 Understand how our view of the solar system has changed over time and how discoveries made have led to our changing our view of the solar system.  Learn planetary characteristics such as number of moons, size, composition, type of atmosphere, gravity, temperature and surface features.  Understand the movement of planetary bodies.  Understand which planetary characteristics are more important than others when it relates to our understanding of other worlds.  Understand how proximity to the sun influences planets.  Understand the methods and tools scientists use to learn about other planets and moons in our solar system.  Understand the conditions needed for a habitable world and determine if there are habitable worlds in our solar system or outside the solar system.  Understand how we look for and study solar systems other than our own. 1.Complex Knowledge: demonstrations of learning that go aboveand above and beyond what was explicitly taught. 2.Knowledge: meeting the learning goals and expectations. 3.Foundational knowledge: simpler procedures, isolated details, vocabulary. 4.Limited knowledge: know very little details but working toward a higher level.

Add in one of the following: Ceres, Haumea, and MakeMake

Discuss in your group, and record your answers under your chart 1. What pattern, if any, do you notice between gravity and mass of the planets and dwarf planets? 2. What influence, if any, do you think mass and gravity had on determining a planet’s size during formation? Explain. 3. Why do planets, such as Jupiter, have orbits that are clear of other objects, such as asteroids? While dwarf Planets, such as Pluto, have orbits that are not clear of other objects?

 Read the essay in the plastic sheets

 Its journey is almost equal to 32 trips between the Earth and the Sun  It almost broke at the last minute  It’s the fastest spacecraft ever launched  It was going 36,373 mph after launch, 100 times faster than a jetliner  It took more than nine years to reach Pluto  It is carrying the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh – who discovered Pluto  The entire mission will use less power than two 100-watt bulbs  New Horizons is powered with nuclear fuel  The fuel is designed to last until the late 2020’s or even beyond  Its data is transmitted to earth at 2 kpbs  Its computer is powered by an original PlayStation CPU  It takes four hours for data to arrive at the spacecraft, and after the flyby was completed, it will take over 16 months to send all the data home  The USA is the first country to explore every planet in the solar system  The new horizons mission does not stop with Pluto  The mission is now speeding onwards into the Kuiper belt where it will examine one or two of the ancient icy objects in the vast region. Potential Kuiper belt objects that it might visit include Quaoar, Eris, Makemake, Haumea and Sedna.  Sensors on New Horizons have detected a thin nitrogen atmosphere extending far out into space, and the surface coloring suggests it is a patchwork of different concentrations of frozen methane and nitrogen.

 It cost nearly $700 million for the entire New Horizons Mission to Pluto  Over the 15 years that the mission has been going, from design to launch to journey to actually meeting Pluto, that comes to about $47 million a year  That seems like a lot of money, but lets take a look at some other things that cost money…  Why is it important?  We’ve never seen Pluto before  It’s a staggering technical achievement  It helps us understand the whole solar system, including earth  It’s the first time in a generation that we’re seeing a new planet  We wont get many more missions like this for a while  Space isn’t somewhere else, it’s where we live. 1. Improper Medicare payments cost almost 1000 times as much each year as the Pluto mission  In 2013, Medicare made $45.7 billion in “improper payments.” These are a mix of payments sent to the wrong people, accidental overpayments, and, to a large extent, outright fraud. 2. NFL stadiums cost taxpayers more than five Pluto missions  Since 2000, US taxpayers have spent an estimated $3.9 billion on football stadiums for profitable, privately held NFL teams. 3. Destroyed weapons cost ten times as much as the Pluto mission  As the US military wound down the war in Afghanistan, it destroyed or abandoned more than $7 billion worth of weapons and other military equipment. 4. Minting pennies and nickels costs twice as much annually as the Pluto mission  It costs more for the US Mint to make pennies and nickels than they're actually worth, the government lost $105 million on the coins last year. 5. Annual payments to dead federal workers cost almost 2 times more than the Pluto mission  The government accidentally sent $84.7 million in payments to retired federal workers who'd already died

 Do you and your group think it is worth it to spend that much money ($700 million) to go to Pluto? Why or why not?  Yes:  3 reasons for, 1 against  No:  3 reasons against, 1 for  We are going to go around the room and each group will share their thoughts