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Origins: Back to the Beginning
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Viewing Ideas
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Origins: Earth is Born Viewing Ideas
Origins: How Life Began Viewing Ideas
Origins: Where are the Aliens? Viewing Ideas
Before Watching
Ask students how they think TV images are transmitted. (Via radio waves.)
How do they think a television remote works? (Through infrared waves.) How does
a light bulb give off light? (With light waves.) Tell students that these are
all the result of the transmission of different kinds of energies that travel
in waves. Review the electromagnetic spectrum with students, informing them
that each part of the spectrum provides different information about the
universe. Find out more at amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/light/ems-frames.html and
www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec2.html
Organize students into two groups. As students watch, have one group take
notes on the Cosmic Background Imager science team and the other take notes on
the team that developed the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Have students
note who makes up each team, what each team is working to accomplish, and what
motivates each team.
After Watching
Discuss students' notes about the CBI and WMAP science teams. What did the
teams have in common? What were their main differences? What were some of the
positive and negative aspects of the competition between them?
Ask students what they think it means when astronomers say," We are made of
stardust." How are humans and stars connected? (As stars burn fuel over their
lifetimes, they eventually forge all known chemical elements. Generations of
stellar explosions create a rich soup of elements that get recycled to become
new stars, planets, and eventually the chemicals that make up humans.)
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