1. WEDNESDAY DO NOW: * Take out your science questions you wrote in your notebook for HW. *Each person will choose one of their questions to be recorded on the paper provided. *The person whose birthday is closest to January 1 will be the recorder today. Be neat and write large enough for your words to be seen! *The person whose birthday is closest to July 1 will be the presenter of your team’s questions today.

2. The Universe We know the age of the Earth to be between 4-5 billion years old by studying carbon material in rocks. But what about the universe? How do you think scientists are able to determine how old the universe is? Write some thoughts down on the scrap paper.

3. THE UNIVERSE Universe Estimated Age- 13-20 billion years They can determine the age of the universe using two different methods: by studying the oldest objects (star clusters) within the universe and measuring how fast it is expanding (measure wavelengths of radiation). Click here.Click here

4. EARTH Earth is approximately 4.5-5 billion years old

5. ASTRONOMY Astronomy as a science began around 3,000 years ago!

6. TELESCOPES Telescopes have only been around for about 500 years

7. SPACE FLIGHT We’ve only been sending astronauts into space for about 50 years now!

8. HUBBLE TELESCOPE In 1990 the United States sends the Hubble Telescope into space. We have learned more about the universe in the last 20 years than the previous 3,000 years combined! Amazing, huh?

9. Today… Scientists continue to use technology to build bigger and more powerful rockets and telescopes! Webb Space TelescopeOrion Spacecraft

10. “In questions of sciences, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” -Galileo Galilei

11. Questions to ponder… Who were the first astronomers? Did anyone ever challenge Aristotle? Who was Ptolemy? Did Galileo invent the telescope? How did a 16 th century party animal with half a nose change astronomy? Did Newton’s apple really fall? Why were a famous brother and sister so important to astronomy?

12. What is Astronomy?

15. ASTRONOMY Derived from Greek language Astro- star Nomos-law What is Astronomy? Tries to explain the laws of matter in space, and all the celestial bodies and phenomena Babylonians, Sumerians, Chinese, and Greeks were some of the first astronomers!