Stars & Space Exploration
Two Pathfinder Honors
Answer the Following Questions
What is the earth's nearest celestial neighbor? What is its
distance from the earth?
The Earth's nearest celestial neighbor is the Moon, which has an average
distance from the Earth of about 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometers).
Answer the Following Questions

What governs the tides?
The tides are governed by the Moon, and to a lesser extent, by the Sun.
Answer the Following Questions

What causes an eclipse?
An eclipse is caused when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in a direct line with one
another. When the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, we see a lunar eclipse,
which is the Earth's shadow falling on the moon. When the Moon is between the
Sun and the Earth, we see a solar eclipse, which is when the Moon's shadow falls
on the Earth (blocking the Sun).
Answer the Following Questions
What is a shooting star?
A shooting star is not a star at all, but rather a meteor. A meteor is any celestial
body (usually quite small) that falls to the Earth. Most burn up in the atmosphere
before reaching the surface, leaving a bright, short-lived streak in the sky.
Draw a diagram of our solar system and be
able to name the planets in order.
How fast does light travel? How far
does light travel in a year?
Light travels at 186,000 miles per second
(not miles per hour), which is 300,000
kilometers per second. In one year, light will
travel 5.88 trillion miles (9.4 quadrillion
km). This distance is also called a light-year.
What is the difference between planets and fixed
stars? Identify in the sky eight fixed stars.

The word planet means wanderer because
the planets appear to wander about the sky
relative to the stars. The stars do not move
in relation to one another (although they all
appear to move together because of the
Earth's rotation on its axis).
Polaris
Capella
Acturus
Mintaka
Alshain
Bellatrix
Betelgeuse
pronounced
“Beatlejuice”
Coxa
What is a constellation? Name and
point out six. Name two constellations
visible throughout the year.

A constellation is any one of the 88 areas
into which the sky - or the celestial sphere is divided. The term is also often used less
formally to denote a group of stars visibly
related to each other in a particular
configuration or pattern.
Ursa Major - better known as the Big Dipper.
Ursa Minor-better known as the Little Dipper
Cassiopeia It is on the opposite side of Polaris
from the Big Dipper. VISIBLE ALL YEAR
Boötes
Cygnus, Altair, and Lyra These are summer
constellations. The brightest stars make up
the Summer Triangle.
Northern Hemisphere: (VISIBLE ALL YEAR)
Ursa Minor
Ursa Major
Draco
Cepheus
Southern Hemisphere:
Octans
Mensa
Hydrus
Chameleon
Volans
Pavo
Musca
Draw the following constellations:
Big Dipper, North Star, & Cassiopeia
Scorpio
Southern
Cross
Orion
What is the Milky Way?
A large gathering of stars and bodies making up
one of many galaxies. The portion visible in
the night sky of Earth is only a single
dimensional or flat view of the galaxy as our
solar system is part of the same galaxy we
have lack for a broader perspective.
The Milky Way Galaxy
What is the morning star and evening star?
Why does it carry both names?
This is not a star at all but the
Planet Venus and draws in part
its modern status as the
Morning Star and Evening Star
from mythology. Venus never
appears on the opposite horizon
from the sun due to its relative
location to the sun and Earth.
Mercury too fits this profile but
is rarely actually visible.
The Morning & Evening Star
Explain zenith and nadir.
Zenith is the point in space directly overhead. If you extend a line from the
zenith to the point on Earth upon which you are standing, and continue that
line through the Earth and out the other side, it would point to the nadir. In
other words, the line connecting the zenith and nadir passes through the
point on Earth where you're standing and also passes through the center of
the Earth and out the other side.
What is the aurora borealis?
What causes it?
An Aurora is a beautiful natural phenomenon that often occurs in the polar
regions of Earth.
The immediate causes of aurora are precipitating energetic particles. These
particles are electrons and protons that are energized in the near geospace
environment. This energization process draws its energy from the
interaction of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind.
Aurora Borealis
Discuss the statement made by Ellen
G. White in Early Writings, page 41,
concerning the opening in Orion.
“December 16, 1848, the Lord gave me a view of the shaking of the powers of the
heavens. I saw that when the Lord said "heaven," in giving the signs recorded by
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, He meant heaven, and when He said "earth" He meant
earth. The powers of heaven are the sun, moon, and stars. They rule in the heavens.
The powers of earth are those that rule on the earth. The powers of heaven will be
shaken at the voice of God. Then the sun, moon, and stars will be moved out of their
places. They will not pass away, but be shaken by the voice of God. Dark, heavy clouds
came up and clashed against each other. The atmosphere parted and rolled back;
then we could look up through the open space in Orion, whence came the voice of God.
The Holy City will come down through that open space. I saw that the powers of earth
are now being shaken and that events come in order. War, and rumors of war, sword,
famine, and pestilence are first to shake the powers of earth, then the voice of God will
shake the sun, moon, and stars, and this earth also. I saw that the shaking of the
powers in Europe is not, as some teach, the shaking of the powers of heaven, but it is
the shaking of the angry nations.” – Passages from Ellen G. White Early writings, page
41
Know and discuss who each of these
people were and their contribution to
space exploration:

