Engage – Light Years (8.8D)
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Each pair of students should have one sentence strip
Fold the sentence strip hot dog style and cut down the crease
Each student should now have a strip of paper
On one end of the paper write “Earth”
Underline the word “Earth”
In this activity, one millimeter will represent 1 light year.
On your strip of paper, measure the scale distance from Earth of Proxima Centari.
a. Be sure to measure from the line under “Earth”
b. Label each star with a name and distance
c. See example to the right
8. Repeat step 7 above for the remaining stars
Star
Distance from Earth in Light Years
(numbers have been rounded to the
nearest whole number)
Proxima Centari
Barnard’s Star
Altair
Aldebaran
Spica
Polaris
4
10
17
65
261
434
Follow up – Our Sun is 0.000015 light years away from Earth. Where on your paper do you think this
would be? Mark it on your paper.
Glue your strip on page 15 of your notebook. Leave yourself some room to answer questions.
Explore – Light Years (8.8D)
1. Click the link below.
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/universe/itsawesome/lightyears/
2. Explore the components of the universe at the bottom of the page by clicking on each one.
3. Answer the questions below on page 15 of your notebook.
Questions
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What is the brightest star according to the website?
How far away is this star?
Where would this star go on your strip of paper?
How far from Earth is the Crab Nebula?
Why did we not place it on our strip of paper?