Robert Snedden - How Do Scientists Explore Space?

Books

Dowswell, Paul. First Encyclopedia of Space. Tulsa, OK: EDC, 2010.

Harrison, Paul. Space. New York, NY: Rosen, 2008.

Parker, Steve. Space Exploration. Broomall, PA: Mason Crest, 2011.

Schneider, Howard. Backyard Guide to the Night Sky. Washington, DC: National Geographic,2009.

Websites

www.nasa.gov

The homepage of NASA, an excellent starting-off point for information on all aspectsof space exploration.

www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html
The website of the European Space Agency ESA.

www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/astron98.htm
Hundreds of questions and answers fromthe Ask A Scientist Astronomy Archive at the USAs Argonne National Laboratory.

http://hubblesite.org

The latest news and findings from the Hubble Space Telescope and links to a wealthof information on astronomy.

www.iwaswondering.org/heidi_homepage.html
Space scientist Heidi Hammels kid friendly guide to space exploration.

www.skyandtelescope.com
The website of Sky and Telescope , the magazine for the amateur astronomer.

Places to visit

Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
www.nasm.si.edu

Visit the nations most comprehensive museum of space, theKennedy Space Center located in Orlando, Florida. Whilethere you can tour NASAs launch and landing facilities. www.kennedyspacecenter.com/visit-us.aspx

Sky Watchers

The earliest space explorers were the first people who looked up at the night skyand wondered about the things they saw. The beginnings of space exploration tookplace from the ground with no more sophisticated tools than sharp eyes and inquiringminds.

These immense columns of gas and dust are big enough to swallow our entire solarsystem many times.

Ancient astronomers imagined patterns connecting the stars in the sky. These patternsare called constellations.

Navigation

The patterns of stars are called . First labeled in ancient times,modern astronomers still use constellations as a convenient way to divide and describethe night sky. We can also use the stars to nd out where we are on Earth. For example,for centuries people have known that facing Polaris, the North Star, means that theyare facing north. Hundreds of years ago sailors had starcharts that told them howfar above the horizon a star should be. Measuring the angle of the star above thehorizon told them how far north or south they were.

Fixed stars

The first sky watchers would have noticed that most of the objects in the night skyalways kept the same positions relative to each other. They rose and set in orderlypatterns that always stayed the same. People of different countries, such as theGreeks, Chinese, and Indians, named these patterns of stars after gods and heroes.The night sky became a storybook of myths and legends.

Wandering stars

The sky watchers of long ago also saw that there were some objects that didnt followregular paths. The ancient Greeks called them planetes (wanderers) from which weget our word planet . The early observers built up precise records of the movementsof stars and planets across the night sky. These observations became the basis ofthe modern science of .