gravity attracts more and more gas, young stars (called protostars) start
to form in thick molecular gases cloud areas of the nebula.
 Once nuclear fusion has began in the core, a star is sufficiently fuelled to spend the majority of its life as a main sequence star
in its most stable form.
 The most common star, are red dwarfs. They are less than half the size and mass of our Sun, and burn their fuel very slowly so
live longer than any other type of star, over 100 billion years. Red dwarfs are cooler than most stars and so shine less,
eventually getting dimmer they do not explode.
 A brown dwarf forms if a star cannot get hot enough to reach nuclear fusion. Its failed to become a proper star but is still not a
planet because it does glow dimly.
 As yellow dwarf stars like our Sun start to run out of hydrogen fuel, the core shrinks, heats and pushes out the rest of the star
turning it into a red giant.
 Red supergiants, such as Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion make our Sun look small, 20x its mass, and 1,000x larger. Red
hypergiants such as the largest known star VY Canis Majoris are even bigger, over 1,800x the size of the Sun.
 When smaller stars such as red dwarfs or red giants use up all their fuel and nuclear fusion slows they start to die, and become
small “white dwarf” stars which will emit white light until they finally darken into "black dwarfs".
 Big stars like supergiants and hypergiants have shorter lives as they consume their fuel at a faster rate than smaller stars. As
these massive stars die they explode as massive bright supernova.
 Very heavy stars that have gone supernova can actually turn into black holes.
 Other supernova leave behind very small 20 to 40km (25 mi) in diameter white neutron stars, that have dense cores made of
neutrons.
 Star matter blown away by supernova explosions form new stellar nebula and the process of making stars begins again.
 Stars range in color depending on how hot they are, in order from lowest to highest temperature they are can be brown, red,
orange, yellow, white, or blue in color.
 The light from stars takes millions of years to reach Earth, therefore when you look at the stars you are literally looking back in
time.
 Stars do not actually twinkle. They only appear to twinkle due to turbulences in the Earth's atmosphere deflecting the light that
reaches our eyes.
 The stars have played a very important role throughout human history. They have formed part of religious practices, been
grouped into constellations, used in astrology star signs, helped to design calendars and were very important navigational tools
for early explorations across land and seas.

Sun Facts
.
  The Sun is a star found at the center of the Solar System.
 It makes up around 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass.
 At around 1,392,000 kilometres (865,000 miles) wide, the Sun’s diameter is about 110 times wider than Earth’s.
 Around 74% of the Sun’s mass is made up of hydrogen. Helium makes up around 24% while heavier elements such as
oxygen, carbon, iron and neon make up the remaining percentage.
 Light from the Sun reaches Earth in around 8 minutes.
 The Sun’s surface temperature is around 5500 degrees Celsius (9941 degrees Fahrenheit), so pack plenty of sunscreen if
you plan on visiting (remembering that the average distance from the Sun to the Earth is around 150 million kilometers).
 The Sun’s core is around 13600000 degrees Celsius!
 The Sun generates huge amounts of energy by combining hydrogen nuclei into helium. This process is called nuclear fusion.
 Because of the Sun’s huge influence on Earth, many early cultures saw the Sun as a deity or god. For example, Ancient
Egyptians had a sun god called Ra while in Aztec mythology there is a sun god named Tonatiuh.
 The Sun produces a solar wind which contains charged particles such as electrons and protons. They escape the Sun’s
intense gravity because of their high kinetic energy and the high temperature of the Sun’s corona (a type of plasma
atmosphere that extends into space).
 Planets with strong magnetic fields such as Earth manage to deflect most of these charged particles as they approach.
 A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth.

Dwarf Planet Facts

 What are dwarf planets? Why is Pluto no longer a planet?
 Learn the answer to these questions and more with our fun dwarf planet facts for kids.
 In 2006 the International Astronomical Union adopted the term ‘dwarf planet’ for solar system objects that were bigger than
small solar system bodies such as comets and asteroids but not quite planets.
 The definition of a dwarf planet is an object orbiting the Sun that is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity but is not
gravitationally dominant in its orbital area and is not a moon.
 As of 2008, there are five recognized dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake & Haumea.
 There are a number of other candidates for the status of dwarf planet. Some of these classifications could be resolved as
NASA’s Dawn and Horizon missions venture towards Pluto in the coming years.
Pluto
 Pluto hit the headlines in 2006 when it was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union.
While most astronomers agreed with the new classifications, some disagreed and still refer to Pluto as the ninth planet.

Ceres
 Ceres is located in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered in 1801, well before Pluto and 45
years before Neptune. Ceres was considered a planet for around 50 years before being reclassified as an asteroid and once
again in 2006 as a dwarf planet.

Eris
 Eris was discovered in 2005 and was referred to as the tenth planet until it was reclassified in 2006. It is the largest of the dwarf
planets.

Makemake
 Makemake was discovered in 2005 and the third largest dwarf planet behind Eris and Pluto.
Haumea
 Haumea was discovered in 2004 and named a dwarf planet in 2008.