The corona is a. 300 times cooler than the surface of the Sun b. 300 times hotter than the surface of the Sun c. 300 times cooler than the surface of the Earth
On Earth, coronal mass ejections can cause a. severe storms b. extremely high temperatures c. damage to the power grid
The corona is only visible during a. a CME b. a solar flare c. a total solar eclipse
Discussion/essay questions
In 1859, a CME caused telegraph stations around the world to burn out. Because we depend so much on technology, a CME of the same size today would cause major damage. What do you think the world would be like without any modern technology?
Transcript
The outer atmosphere of the Sun is called the corona. It is a thin layer of charged gas that extends for millions of kilometres. It is actually about 300 times hotter than the Sun’s surface, which is an ongoing puzzle for scientists. The corona is a chaotic environment, and it sometimes releases large amounts of magnetic matter into space. This is called a coronal mass ejection, or CME. Scientists monitor CMEs because they can damage the power grid on Earth. Most of the time, the corona is impossible to see with the naked eye. The surface of the Sun is so bright that it completely outshines the light from the outer layers. However, the corona can be seen briefly during a total solar eclipse, when the Moon obscures the Sun from view.
The records are made of a. copper-plated gold b. gold-plated aluminum c. gold-plated copper
The records contain depictions of human a. religion b. language c. politics
The covers of the records have a. engravings of human anatomy b. engravings of important monuments on Earth c. engravings that explain how to retrieve the sounds and pictures
Discussion/essay questions
The Golden Record team chose not to include images of war, poverty, and other negative parts of humanity. Do you think this was a good decision? Why or why not?
Which sounds and images would you choose to represent Earth? Why?
Transcript
In 1977, NASA launched two space probes, called Voyager 1 and 2, to explore and photograph the solar system. They knew that the probes would eventually drift too far away to bring back to Earth, so they decided to use the opportunity to create a greeting for alien civilizations. Each Voyager craft contains a gold-plated copper record. A team of researchers chose a series of sounds and images to represent Earth, including drawings of human anatomy, photographs of nearby planets, and songs and languages from around the world. On the covers of the records, the researchers engraved pictures that explain how to retrieve the information. Although there is a very small chance that an alien civilization will ever discover the Golden Records, they are built to last for a billion years, and they will likely outlive the human race.
Joseph von Fraunhofer discovered that a. passing light through a prism would create a rainbow b. light could behave as a particle c. there were dark lines in the colour spectrum made by the Sun
Absorption lines happen when a. a cool gas absorbs photons b. a hot gas releases photons c. photons pass through empty space
Scientists can study absorption lines to find out a. the masses of stars b. the distances between stars c. the chemicals present in stars
Discussion/essay questions
Do you know any interesting facts about light? What optical illusions or “tricks of the light” have you seen?
Transcript
In 1814, a German physicist named Joseph von Fraunhofer passed light from the Sun through a prism to create a colour spectrum. He noticed that there were dark lines blocking out certain colours in the spectrum. Today, scientists call these lines absorption lines. Absorption lines happen when particles of light, called photons, move through a cool gas. The atoms and molecules in the gas absorb some of the photons and block certain colours of light. When an atom absorbs a photon, it shows up as a dark line in the colour spectrum. The photons that get absorbed are not random. Every element absorbs specific wavelengths of light, which means every element also has a unique pattern of absorption lines. Scientists can study these lines to find out which chemicals are present in stars and planets.
Neil Armstrong began his career as a. an astronaut b. a pilot c. a university professor
Gemini 8 was Armstrong’s a. first mission b. most famous mission c. last mission
Armstrong worked with NASA until a. 1966 b. 1969 c. 1971
Discussion/essay questions
While taking the first steps on the moon, Neil Armstrong said the famous quote “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Do you know of any other famous quotes from history? What is a quote that has changed your perspective?
Transcript
Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut and engineer. He was born in 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Armstrong began his career as a pilot for the US Navy. He joined NASA’s astronaut training program in 1962, and became one of only nine students in his class to succeed. His first command was on the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. In July 1969, he began the Apollo 11 mission with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. He gained worldwide fame on July 20th for being the first person to walk on the moon. After the successful mission, Armstrong continued to work with NASA for two years. He left in 1971 to become an engineering professor. Despite his fame, Armstrong lived a very private life until his death in 2012.
Astronomers look in Goldilocks zones to find a. planets that humans could travel to b. planets with rare chemical compositions c. planets that might be able to produce life
Venus is not habitable because a. it is outside of the Sun’s Goldilocks zone b. its atmosphere is too thin to support liquid water c. greenhouse gases make it too hot for liquid water
Life may be possible outside of stars’ Goldilocks zones because a. some stars are hotter than others b. alien life forms may use a liquid other than water to survive c. some systems contain multiple stars
Discussion/essay questions
Do you believe there is life on other planets? Why do you think we haven’t found any?
