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Article provided to students through google classroom

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2009 has been deemed the International Year of Astronomy thanks to the 400th anniversary of Galileo's astounding space observations that changed the way humans views the sky. To celebrate, 17 radio telescopes across five continents coordinated for over 33 consecutive hours last week to observe three different quasars-supermassive black holes, each of which lies at the heart of a galaxy. This is the first time that those antennae across the world have been linked in real time through high-speed optical networks. Who said astronomers don't know how to party?

While Galileo's small looking glass was capable of magnifying objects about 20 to 30 times, today astronomers employ enormous optical telescopes to gather space's visible light, as well as telescopes capable of measuring radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum-from gamma rays emitted by pulsars to long radio waves from the deepest regions of space. Today's best telescopes are astounding feats-and astronomers are improving them constantly. Here are the five most powerful telescopes out today-and five more that will define the future of astronomy.

The Five Most Powerful Telescopes Today

Keck Observatory, began science operations in 1993

Organization: Caltech and the University of California

Location: Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Claim to Fame: On the isolated big island of Hawaii sit Keck's twin telescopes, each 10 meters (about 33 ft) in diameter. When they were built in the early 1990s they became the largest such spans in the world. Keck's advanced adaptive optics paved the way for computer-driven mirrors that can be adjusted multiple times per second to make up for atmospheric disturbances in real time.

Fun Fact: Though the Keck Observatory is more than 15 years old, it has essentially the same design and setup of the more monstrous telescopes under planning or construction, says Caltech's Chuck Steidel, one of the designers of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope. "Keck Observatory is the prototype of the next generation," he told PM.

Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990

Organization: NASA and the European Space Agency

Location: Orbiting the Earth

Claim to Fame: By capturing iconic images such as the deep field, Crab Nebula and Eagle Nebula, Hubble has become the world's most famous telescope. The final space shuttle mission to Hubble has encountered multiple delays, but now is planned to launch in May. It will upgrade the telescope with enough new gear to keep it running and viable into 2020, until its successor is ready for the stage.

Fun Fact: At 20 years old, Hubble runs on some old-school computing technology, including a relatively ancient Intel 486 processor. Hubble is one of NASA's four "great observatories"-the others include the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003

Organization: NASA, JPL and Caltech

Location: Following the Earth around the sun

Claim to Fame: Spitzer is the last of NASA's four great observatories in space. But unlike its older sibling, Hubble, which images mostly in visible light, Spitzer looks in infrared. So the telescope not only sees at a frequency that we can't, it does so while trailing the Earth at about 0.1 AU (1 astronomical unit is the mean distance between the Earth and sun, or about 92,956,000 miles), thus free from atmospheric distortion.

Fun Fact: Spitzer first spied the evidence of "hot Jupiters"-gas giants exoplanets roasting on one side and cool on the other. And though facing its impending demise, Spitzer isn't through yet. NASA estimated in 2007 that the telescope would exhaust its onboard helium supply this April, but in August the Spitzer team compiled this stunning image of multiple generations of star formation.

Large Binocular Telescope, first light in October 2005

Organization: U.S., Japan and Germany collaboration

Location: Mount Graham, southeastern Arizona

Claim to Fame: The Large Binocular Telescope shows that two lenses are better than one. The LBT's two 8.4-meter (about 28-ft) spans work together to provide as much resolution as would be derived from a single 11.8-meter mirror, and are 10 times more powerful than Hubble's.

Fun Fact: This lonely mountaintop is a great place for undisturbed viewing, but the observatory's location has proven problematic for other reasons. Environmentalists wanted the site moved to protect the peak's native red squirrels. Some Native Americans from the Apache tribe opposed the telescope, saying that Mount Graham was a sacred cultural site for them. And in both 1996 and 2004, wildfires raged dangerously close to the observatory, but left it unscathed.

Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, launched in 2008

Organization: NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden

Location: Low Earth orbit

Claim to Fame: It measures the most powerful radiation in the universe. Supermassive black holes, the collisions of neutron stars and some supernovae produce bursts of gamma rays that carry far more energy than anything possible on Earth. Thankfully, the Earth's atmosphere shields us from this cosmic barrage, so any telescope seeking to measure gamma rays must do so from orbit.

Fun Fact: Even NASA was not a fan of this mouthful of a name. The mission was formerly called the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (and dubbed with the gruff acronym GLAST), until NASA asked for suggestions that better captured the telescope's mission to investigate some of the universe's strangest phenomena. They eventually renamed the telescope after 20th-century physicist Enrico Fermi, and have taken to calling it simply "Fermi."

Five Telescopes to Define the Future

The Kepler Mission, planned for April 2009 launch

Organization: NASA

Location: Somewhere within 0.5 AU of Earth

Claim: Kepler will be a planet hunter-its strict goal is to find Earth-like worlds. To locate them, the telescope is looking for transits-times when terrestrial-size planets cross in front of their star, temporarily darkening it. If the darkening is just the right amount, and happens on a regular schedule, that could be evidence of an Earth-sized world.

Fun Fact: Rather than staying in Earth orbit, Kepler will trail our home world, following it around the sun. This allows the telescope to escape the turbulence of Earth's gravity, and keeps it off of the planetary plane, which would allow it to see farther into space without interference from the sun, the moon or the Earth.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, opening in 2012

Organization: Science Agencies from North America, Europe and Japan

Location: 16,000 ft up in the Chilean Andes

Claim: When this array of 66 radio antennas spread across 10 miles opens, it will be the world's most advanced radio telescope.

Fun Fact: If you think building a radio array is easy, try doing it in the Andes. Later this year, two 1400-hp transport vehicles, balanced with hydraulic auto-leveling, will begin ferrying the antennas up to the site of the array, 16,500 ft above sea level. Workers will be allowed to stay up in that thin air for 8 hours at most. Installing each antenna will take a crew 3 months of work.

James Webb Space Telescope, coming in 2013

Organization: NASA, European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency

Location: Earth orbit

Claim: James Webb Space Telescope will be the successor to Hubble, which, after almost two decades in space, is approaching the end of its life. But it won't be exactly the same-Hubble observes primarily the visible light range, while the James Webb's instruments focus mostly on infrared. The new telescope will have seven times the collecting power of its predeccesor, according to NASA.

Fun Fact: James Webb was the man who ran NASA from 1961 to 1968, during the prime years of the Apollo program's development. Though most famous for manned space exploration, he also promoted the Pioneer and Mariner unmanned programs, which brought the first flyby pictures of other planets.

Giant Magellan Telescope, beginning construction in 2011

Organization: A consortium of nine universities and research centers

Location: Las Campanas Observatory, near La Serena, Chile

Claim: Where the Large Binocular Telescope boasts two large mirrors working in tandem, the Giant Magellan raises the ante to seven mirrors, each 8.4 meters (about 28 ft) across. The Steward Observatory, which is inside the University of Arizona football stadium, is currently building the mirrors.

Fun Fact: The elevation and remoteness of the Chilean Andes makes for great stellar observation. ALMA is under construction nearby, the European Very Large Telescope also resides in Chile, and the Giant Magellan Telescope will be neighbors with its little siblings, the twin 6.5-meter Magellan Telescopes that began operation in the early 2000s.

Thirty-Meter Telescope, still in design stage

Organization: Caltech, the University of California, and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy

Location: Chile or Hawaii, yet to be decided

Claim: As the name suggests, the telescope's main mirror would stretch 30 meters (about 98 ft) across. The main mirror is also segmented into 492 smaller ones, each capable of changing shape and position on the fly. TMT scientists plan to look back in time to the universe's early days to find out how galaxies and stars truly formed.

