🔵Lesson 2: Why do Stars Twinkle?

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Why do stars twinkle?

Introduction

Alright astronauts in training, we started our journey yesterday on understanding stars and their uniqueness.  Today we are going to focus on figuring out why stars twinkle. 

Students Will:

• Watch a video about stars.
• Understand why stars twinkle and why the brightness is different for each star.
• Participate in a lab.

 

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Video

Watch video 1 to find out how stars twinkle.

 

 

Watch video 2 Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

 

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Watch

Stars shine because of nuclear fusion. Stars are made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Both are very light gases, but a star contains so much hydrogen and helium that its total mass is enormous. The pressure at the center of a star is great enough to heat the gases. This causes nuclear fusion reactions.

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Video

Watch the lab presentation of the brightness of stars.

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 Assignment

Night Sky Observations

In Your Journal: You will observe the night sky and record what you see.

Continue your observations at home, looking at the stars at night.  Try to compare at the same time.  Tonight pay close attention to see if the stars are in the same place.

 

Sources:

• Video 1 provided by Georgia Home Classroom Links to an external site.
• Video 2 provided by Georgia Home Classroom Links to an external site.

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