Astronomy & Our Lives

1
Astronomy Our Lives

• What could learning about the planets and stars
  possibly have in common with my life now??

2
Astronomy Our Lives

• There are more connections between astronomy than
  you realize
• Days of the Week?
• Months of the Year?
• Time itself!
• Words, words, words,
• Products, products, and more products
• A sense of who we are

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Seven Days of the Week

• Sunday - the Suns day, of course
• Monday - the Moons day
• Tuesday - ?
• Wednesday - ??
• Thursday - ???
• Friday - ??
• Saturday - ????

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Seven Days of the Week
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Seven Days of the Week

• Sunday Domingo Dimanche Sun
• Monday Lunes Lundi Moon
• Tuesday Martes Mardi Mars
• Wed Miercoles Mercredi Mercury
• Thurs Jueves Jeudi Jupiter
• Friday Viernes Vendredi Venus
• Saturday Sabado Samedi Saturn
• Seven objects are easily seen to move in regular
  patters in front of the stars across the skies
  during the year

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Moonths of the year

• A month is around the same time as it takes the
  moon to repeat its phases from full to full.

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Moonths of the year

• A month is around the same time as it takes the
  moon to repeat its phases from full to full.
• Many cultures still use lunar calendars for
  religious festivals
• Chinese New Year (second new moon after winter
  solstice)
• T?t
• Ramadan (starting and ending with the spotting of
  the crescent moon)
• Easter (first Sunday after full moon after vernal
  equinox)

8
Time itself

• Where does Clockwise come from??

9
Time itself

• Clockwise from the motion of the suns shadow
  over a sundial in the northern hemisphere!

horizon
E
12
3
9
Early morning sun casts a shadow towards the 9
side of a clock face
10
Time itself
By noon, the overhead sun casts a (smaller)
shadow towards the 12 side of a clock face
horizon
12
3
9
S
11
Time itself
By afternoon, the setting sun casts a (longer)
shadow towards the 3 side of a clock face
horizon
12
3
9
W
12
Words, words, words
East
Catastrophe
Disaster
Meteorology
Asterisk
Astrology
Cosmetics
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Words, words, words

• aster star (from Latin)
• Astronomy, Astrology
• Disaster! dis-aster going against the stars
  can be bad!
• Catastrophe!
• Asterisk
• cosmos order
• Cosmology the study of the order of the
  universe
• Cosmetics putting your face in order
• Meteorology the study of weather?

14
Products, products, products!

• Cars
• Ford Taurus, Galaxy, Mercury Comet
• Chevy Astrovan, Nova, Vega
• Plymouth Satellite, Pontiac Sunfire, Oldsmobile
  Starfire
• Subaru, Saturn
• Food
• Sunchips, Sunny Delite, Mars bars, Moon cakes,
  Starkist
• Products Companies
• Comet cleanser, SUN mirosystems, Visa STAR
  network
• TV Movies galore

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A sense of who we are

• Culture

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A sense of who we are

• Technology

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A sense of who we are

• Astronomy allowed us to develop agriculture,
  create calendars, maintain our history, navigate,
  explore
• Trying to understand nature led us to develop
  technologies absorbed into our culture
• Lasers, GPS, Cell Phones, Computers
• Weather Satellites, Velcro, Tang

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Key Questions for YOU
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Key Questions for YOU

• How does science work?
• What do we gain, as humans, by asking questions
  of Nature?
• Is the quest for knowledge worth the costs?