Robert H. Goddard
was an American professor, physicist and
inventor who is credited with creating and
building the world's first liquid-fueled
rocket,[1][2] which he successfully launched
on March 16, 1926. Goddard and his team
launched 34 rockets[3] between 1926 and
1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km
(1.62 miles) and speeds as high as 885 km/h
(550 mph).[3][4]
Goddard received little public support for his
research during his lifetime. Though his
work in the field was revolutionary, he was
sometimes ridiculed in the press for his
theories concerning spaceflight. As a result,
he became protective of his privacy and his
work..[
Years after his death, as
manned spaceflight became
popular, he came to be
recognized as the father of
modern rocketry

John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. (born July 18,
1921) is a retired United States Marine
Corps pilot, a former astronaut and United
States senator who was the first American
and third person to orbit the Earth.

Hermann Oberth
born in Transylvania, Austria-Hungary, was a
Romanian[2][3] and German physicist and
engineer of Saxon ancestry, who along with
the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the
American Robert H. Goddard, was one of the
founding fathers of rocketry and
astronautics.

Yuri Gagarin
Hero of the Soviet Union, was a Soviet
cosmonaut. On 12 April 1961, he became the
first human in outer space and the first to
orbit the Earth. He received medals from
around the world for his pioneering tour in
space.

Wernher Von Braun
was a German-American rocket scientist,
astronautics engineer and space architect,
becoming one of the leading figures in the
creation of rocket technology in Germany
and the United States. He was a member of
the Nazi party and a commissioned SS
officer. Wernher von Braun was said to be
the preeminent rocket engineer of the 20th
century.

Galileo Galilei
was an Italian physicist, mathematician,
astronomer, and philosopher who played a
major role in the Scientific Revolution. His
achievements include improvements to the
telescope and consequent astronomical
observations, and support for
Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the
"father of modern observational
astronomy,"[6] the "father of modern
physics,"[7] the "father of science,"[7] and "the
Father of Modern Science."[8] Stephen
Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than
any other single person, was responsible for
the birth of modern science."[

Neil Armstrong
is an American aviator and a former
astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer,
university professor, and United States Naval
Aviator. He was the first person to set foot on
the Moon. His first spaceflight was aboard
Gemini 8 in 1966, for which he was the
command pilot, becoming one of the first
U.S. civilians to fly in space

Valentina Tereshkova
is the first woman in space, now a retired
Soviet cosmonaut. Out of more than four
hundred applicants and then out of five
finalists, she was selected to pilot Vostok 6
on 16th June 1963 and become the first
woman to fly in space. This also made her
the first civilian in space
Sally K. Ride
from Los Angeles, California, is an American
physicist and a former NASA astronaut. She
studied at Portola Middle School, Westlake
School for Girls, Swarthmore College and
Stanford University, and earned a master's
degree and PhD. Ride joined NASA in 1978,
and in 1983, became the first American
woman, and then-youngest American, to
enter space.
Alan Shepard
was an American naval aviator and astronaut
who became second person, and the first
American, in space. Ten years later, he
commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was
the fifth person to walk on the moon.
Explain what these acronyms stand
for:
NASA – National Aeronautical and Space Administration
STS – Space Transportation System
VAB – Vehicle Assembly Building
EMU – Extravehicular Mobility Unit
EVA – Extravehicular Activity
MMU – Manned Maneuvering Unit
Describe each of these space programs:
•
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United
States. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a human in orbit
around the Earth.
•
Skylab was the United States' first space station, and the second space station
visited by a human crew.
•
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA. It had 10
manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966. Its objective was to develop
techniques for advanced space travel and to land humans on the Moon.
•
Space Shuttle is the United States government's current manned launch
vehicle, carrying five to seven astronauts
•
Apollo program was an American spaceflight endeavor that landed the first
humans on Earth's Moon.
•
Apollo-Soyuz was the last Apollo mission.
What was Sputnik?
Sputnik was the first Earth-orbiting artificial
satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low
Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October
1957, and was the first in a series of satellites
collectively known as the Sputnik program.
Sputnik helped to identify the upper atmospheric
layer's density, through measuring the satellite's
orbital changes. It also provided data on radiosignals.
The Apollo 8 astronauts were in lunar
orbit on Christmas day, 1968. They
each read from a
book, and their readings were
broadcasted back to Earth. What was
the name of the book?
Quiz time
To complete this honor, you must
successfully take and pass this quiz.
1. What is a constellation?
2. Which constellation is part of Ellen White’s Prophecy?
3. Who was the first man on the moon?
4. Who was the first woman on the moon?
5. What does NASA stand for?
6. From which book of the Bible did the Apollo 8
astronauts read?
Check your answers on
the next slide
1. A constellation is any one of the 88 areas into
which the sky - or the celestial sphere - is
divided. The term is also often used less
formally to denote a group of stars visibly
related to each other in a particular
configuration or pattern.
2. Orion
3. Neil Armstrong
4. Valentina Tereshkova
5. National Aeronautical and Space
Administration
6. Genesis
Congratulations!
You have now completed the Star Honor &
the Space Exploration Honor.
Make sure your instructor signs your
worksheet.
Take documentation of completion to your
club director to receive your patch.