Fun Fact: Even if the Thirty Meter Telescope secures its funding, finishes construction and becomes the world's largest telescope, it might not hold the title for too long. The proposed European Extremely Large Telescope could have a span of 42 meters, and is right on the Thirty Meter Telescope's heels. That size is actually scaled down from the first design for the EELT, which called for a monumental 100-meter lens carrying the brash moniker of Overwhelmingly Large Telescope. That football-field-size telescope proposal turned out to be a bit too complex and expensive to build.

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The 5 Most Powerful Telescopes, and 5 That Will Define the Future of Astronomy

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2009 has been deemed the International Year of Astronomy thanks to the 400th anniversary of Galileo's astounding space observations that changed the way humans views the sky. To celebrate, 17 radio telescopes across five continents coordinated for over 33 consecutive hours last week to observe three different quasars-supermassive black holes, each of which lies at the heart of a galaxy.

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Hubble telescope site for rapid research

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Hubble telescope site for rapid research

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The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its anniversary with a "celebrity star." Happy Anniversary Hubble

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Main Navigation The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its anniversary with a "celebrity star."

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Article on Hubble Space Telescope discovery

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Article on Hubble Space Telescope discovery

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Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record

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By pushing NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to its limits, an international team of astronomers has shattered the cosmic distance record by measuring the farthest galaxy ever seen in the universe. This surprisingly bright infant galaxy, named GN-z11, is seen as it was 13.4 billion years in the past, just 400 million years after the Big Bang.

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Famous Astronomers, Biography of Edwin Hubble and explanation of his discoveries. 

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Famous Astronomers, Biography of Edwin Hubble and explanation of his discoveries. 

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https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/hubble/overview/hubble_bio.html

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Throughout history, mankind has wondered what is beyond our own planet. They have gazed up at the stars and made some significant and important discoveries related to the field of astronomy. On our list below, you will find great names listed in order of popularity, like Copernicus, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy, among others.

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https://www.jct.ie/perch/resources/science/teacher-learning-for-new-materialrev1.pdf

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For centuries, humans have gazed at the stars and wondered how the universe developed into what it is today. It's been the subject of religious, philosophical, and scientific discussion and debate. People who have tried to uncover the mysteries of the universe's development include such famous scientists as Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble and Stephen Hawking. One of the most famous and widely accepted models for the universe's development is the big bang theory.

Although the big bang theory is famous, it's also widely misunderstood. A common misperception about the theory is that it describes the origin of the universe. That's not quite right. The big bang is an attempt to explain how the universe developed from a very tiny, dense state into what it is today. It doesn't attempt to explain what initiated the creation of the universe, or what came before the big bang or even what lies outside the universe.

Another misconception is that the big bang was a kind of explosion. That's not accurate either. The big bang describes the expansion of the universe. While some versions of the theory refer to an incredibly rapid expansion (possibly faster than the speed of light), it's still not an explosion in the classic sense.

Summing up the big bang theory is a challenge. It involves concepts that contradict the way we perceive the world. The earliest stages of the big bang focus on a moment in which all the separate forces of the universe were part of a unified force. The laws of science begin to break down the further back you look. Eventually, you can't make any scientific theories about what is happening, because science itself doesn't apply.

So what's the big bang theory in a nutshell?

The Big Bang Theory FAQ

Who discovered the big bang theory?

How did the big bang happen from nothing?

What is the big bang theory in simple terms?

What does the big bang theory tell us?

How did the big bang start?

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For centuries, humans have gazed at the stars and wondered how the universe developed into what it is today. It's been the subject of religious, philosophical, and scientific discussion and debate. People who have tried to uncover the mysteries of the universe's development include such famous scientists as Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble and Stephen Hawking.

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Students can visualise how the universe in expanding

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Possible analogies and demonstrations for universe expansion

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Possible analogies and demonstrations for universe expansion

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Cooling of the universe - 'Popping open a beer bottle results in a roughly similar cooling, expanding effect: gas, once confined in the bottle, spreads into the air, and the temperature of the beer drops'.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130123101622.htm#:~:text=Summary%3A,the%20Big%20Bang%20theory%20predicts.&text=Because%20light%20takes%20time%20to,galaxies%20we%20are%20looking%20at.