Transcript
The Goldilocks zone, or habitable zone, is the place in a star system where a planet can reach the right temperature to have liquid water on its surface. Because life on Earth requires liquid water, astronomers look for exoplanets in Goldilocks zones in case they are also capable of producing life. However, not every planet in a habitable zone is actually habitable. Besides Earth, the Sun’s habitable zone also contains both Venus and Mars, which are either too hot or too cold to sustain much liquid water. This is because Venus has an atmosphere full of greenhouse gases, while Mars has barely any atmosphere at all. It is also possible that life made of different chemicals than life on Earth could develop outside of a star’s Goldilocks zone. These life forms would use a liquid other than water to survive.
Argotec is a. a brand of coffee b. an engineering company c. a space station
The ISSpresso pours coffee into a. sealed bags b. zero-gravity coffee cups c. plastic capsules
Samantha Cristoforetti was a. the lead engineer of the ISSpresso b. the first astronaut to use the ISSpresso c. the designer of the zero-gravity coffee cup
Discussion/essay questions
Would you ever want to go to space? Why or why not? What do you think would be the hardest part of being an astronaut?
Transcript
In 2015, the Italian Space Agency launched the first espresso machine into space. It was a joint project between Lavazza, an Italian coffee company, and Argotec, an engineering company that makes food for the European Space Agency. The machine is called the ISSpresso, a portmanteau of espresso and the ISS, or International Space Station. The ISSpresso brews the coffee using small capsules of coffee grounds and pours it into sealed bags. It also comes with zero-gravity coffee cups that manipulate surface tension to stop the liquid from floating away. The first person to use the ISSpresso was Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who was also the first Italian woman to go to space.
Do you believe in life on other planets? Why or why not?
Do you think that aliens could be discovered in our lifetime?
Transcript
An exoplanet is a planet outside of our solar system. Most exoplanets orbit different stars in the galaxy. However, astronomers have observed some planets that are independent of any star system. The first two exoplanets were discovered in 1992. Since then, scientists have been searching for exoplanets that are similar to Earth. This might lead to the discovery of alien life. However, Earth-like planets are difficult to find, because the resources necessary for life only exist under very specific conditions. Our planet happens to be in the solar system’s habitable zone, where the temperature allows water to exist in liquid form. There are over 1,700 known exoplanets, and only 16 of them are potentially habitable.
On December 16th, 1965, two NASA astronauts on board the Gemini 6 spacecraft were preparing to return to . The astronauts, Thomas Stafford and Wally Schirra, sent a radio to Earth, claiming they’d seen a UFO with a pilot wearing a red suit. They asked the flight controllers to listen for a signal from the other spacecraft. As agents on the became concerned, Schirra began to play “Jingle Bells” on the harmonica while Stafford rang sleigh bells in the background. It was the first song ever played in space. Today, the from the mission can be found in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Comprehension questions
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Discussion/essay questions
What are some of your favourite holiday traditions?
Transcript
On December 16th, 1965, two NASA astronauts on board the Gemini 6 spacecraft were preparing to return to Earth. The astronauts, Thomas Stafford and Wally Schirra, sent a radio message to Earth, claiming they’d seen a UFO with a pilot wearing a red suit. They asked the flight controllers to listen for a signal from the other spacecraft. As agents on the ground became concerned, Schirra began to play “Jingle Bells” on the harmonica while Stafford rang sleigh bells in the background. It was the first song ever played live in space. Today, the bells from the mission can be found in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Dark energy is a force that exists throughout the universe. It is believed to make up about 68% of everything that exists, and it affects the way the universe is expanding. have known about the expansion of the universe since 1929. But for many years, most believed that the force of gravity would eventually slow down this expansion. However, in the 1990s, a team of astronomers that the universe was actually expanding than it had been years before. They came to the conclusion that there was another force, called dark energy, that was causing the expansion to accelerate. Dark energy is even than gravity, and scientists still don’t know much about it. It has often been called the universe’s greatest mystery.
Comprehension questions
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Discussion/essay questions
There is a lot to learn about the universe. If you could ask an astronomer any question, what would you ask?
Transcript
Dark energy is a mysterious force that exists throughout the universe. It is believed to make up about 68% of everything that exists, and it affects the way the universe is expanding. Scientists have known about the expansion of the universe since 1929. But for many years, most believed that the force of gravity would eventually slow down this expansion. However, in the 1990s, a team of astronomers observed that the universe was actually expanding faster than it had been years before. They came to the conclusion that there was another force, called dark energy, that was causing the expansion to accelerate. Dark energy is even stronger than gravity, and scientists still don’t know much about it. It has often been called the universe’s greatest mystery.
Can you think of some other books, movies, or TV shows that use humour to criticize society?
