eCosmology

Astronomy?

I have to write a speech for Chemistry about Astronomy. I have no clue what to add to it for subject topics/categories. They can be like... careers, about some other stuff in space, and so on... Any other suggestions?

Public Comments

1. black holes?
2. SETI...google it.
3. astronomy is not horoscopes. dont get them mixed up. that one thing to NOT write about. Astronomy is history written in the stars. You can learn so much through stars its amazing. no, not the 'Big bang Theory'. You can have subjects like the history of astronomy....etc....but you have to do the research.
4. Well if you would like you can do a story all about mars, here are some links that show you pictures and explains what you are looking at, see the links below, MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES December 3-7, 2007 o Crater Rim Slump (Released 03 December 2007) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20071203a o Olympus Mons (Released 04 December 2007) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20071204a o Aeolis Planum (Released 05 December 2007) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20071205a o Landslide (Released 06 December 2007) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20071206a o Channels (Released 07 December 2007) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20071207a All of the THEMIS images are archived here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES December 5, 2007 o Unconformity in the South Polar Layered Deposits http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_005946_0975 o Unusual Depression Near Elysium Mons http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_005879_2150 o Crater Partially Exhumed by Sublimation in Amphitrites Patera http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_005632_1225 o Sinuous Pits on Flank of Ascraeus Mons http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_005387_1935 o Layering in Upper Walls of Valles Marineris http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_006006_1715 All of the HiRISE images are archived here: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ Happy Holidays; SG
5. Well, astronomy has everything to do with chemistry. For instance, you could talk about how stars are responsible for converting hydrogen (the simplest element and also the most abundant in the universe), into all the other elements we see today. Our sun is made out of 90% hydrogen and 10% helium. The sun converts hydrogen into helium by compressing the hydrogen untill four hydrogens fuse into one helium atom billions of times. When the sun runs out of hydrogen, it will then compress the helium into carbon, then the carbon into nitrogen, then the nitrogen into oxygen, and larger stars keep this process going all the way up to iron. All the other heavier than iron elements are created through supernova explosions. All these elements are thrown out into space when a star dies, and this star debree is what made our planets and us. So, we are literally made from star dust. Also, we can tell the chemical make up of gases in space through spectroscopy, (the breaking down of light through a type of prism). We can tell which elements we are looking at by seeing their chemical finger print in the spectra. Different elements absorb different wavelengths of light, and so we can tell what elements we are looking at, just by observing the light from it.
6. Since this is a speech for Chemistry, why not focus on how astronomers discover what elements are actually in stars? Google stellar spectrums, or the chemistry of stars, etc. HTH Charles
7. I like the idea of talking about spectroscopy. Both chemists and astronomers can learn what elements something is made from by looking at the spectrum of its light. Helium was discovered in the spectrum of the Sun before it was discovered to exist on Earth.