Are there aliens out there?

Tell me what you think, and use the information found here to examine both sides of the question.  Play with your assumption using the Drake equation.  Post as a blog entry.

The BIG BANG in picture form

  The most common religious belief in Manchester, IA is Christianity.  Often, students ask if the Big Bang (science) and religious belief (which is NOT science) can be compatible.  The answer, of course, depends on the specific tenets of your belief system.  Roman Catholic and many Protestant religions argue that the two are compatible, suggesting one is DATA and one is DIVINELY REVEALED.

Here is the text from Genesis 1.  Do you think this is a contradiction, or a support of the Big Bang Theory?

Genesis 1

The Beginning

 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  2 Now the earth was ^[a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
 6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
 9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
 11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
 20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
 24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, ^[b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
 27 So God created man in his own image,
       in the image of God he created him;
       male and female he created them.
 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Exploring Hubble Deep Field

Go to the Hubble Galaxy Hunt activity.  Take the time you need to explore, but when you are done, I need you to write a 4-6 paragraph reflection on your impressions, including data, statistics, and size factors.  Do this on your blog.  I will know it is the right post because I want you to link the image that is found here as a picture on your blog.

The video shown in class is below

Wednesday, 12/10/2008

I am gone for a family funeral today. Your goal today is to watch the two video clips below (you have to do this in the room, since there are no speakers in the lab), and then to answer some of the questions raised by the third post below. The actual assignment is to make a blog post.

When you get done, you can begin working on the FIVE BEFORE THE FIRST OF THE YEAR post. Note: these are the lab portion of the class, so I cannot guarantee class time to do these. Please see me sometime this week if you have questions.

**mapowell**

Distance and the Universe

Yesterday we looked at parallax, and it's ability to help us to measure distances up to about 80 light years away. We we go further away, we need to look for new tools to help us measure the distances. These tools are called Red Shift, Luminosity, and Cepheid variables.

The video below talks about brightness and luminosity in the stellar world. If we have brightness, or luminosity, measured, we can work backwards to find distance. Of course, we have a new wrinkle to work out--what stage of life is the star in, anyway?

A video on stellar evolution--low mass and high mass

Please watch this video, and then look at the assignment below.

Stellar Evolution--one picture (20 points)

This picture shows a large of how stars evolve, and is part of an interactive map of stellar evolution found HERE

Answer the following questions on your blog for up to 20 points. Also include a paragraph or two about what the two previous videos did to help increase your understanding..

a. Can a white dwarf become a black hole?
b. If time is represented on the horizontal axis, and mass on the vertical axis, what does this tell you about the life cycle of a blue giant star?
c. Can our star, the Sun, form a black hole?
d. What is a red dwarf, from information you can glean from the picture?
e. What do all stars have in common?

FIVE LABS BEFORE THE FIRST OF THE YEAR (1/2 of your lab grade)--100 points

#1 How different mass stars evolve: Pick 5 different masses of stars and watch them evolve into red giant format. For each, record the mass in terms of of a number _____ mass sun and the time it takes to evolve _______ years. If you graph these, do they form a linear or nonlinear relationship? Turn in your graph and your speculations about what this means for stellar evolution

#2 Types of galaxies: Go to Galaxy Zoo and Register. Take the tutorial, and print out the Congratulations sheet when you are finished. At the bottom of the sheet, please summarize the different types of galaxies that are commonly seen in 1-2 paragraphs, or a picture.

#3 Stellar scavenger hunt: Go to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(SDSS) to see what's out there! SkyServer brings you the entire public database of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Digital Photos - almost 150 million stars, galaxies, and quasars - free of charge. We use this data to learn science. Download the sheet and fill in. While you may work with a partner, everyone turns in his/her own data. No two groups should have the exact same answers, as there are so many millions of possibilities. Finding a quasar is worth a bonus +4, but it is not required.

#4 Color: Another SDSS work project, but it's a long one. Again, you may work with a partner. Doing the research challenge at the end would be worth a bonus +20 towards your grade

#5 Asteroids: The basics behind finding those potential killers

Test Answers

1. B
2. A
3. C
4. A
5. A
6. B
7. A
8. B
9. C
10. A
11. C
12. C
13. C
14. B
15. C
16. A
17. B
18. B
19. A
20. C
21. So the sun doesn't shrink or blow up
22. "discovered by chance" Prnzias and Wilson- background radiation
23. - Cooler spots on sun
      - magnetic
      - 2 together can  cause a solar flare
24. There's stuff out there, but the solar flares from the sun are usually deflected by the Earth's Van Allen belts
25. Look up Manker diagram on Wikipedia for a good explanation

CCD, or charge coupling devices

Over the years, photography tools have changed. You can see a timeline here.  Photos of the universe began to be taken with giant telescopes, and it wasn't until 1975 that the first CCD camera was created.  Now, instead of photographs that were 3' x 4', we had the ability to digitally store images.

Today, we are going to look at that process.  Go to here and we'll explore the mechanism behind it all--the photoelectric effect of Albert Einstein.

HR Diagrams

1. Go to the HR Diagram tutorial, found here On Friday, you will hand in a concept map, outline, picture, or something that shows me what you have learned. This will be worth 15 points. If you wish, you can use words to connect the bubbles, or if you use outline form, you can define the terms. Be sure to do the 17 interactive questions in the interactive tutorial.

2. Finish your review sheet and check with others. Txt me with any questions you have at FIVE SIX THREE SIX OH EIGHT NINETEEN HUNDRED

3. More of a visual learner? Try looking at this video in the room:



4. CCDs will be the topic of the day on Friday, after the test. You can find out more information here