Week 13 - What is beyond our solar system?

Our galaxy is called the Milky Way but there are lots more galaxies in the universe. We can see some of them in photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope is orbiting the Earth and its images have helped us develop our understanding of the universe. It has even allowed us to work out how old the universe is.

Watch this video to learn more:

What are constellations?

When we look up at the sky on a clear night we can see the stars. Each star is like our sun. We group the stars near each other into constellations which are loosely based on images of familiar objects, for example: The Great Bear. These groups of stars are different depending on which hemisphere of the Earth you are on but regardless of where you are, they remain constant in the sky so can be used for navigation. The North star, known as Polaris, can be used in the Northern hemisphere to find North. Watch the video below for a further explanation.

Finally, now that we know how old the Universe is thanks to the images from the Hubble Telescope, how did it begin? Many scientists believe that it was created by a huge explosion called the Big Bang. The video below explains in more detail some of the ideas about what happened and how gradually the universe began to fill with matter. 

Task: There are so many unanswered questions about the universe but we learn more every year. It is fascinating. I would like you to go on the link below which will take you to the universe section of the NASA for kids website. There are lots of questions on the page for you to find out the answers too. You do not need to look at all of them, just choose the ones that interest you. Your task is to make a poster in the style of a fact file of all the interesting information you can find. You should look at at least 6 different questions. spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/space/