Transcript
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science fiction novel by English author Douglas Adams. The book is based on a radio series that Adams created in 1978. The protagonist, Arthur Dent, learns from his alien friend Ford Prefect that the world is about to end. Ford helps Arthur escape, and the two begin to travel through the galaxy. Along the way, Arthur learns that Earth was really a computer built to reveal the truth about “life, the universe, and everything”. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a very satirical story. Many of the humorous events in the book represent problems in society. Adams published four more novels about Arthur Dent’s adventures before his death in 2001.
All stars die , but different stars can die in very different ways. Our Sun is a medium-sized star. That means that when the Sun dies, it will simply turn into something called a white dwarf. White dwarves are small, dense celestial objects that contain the matter left over from stars. However, some stars are much more massive than our Sun, and their deaths are much more . When a massive star gets older, it starts to cool down. This is because the star is using up the last of its . Once the star has no fuel left, it will implode. This implosion is called a supernova. The event is so bright that if a star in our galaxy caused a supernova, we could possibly see it from Earth. The force of a supernova causes the star’s mass to be compressed into a very small space with an incredibly strong gravitational pull. This is called a black hole, and it is so that nothing can escape from it.
Comprehension questions
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Discussion/essay questions
Scientists believe that over 1,000 years ago, ancient civilizations witnessed a bright supernova. Now, scientists are observing a dying star called Betelgeuse, which may go supernova soon. Do you think it’s possible that we could see a supernova in our lifetime?
Transcript
All stars die eventually, but different stars can die in very different ways. Our Sun is a medium-sized star. That means that when the Sun dies, it will simply turn into something called a white dwarf. White dwarves are small, dense celestial objects that contain the matter left over from dead stars. However, some stars are much more massive than our Sun, and their deaths are much more violent. When a massive star gets older, it starts to cool down. This is because the star is using up the last of its fuel. Once the star has no fuel left, it will implode. This implosion is called a supernova. The event is so bright that if a star in our galaxy caused a supernova, we could possibly see it from Earth. The force of a supernova causes the star’s mass to be compressed into a very small space with an incredibly strong gravitational pull. This is called a black hole, and it is so powerful that nothing can escape from it.
Although A Wrinkle in Time is loved by critics now, Madeleine L’Engle originally had trouble finding a company that would publish her book. L’Engle believed that one reason for that was the book’s female protagonist, which was uncommon in science fiction at the time. How has society’s view of female characters changed since then?
Transcript
A Wrinkle in Time is a 1962 science fiction novel by American author Madeleine L’Engle. The protagonist of this book is a teenage girl named Meg Murry who lives with her mother and her three siblings. One day, Meg, her younger brother Charles Wallace and their friend Calvin meet three mysterious women. Their names are Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which. The women claim that Meg’s father is in danger and that they need the children’s help to rescue him. The story follows the group as they travel through space and time to find Meg’s father. Along the way, the characters discover new planets to explore and evil entities to defeat. Literary critics have praised this book because it explains complex themes in a way that children can understand. Some of the themes in this novel are the nature of evil and the danger of conformity.
While most scientists today agree that the universe was created by a Big Bang, some have other theories. Do you believe that the Big Bang theory is the correct explanation? Why or why not?
Transcript
The Big Bang theory is a theory scientists use to explain the creation of the universe. The theory states that all of the matter in the universe began to expand from one single point. This idea was first proposed by astronomer Georges Lemaître in 1927. He received evidence to support his theory when another astronomer named Edwin Hubble observed that galaxies seemed to be moving away from each other. This was an indication that the universe was expanding. Because of this new information, Lemaître concluded that the universe must have once been smaller and denser. According to the theory, the universe began as something known as a singularity, which is an area where matter is infinitely dense. Over 13 billion years ago, this singularity began to expand, and the matter inside it formed atoms that would later form stars and planets. Lemaître’s idea received a lot of criticism, because most scientists at the time believed that the universe had existed forever. However, throughout the 20th century, scientists continued to find proof that Lemaître’s theory was accurate. Today, the Big Bang theory is the most widely accepted explanation for how the universe was created.
Some people wanted to use Einstein’s discoveries to develop weapons, such as the atomic bomb. What is your opinion on the use of new scientific discoveries to build stronger weapons?
Transcript
Albert Einstein was one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. He was born in Germany in 1879, and he began attending school in 1885. As Einstein got older, he became fascinated with the nature of light. He wrote his first scientific paper at the age of 16, and later went on to study physics at a university in Switzerland. In 1905, Einstein published four scientific papers. The papers introduced his theory of special relativity, which allowed scientists to better understand the connection between time and space. Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his achievements. In the 1930s, however, Einstein became a target of the Nazi Party of Germany. He moved to the U.S. to protect himself, and continued to work as a physicist. Einstein died in 1955, but his brain is still kept in the Princeton University Medical Center. Scientists still study it today.
