Starry, Starry Night

By: Andrea Tennes

Indicator – 5.3.2
 Observe and describe that stars are
like the sun, some being smaller
some being larger, but they are so
far away that they look like points of
light.
Definitions
 Stars - any of the heavenly bodies, except the moon, appearing as fixed
luminous points in the sky at night.

 Temperature - a measure of the warmth or coldness of an object or

substance with reference to some standard value. The temperature of two
systems is the same when the systems are in thermal equilibrium.

 Rotate - to cause to turn around an axis or center point; revolve.

 Distance - the extent or amount of space between two things, points,
lines, etc.
Background Information
 Stars are massive balls of plasma, which
are located in outer space. Stars are held in
the air by gravity. The largest star is called
the sun. Many groups of stars are also
called constellations. There are many
famous constellations that are known (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star).
Activity Time
 Arrange a date, so that your class can
observe the stars at night time.
 Be sure to check the weather forecast
to make sure it isn’t going to be raining
or cloudy.
Activity Continuing
 Have a class discuss and ask the following
questions:
 What do you know about the sun?
 Is the sun a star?
 How come at night we can see millions of stars
and during the day we can only see one, which
is the sun?
 Explain that the sun is so close it keeps us
from seeing other stars.
Activity Continuing
 Explain to your students that at night time the Earth
rotates far from the sun, to where we can see other
stars
 Ask your students:
 If they enjoy looking at the stars at night?
 What all have you seen at night when looking at the stars?
 On a clear night, have you ever noticed that stars are
mostly white, but some stars have different colors? And
some stars seem brighter?
 Tell your students they are going to have to
investigate this.
Activity Continuing
 Hand out BLM Star Light Chart to students and tell them they
need to observe the night stars.
 Have them bring these back the very next day and break
students into groups of four.
 Hand out sheets with the following questions for the students
to discuss:

 Did students notice anything abnormal in the sky?

 Why do you think stars appeared to have different colors?
 Have the students brainstorm the following questions:

 How bright stars show up depend on two different things. What

two things do you think they are?
 How is the color of a star related to its surface temperature?
Activity Continuing
 Have students discuss their ideas as a
whole.
 Help them answer the two questions you
asked them to brainstorm.
 First question, has to do with magnitude,
brightness, and distance about the star.
 Second question, has to do with surface
temperature. Blue stars have the hottest surface
temperature and red stars have the coolest
temperature.
Conclusion
 I think that this activity would be good for
students to get some observations in
outside of the classroom. When they come
back, have them discuss what they saw with
their peers. This will help them better
understand their observations.
Resources
 http://www.indianastandardsresources.org/
 www.dictionary.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star