Professional Documents
Culture Documents
30 April 2009
18:46
Small Stars:
Main sequence -> Red Giant -> White Dwarf -> Black Dwarf (Stops Shining)
Three types of radiation that stars give off are light waves, microwaves and infrared. Stars get their
energy from fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium.
Scientists believe the universe began about 14 thousand million years ago (14 billion) and that the solar
system was formed about 5 billion years ago.
P1 Page 1
Bodies in space
30 April 2009
18:46
Comets - Comets are balls of ice and dust that orbit the sun. Their orbits are elliptical and take them very
close and very far away from the sun. They are often visible from earth when they get close to the sun
because the sun's heat vaporises material from their surface, forming a 'tail'.
Asteroids - Asteroids are rocky objects, smaller than planets. Most are found in the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter.
Galaxies - There are thousands of millions of galaxies in the universe. Each contains thousands of
millions of stars.
Radio telescopes - These detect radio waves coming from space. They are very large and expensive but
can be used in bad weather and day or night.
X-ray telescopes - X-ray telescopes must be at a high altitude or flown in balloons because x-rays are
partially blocked by the Earth's atmosphere.
Space telescopes - Objects in the universe emit other electromagnetic radiation such as infrared, x-rays
and gamma rays. These are all blocked by the Earth's atmosphere but can be detected by telescopes
placed in orbit around the Earth. They can observe the whole sky and can operate both night and day,
however they are difficult and expensive to launch and maintain.
P1 Page 2
Measuring to the stars
01 May 2009
18:25
Some stars seem to change position very slightly at different times of the year. This is called a parallax,
and happens because the stars are different distances from us.
Astronomers can work out the distances to nearby stars by carefully measuring the angle of the star at
different times of the year compared with the background of more distant stars. The change in the
angles is very small, so measurements have to be very accurate. This way of measuring distances only
works for nearby stars.
P1 Page 3
The Earth and Plates
30 April 2009
18:46
The Earth's structure is made up of a solid inner core, a liquid outer core, a solid mantle and a solid
outer crust.
Wegener's Theory
Wegener's theory was that all of the Earth's continents were once joined together but gradually moved
apart. When all the continents were joined together it was called Pangaea. The evidence he had for
continental drift was:
-The same types of fossilised animals and plants were found in South America and Africa.
-The shapes of the east coast of South America and west coast of Africa fit together.
-Matching rock formations and mountain chains are found in South America and Africa.
It was only in the 1960s, long after Wegener's death in 1930, that the theory of continental drift was
accepted by scientists.
P1 Page 4