Space revealed – introduction
Astronomers studying space have two big problems:
A lot of things in space seem invisible – they do not give out light we can see.
Scientists cannot leave the Earth to go and collect pieces of stars and galaxies to study.
A colourful galaxy.
The galaxy M81 is revealed using different types of telescopes. This is a combined image from optical, infrared and ultraviolet telescopes. Different parts of the M81 galaxy show up when viewed at different wavelengths: blue parts are ultraviolet, white parts are visible light and red parts are infrared. Spiral galaxy M81 is 12 million light years away and is similar in shape to our own Milky Way.
Using different wavelengths of light
There are special telescopes and other instruments that can detect light we cannot see with our eyes. Look up into the sky at night. Just with your eyes, you can often see the Moon, planets, stars – even a couple of galaxies outside the Milky Way. With a telescope, you can see a lot more – fainter and more distant stars, dust clouds, galaxies.
But there is a lot you can’t see, even with a powerful telescope, because not everything in space gives out light we can detect with our eyes. Some space objects give out X-rays, ultraviolet radiation, radio waves and other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. These wavelengths of light can be detected with special instruments. Find out more about these instruments in the article Light and telescopes.
Studying stars from a distance
Stars and galaxies are too far away for us to send spacecraft to collect samples to study. Space probes have visited other planets in the Solar System and the Sun, but other stars are too far away. Even if a spacecraft travelled at 100,000 kilometres an hour, it would take over 46,000 years to reach the nearest star outside the Solar System, Proxima Centauri. It would take another 46,000 years to bring a sample back. It would take 27 billion years to reach the nearest galaxy outside the Milky Way. The article Distances in space relate some of these huge differences to smaller ones we know better.
The light of the electromagnetic spectrum is the key to finding out about space without leaving Earth. By studying the different wavelengths of light given off by objects in space, astronomers can find out such things as what the objects are made of, how hot they are, how old they are, what gravity they have, how they are changing and much more.
Meet some astronomers
There are a number of astronomers in New Zealand, and on this website you can find out about how two of them – Associate Professor Melanie Johnston-Hollitt and Professor Denis Sullivan – use the electromagnetic spectrum to:
find planets around other stars
predict the story of our Sun by studying distant white dwarf stars
investigate galaxy clusters to help understand the structure of the universe.
Australian astronomer Dr Sara Webb talks about her fascination with distant galaxies and provides information on some great online tools that can be used to look at our universe through the eyes of many different telescopes in this article Hunting galaxies far far away – here’s how anyone can explore the universe.
Astrophysics – the new astronomy
‘Astronomer’ is not the best word used to describe these scientists any more. There is so much physics and chemistry involved these days (gravity, light, chemical elements and reactions, temperature, mass, energy and so on) that these scientists are called astrophysicists rather than just astronomers. Some of them try and work out the structure of the universe as a whole – they are called cosmologists.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way
The heart of the Milky Way shines behind a tree in Western Australia. Our Sun is one of billions of stars in the Milky Way, which is one of billions of galaxies in the universe.
We can learn a lot from the way astrophysicists carry out their science. They make measurements, collect lots of data, think about what the data means and make predictions. They can’t see the actual matter that makes a star, but they can predict what it is like. They can’t see a black hole, but they can predict what it is like by the way it affects things around it. Astrophysicists often use mathematics and computer models in which they try to match their observations with what is already known about physics. So many physics experiments have been done in laboratories on Earth that they can be fairly confident that their models are accurate.
Black holes
Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, from Victoria University of Wellington, describes what black holes are. She also explains the importance to radio astronomers of black holes at the centres of galaxy clusters.
Take up the challenge
Exploring with telescopes uses an interactive and an online or paper-based quiz to learn about different types of telescopes and the types of space objects they are best suited to view.
Student activites simulate some of the work carried out by astrophysicists.
In Hunt the planet, students plot graphs of light measurements from stars, searching for dimming that indicates the presence of a planet, and calculate its size.
Is anything out there? asks students to consider evidence for life and examine data to decide on the likelihood of life on certain extrasolar planets.
In Shrink the solar system, students create a scale model of the Solar System and use a range of measurements, from mm to light years.
Using an online citizen science project in an astronomy unit
These citizen science projects could be used in an astronomy unit focused on the planet Mars:
The Planet Four online citizen science project wants help from citizen scientists to help explore the surface and weather of the Mars south polar region.
Use the AI4Mars online citizen science project to help scientists train Mars rovers how to classify Martian terrain.
Intermediate school teacher Matt Boucher incorporated planet hunting into a unit on light. Read the case study and accompanying unit plan with activities to find out how he modelled the transit of an exoplanet and the impact of this on the star’s light intensity. He used the online citizen science project Agent Exoplanet to focus on how the light curves are generated and then he used the citizen science project Planet Hunters in which students study data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft.
Loss of the Night is an international citizen science project aiming to quantify the illumination of the night sky caused by artificial light.
Teacher Melissa Coton used the online citizen science project Globe at Night as part of a year 5/6 unit on light. Read the case study and accompanying unit plan, with activities, to find out how she transitioned from learning about light to considering light pollution and its impacts.
Two photos of Wellington on the same night
These photos were both taken on the same night. The photo on the left was taken from Mount Victoria, above the CBD. The photo on the right was taken out at Red Rocks, an unpopulated area only 15 minutes from the first location, and the Milky Way is clearly visible.
Question bank
The Space revealed – question bank provides an initial list of questions the secret lives of planets, stars and galaxies and places where their answers can be found. The questions support an inquiry approach.
Key terms
For explanations of key concepts, see Space revealed – key terms.
Timeline
Check out a timeline explaining the history of planet hunting – from the discovery of the Solar System's outermost planets to extrasolar planets.
Related collections
Aotearoa New Zealand in space is an introductory article that links the galaxy of resources created to highlight and support learning about the country’s growing space industry. The context for learning provides curriculum and pedagogical information when using the resources.
Our collection Exploring space – resources for years 5/6 contains a selection of space resources for Middle Primary.
There are a lot of resources on Aotearoa in space so we created these collections of resources with a more narrow, targeted focus:
Log in to make one or more of these collections part of your private collection, just click on the copy icon. You can then add additional content and notes and make other changes. Find out more about using our super handy collections tool.
Useful link
See the Otago Museum Astronomy learning bundle – linked to levels 3–5 of the New Zealand curriculum, it includes worksheets, video activities and crafts to make cross-curricular links.