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The most common metaphor used to illustrate the expansion of the universe is probably that of an expanding balloon. If you imagine the galaxies as dots on the balloon, you can see that each of them gets further and further away from each of the others.

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Students should be able to explore a scientific model to illustrate the origin of the universe

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SE4034 Science Collaborative Planning Document 

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ES1, CW2, PW6, NoS1, NoS7, NoS9

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My Quiz link: https://www.flippity.net/sh.php?k=1eeuFeM9SLFYjFTsdGhBqVLy7YybGEh2H00gFDrXDQKU

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2019 JC exam question related to The Big Bang 

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2019 JC exam question related to The Big Bang 

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Most significant key skills:
Being Creative
Being Literate
Communicating
Managing Information and Thinking
Managing Myself

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The Big Bang Theory - coping with multi-religious beliefs in the 'super-diverse' science classroom

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The Big Bang Theory - coping with multi-religious beliefs in the 'super-diverse' science classroom

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This paper provided (in detail) a practical project idea (with rationale) to create a safe learning atmosphere where students will be allowed to express their views about religion and science'.

This paper made me aware of my responsibility for inclusivity. I allowed exploring theories beyond the Big Bang, 'opening to students to engage with belief system different from their own.

In the future, with more time, fewer covid restrictions and more creative means, I will recreate this project and conduct a walking debate (evolution vs creationism).

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Paper highlighting students' fundamental misconceptions in cosmology. 

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Paper highlighting students' fundamental misconceptions in cosmology. 

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This paper reminded me of a constructivist approach I can take and led to an assessment/orientation activity to learn of my students' prior knowledge/misconceptions of the Big Bang Theory.

It provided me with questions to ask students to support meaningful instructions for learning this topic.

Examples of students prior misconceptions would be 1) that the Big Bang was an explosion rather than an expansion, and 2) that the Big Bang was the 'organisation of pre-existing matter'.

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Readings in module SE4034 and TP4024 that grew my understanding and practice as a science teacher.

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Led to more active learning and inquiry based opportunities

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Great example of another class mindmap creation - if online I will use this website.

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Online collaborators

At the moment, there are no other collaborators online

Double-click an entry to view an older version.

Older events are not shown here. To see the full history of changes click the button below.

This map has no version history, it may have been created as a copy of another map.

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At the moment, there are no other collaborators online Double-click an entry to view an older version. Older events are not shown here. To see the full history of changes click the button below. This map has no version history, it may have been created as a copy of another map.

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orientation and analysis of lyrics

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Big bang theory Theme Song Earth Timeline

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Astronomy is not a new science!

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Explosion vs Expansion

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The entire universe was inside a bubble that was thousands of times smaller than a pinhead.

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Example templates - will look them up with students in class.

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Main evidence supporting the Big Bang Theory 

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Main evidence supporting the Big Bang Theory 

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Great ideas, prompts and templates for Big Bang timeline.

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Alternative theories for the origin of the universe 

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Alternative theories for the origin of the universe 

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Scientific model to illustrate the origin of the universe

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Scientific model to illustrate the origin of the universe

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https://www.jct.ie/perch/resources/science/teacher-learning-for-new-materialrev1.pdf

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Teachers TV: Our Universe and the Big Bang

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How Big is the Universe?: it is impossible for the human mind to grasp just how big the universe is, but astronomer Pete Edwards gives it his best shot. Along the way, he explains how astronomers have learned to measure the distance to the stars, using concepts such as parallax and redshift. The Expanding Universe and the Big Bang: Pete Edwards and cosmologist Carlos Frenk explain why we think the universe started with a Big Bang and how it grew from almost nothing into the vast web of stars and galaxies we see all around us. They also reveal how at Durham University they are creating their own universe inside a supercomputer.