Introduction to

Astronomy
What do you know about
Space?
-What words come to mind when you hear the
word “space”?
-Can you name all of the planets in the Solar
system? Hint: There are 8!
-If you could travel to any planet, which would
it be? Why?

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8.1 - Touring the
Night Sky
SNC1D1
TOURING THE NIGHT SKY
• Astronomy: is the branch of science
that studies objects beyond Earth, in
space (outer space)
• Celestial Objects: any object found in
space (Sun, moon, etc…)
• Universe: everything that exists,
including all energy, matter and space
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 STARS
• A star is a massive celestial body, composed of
hot gases that radiate large amounts of energy
• Stars appear so tiny in the sky because they are
very far away from where we stand on Earth
• Stars are luminous- they produce and emit light
• We cannot see many stars that exist with the
naked eye
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 OUR STAR, THE SUN
• The sun is a star.
• The sun has a mass 340 000 times larger than
that of the Earth
• The sun looks much bigger than other stars in
the sky because it is so much closer to earth
• The sun gives off visible light and other forms
of radiant energy- life would not be possible
without the sun (luminous)
• When dealing with large numbers, they are
often written in scientific notation (*) 6
 PLANETS
• Large celestial objects that travel around a star
• There are 8 planets travelling around the sun
– Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune
• Four planets closest to the sun are known as
Terrestrial Planets (hard and rocky surface)
• The next four planets are Gas Giants (composed of
gases and liquids)
• Planets are non-luminous
• Only five planets are visible with the unaided eye-
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn 7
 OUR PLANET, EARTH

• Fifth largest planet in solar system

• Third planet from the sun
• Terrestrial planet
• Composed primarily of rock
• Earth is in constant motion

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 THE MOON
• A Moon is a type of satellite (a celestial
object that travels around a planet or dwarf
planet in a closed path)
• The closed path of a celestial object as it
travels around another is called an ORBIT
• Earth has one natural satellite- the moon
• The moon is non-luminous
• We are able to see the moon because
sunlight reflects off its surface
• Very small compared to other planets 9
 GALAXIES
• Within the universe, there are huge
collections of stars, gas, dust and planets
which we call galaxies.
• Billions of galaxies scattered throughout the
universe

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 OUR GALAXY, THE MILKY
WAY
• Earth is part of the Milky Way
galaxy
• From earth, the Milky Way
appears as a hazy band of
white light in the night sky
• Our galaxy contains over 200
billion stars, including the sun
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HOMEWORK
Page 308 # 1-3, 9

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