Scouts Astronomer
Show what you know about the night sky and why the pattern of stars changes, night by night, throughout the year
a. Write a few points about why the pattern of stars changes
Learn the meaning of the terms celestial, equator, poles, circumpolar and zodiac
a. Quiz! (see below)
Build a model of the solar system using everyday materials found in the home, such as different size fruit or sports balls
a. Activity Pack below
Explain how the Moon affects the tides
a. Look at the tide times for one of the local beaches, how might the moon be affecting these?
b. Quiz! (see below)
Compare what you can see through a telescope and what you can see with the naked eye
a. Use binoculars or a telescope, think about what you can see using these that you can’t see normally
Observe 3 constellations on a clear night and record what you saw
a. Draw some of the constellations that you can see, try to identify them and find their name
Compare the differences between using a star map and a normal map
a. What does a star map look like? How is it different to a normal map?
Learn how to identify a satellite
a. How do you tell it apart from an aeroplane, star, planet or meteor?
b. Identify a satellite to observe
c. Chose a clear night and use a clock and a compass to help you observe the satellite
d. Think about how you could teach others how to observe a satellite
i. Make a poster or find some other way of teaching others how to do
this
Quiz: https://forms.gle/PdeQHyumxW8V3VQFA
You don’t need to send us pictures or screens shots of the Quiz. Once you have finished it we can see who has done it and your answers.
Enjoy!
Send any work that you do for this badge to [email protected] or keep it safe and bring it along when Scouting returns
Any questions, use the same email address, or for parents; post in Facebook, or message a Leader.
There are some extra activities which you could do below!
Fruit Salad Solar System
You might not be able to find some of the things that this activity suggests that you use, but have a look around the house to see what you can find that might be a similar size!
The whole of space
We aren’t sure how big space is, because not all of it contains visible light – this means that we can’t measure it.
But we do know that it is 13.8 billion years old!
A galaxy is a large group of stars, held together by gravity
Our galaxy is called the Milky Way
One of the stars in the MilkyWay is the Sun
8 planets (including Earth) orbit the sun and make up our solar system
Our Solar System
• Mercury (peppercorn) – this is the smallest planet, and the closest to the sun
• Venus (blueberry) – this planet spins in the opposite direction to the other planets and is covered in volcanoes
• Earth (grape) – ¾ of our planet is covered in water
• Mars (dried cranberry) – also known as ‘the red planet’, because it is covered in a mineral called iron oxide, which gives it it’s colour
• Jupiter (grapefruit) – the largest planet in our solar system, all the other plants in the solar system could fit inside it!
• Saturn (orange) – the second largest planet and the lightest planet because it is made almost entirely of gas
• Uranus (small satsuma) – the coldest planet in the solar system
• Neptune (plum) – this name comes from the Roman god of the sea because of it’s deep blue colour, it is roughly the same size as Uranus
Can you come up with a rhyme (a.k.a. mnemonic) to remember the order of the planets?
e.g. My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming
You might be thinking that we’ve missed Pluto, but in 2006 scientists decided on a clearer
definition of the word ‘planet’, which Pluto no longer matched with. It is known as a dwarf planet, it is smaller than our moon!
The sun is about 109 times the diameter of the Earth! In fact, it is so large that you could fit about 1,300,000 Earths inside it! (You probably won’t find a fruit big enough to represent that!)
