Welcome back to a GREAT school year! What have you all done over the summer? This summer, I worked at a summer camp, went to my cousin's wedding in New York, and went to the Outer Banks, North Carolina! Well, now that we all had a great summer, we have to start looking towards the new school year. For those of you who are new (both to the school, or to my classes), I use this blog to alert you to different things that are going on, dealing with the realm of science. Remember, I have the "Science in the News" board in my classroom where you can bring in different science news articles that you find in the newspaper or on the internet! Just remember to put the summary on an index card for us to hang up with it. Also, please remember that you are free to comment on these blogs (they are not posted, however, until I approve them), but I want you to remember that since this is a public blog, I do not want you to use your name. If you would like to sing your comment, please just use your initials.
OK, NOW to the science...
Well, as I am sure you all know by now...space is my FAVORITE branch of science! I love it all! So, I think it is probably best to start with that. Over the summer, in July (July 8, 2011) the Space Shuttle Program came to an end. The three shuttles (Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor) have been officially retired. The Shuttle Program has had many significant achievements over it's 30+ year history. Some important events have been the launch/deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and of course the building of the International Space Station. There have also been some tragedies as well. In 1986, Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into the flight. There was a problem with the solid rocket booster, and unfortunately all 7 crew members died. In 2003, Columbia burned up during re-entry. This was due to damage of the thermal protection system (heat shield) during lift off. Sadly, all of these crew members died.
Below is a video of the final lift off of Space Shuttle Atlantis, which brings the shuttle program to an end. The video was taken from youtube.com, which was taken from Nasa.gov.
International Space Station Flyby
On Monday, September 5, 2011, the International Space Station will be flying over our area. If you want to go see it, here is what you need to know!
Look to the SSW at 7:42:06pm on Monday night. You should see something that looks like a star that is moving across the sky. You might think that it is an airplane. but it does NOT have any green or red lights, or it does NOT have blinking lights. It will reach a max elevation of 35 degrees.
So, if you get a chance, go outside, look up, and wave at the astronauts!
I found this picture via stumbleupon.com. It is such a great picture! The Milky Way over the Himalayas. Photo was found via Stumbleupon.com from Anton Jankovoy. Great Picture!!
 Jankovoy (jankovoy)) on 500px.com" border="0" style="margin: 0 0 5px 0;">
Milky Way above the Himalayas by Anton Jankovoy |
Well, that's all for now. We will look at some other things through out the year.
Keep and eye to the sky,
Ms. T
