Star Raiders: Introduction to Astronomy

1. Star Raiders:Introduction to Astronomy One Earth Foundation Ver 1.3 (2013)

2. Where do we start?? How are stars formed? How do stars die? Classification of Stars? What constitutes of Solar System? What lies immediately beyond? Our Galaxy and where are we in it? Types of Galaxies

8. The Kuiper belt, sometimes called the Edgeworth–Kuiperbelt is a region of the Solar System, beyond the planets, extending from the orbitof Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies, or remnants from the Solar System's formation. While most asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen methane, ammonia and water. It is home to at least three dwarf planets – Pluto , Haumea and Make make

9. Region beyond the Kuiper belt, extending as far as 1 LY from our sun. The region where most comets originate.

10. Our Galaxy Who has seen the Milky Way?

16. Colliding Galaxies

18. Billions of Galaxies make up our Universe: lets Piece it together

20. The way forward …. • Measures of distance • Measuring distances • The address of celestial objects • Zodiac • Viewing options

21. Measures of distances 1 Astrom. Unit =149,597,870,700 kms Approx 150 Mil Km Light Year = 9,460,000,000,000 kms Parsec = 3.26 Light Years

22. Measuring distance in space Hold out your thumb at arm's length, close one of your eyes, and examine the relative position of your thumb against other distant (background) objects, such as a window, wall, or tree. Now look at your thumb with your other eye. What do you notice? Move your thumb closer to your face and repeat the experiment D= 1/p D= distance in parsecs P = angle in arc seconds

23. Hipparcos (High Precision Parallax Collecting satellite To honour Greek astronomer Hipparchus Period 1989 – 1993 Hipparcos Catalogue = 118,000 stars Tycho Catalogue = 1 Mil stars GAIA Astronometry Satellite Due to launch 2013 Oct Life 5 Years 3 D image of our galaxy Measuring 1 Bil stars

24. Address of Celestial Objects Right Ascension = Longitude Declination = Altitude

26. Some facts • Our Milky way is 100,000 light years in diameter • The Milky way is said to have about 200 ,000,000,000 stars • The Core of the milky way falls in the constellation of Sagittarius • Our solar system is about 30,000 Ly from the core • At the core of the milky way s a massive black hole • We can see our own and other galaxies with the naked eye • Andromeda and milky way will collide • Nearest star: proxima Centauri of Centaurus constellation is 4.2 Ly. S. Hem • The brightest star is Sirius of of constellation CanisMajoris and is Mag -1.44. Southern Hemisphere. Distance 8.6 Ly Our sun is Mag -26 • On a dark night the naked eye can see about 6000 stars • In a metro you could see about 300-500 stars • Have we left the Solar System?? Not yet but just about there. Voyager 1 & 2 (1977) are both in the other reaches of solar system • There are 88 constellations • We have basic data on over 1,000,000 stars and growing

27. Your Zodiac Sign Is no longer valid !!!!

28. Some Viewing options • Naked Eye • Binoculars • Astronomy Binoculars • Guide scopes • Telescopes • Electromagnetic Radiation (EM Bandwidth) • Radio Waves & Radio Astronomy

29. Today’s Night Sky

31. Thank you. Wishing you happy Gazing & dark skies RaminderChowdhary