Children about space. Tell your children about space

How to tell

Given the characteristics of childhood, it is very important to make the story simple and effective.
To do this, you can use visual experiments. We describe examples of such experiments below. Thus, it will be much easier for the child to become familiar with thematic concepts that are difficult for him. Today, parents are offered a large number of thematic materials that can also be used in their story.

Preschool children perfectly absorb information presented in a playful form, in the form of a fairy tale or poem.

And if you manage to captivate a child’s imagination, perhaps the child will not only become interested in astronomy, but also fall in love with this science.

When telling your child about space for the first time, think about the fact that maybe, as an adult, looking at the stars, he will remember your activities and smile.

Stars

Stars are hot balls of gas of different sizes, consisting of hydrogen molecules. They only seem so small to us, because they are at a very far distance from us.

Clusters of stars form constellations. They were given names by our ancestors, who mentally connected the stars with each other and saw certain figures in them. Instruments for studying – telescopes – help us see them closer.

You can learn about what stars and constellations are, what they are like, what they have in common with humans and what their character is by watching this short video:

Sun

What to tell:

The sun is a large and very hot star, a huge, hot ball. It is very far away, but the heat from its rays reaches all the planets circling around it, and ours too. That's why it's warm here.

Not all stars are like the Sun. There are small stars, and medium ones, and huge ones - larger than the Sun.

The brightest among all the stars in the sky are the North Star and Sirius. The sun is much larger than our planet. If you compare them, it’s like a watermelon and a small pea.

Visual material:

To compare the size of the Sun with the size of the Earth, you can take a pumpkin or watermelon and a pea. The pea is our Earth, the pumpkin is the Sun. The Earth is as much smaller than the Sun as a pea is smaller than a pumpkin.

Other planets of the solar system

The rest of the planets are no less interesting and alluring. The largest planet is the mighty Jupiter. And Saturn is famous for its giant rings, visible to us from Earth. Mars is the first planet to attract the attention of man back in Ancient Egypt. Because of its fiery red color, ancient people associated Mars with the god of war. The planet Venus is the only one that has a “female” name. She received it thanks to her brightness. In ancient times it was considered the brightest planet.

While studying poems about Space, my son and I fell in love with this little counting rhyme that helps us remember the names and order of the planets:

An astrologer lived on the Moon. He kept track of the planets: MERCURY - one, VENUS - two, three - EARTH, Four - MARS, Five - JUPITER, Six - SATURN, Seven - URANUS, Eight - NEPTUNE, Nine - the farthest PLUTO, Who If he doesn’t see it, get out!

(Ya. Akim)

Is Pluto not a planet?

It is also worth noting that until 2006, the world community identified 9 planets in the solar system. However, due to Pluto’s failure to meet one of the definitions of planets, it was recognized as a dwarf planet and “excluded” from the list of planets of the solar system.

Points that determine that a cosmic body is a planet:

The object must orbit the Sun - And Pluto passes through.
It must be massive enough to ensure a spherical shape with its gravitational force - And here everything seems to be in order with Pluto.
It must not be a satellite of another object. Pluto itself has 5 moons.
It should be able to clear the space around its orbit from other objects - Aha! This is the rule that Pluto breaks, this is the main reason why Pluto is not a planet. (Source)

Moon

What to tell:

The moon is a satellite of our planet; it is only three days away. The Moon moves around the Earth counterclockwise.

We see the moon only at night. The moon, as we see it in the sky, is not always the same shape. There are the following phases: new moon, crescent of the waxing moon, first quarter of the waxing moon, waxing moon, full moon and then decreasing: waning moon, quarter of the waning moon, crescent of the waning moon, new moon again.

If the sickle in the sky looks like the letter C, then the moon is “old” and waning. If we visually draw a stick and get the letter P, then the moon is growing.

These phases can be depicted for the child on paper or by cutting them out of colored cardboard.

Visual material:

To demonstrate why the moon is sometimes round and sometimes crescent-shaped, take a regular table lamp and a ball. Conduct an experiment together by creating a moon at home. Show your child that we only see the illuminated part of the ball.

Meteorites

Meteorites are pieces of celestial bodies, usually made of stone and iron, that fell to our Earth. They are of great value for science. After all, this is literally a piece of space. Scientists from all countries are trying to study these bodies as fully as possible.

Meteorites come in different sizes: from small stones to large boulders. The places where they fell can turn into craters.

Sometimes entire meteor showers occur - the fall of hundreds and thousands of meteorites in a limited sector of the sky. The largest meteorite ever discovered on earth, weighing 100,000 tons, is currently located in West Africa's Aidar Desert. Most often, only very small meteorites, whose weight ranges from several grams to kilograms, reach the surface of our planet, protected by a reliable shield of the atmosphere.

PEOPLE ON THE MOON

In 1958, the first earthly vehicle, the Soviet Luna-I probe, set off for the Moon. It flew at a distance of 6 thousand kilometers from the surface of the Moon. In September of the same year, Luna 2 made a hard landing on the earth's satellite. "Luna-17" and "Luna-21" delivered self-propelled vehicles to the Moon - lunar rovers, which were controlled from the Earth by radio. Lunokhod-1 worked for 11 lunar days (10.5 Earth months) and covered about 10 kilometers on the surface of the Moon; Lunokhod-2 covered about 37 kilometers in 5 months. The Lunokhods photographed the surface, took soil samples, and studied its chemical composition.

Of course, self-propelled vehicles on the Moon are a significant achievement of science. But the man wanted more - to set foot on the surface of the Earth’s satellite. In 1962, the Americans began preparations for a manned flight to the Moon. American designers have developed the best flight trajectory to the Moon, orbiting it and returning to Earth. On December 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 spacecraft, commanded by Frank Borman, reached the orbit of the Moon and completed 10 orbits around it.

In July 1969, the Saturn 5 launch vehicle launched from the Cape Canaveral launch site, which

launched Apollo 11 into low-Earth orbit. The ship's commander was Neil Armstrong. On July 19, Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit. Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin boarded the Eagle lunar module and began their descent. At 21:00 Central European Time, the astronauts landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Aldrin and Armstrong set foot on the surface of the Moon. This was man's furthest journey in space.

There, on the Moon, on the Moon,

On a blue boulder

Moon people look, do not take their eyes off,

Text of the book “Tell children about space”

Victor Moroz Tell your children about space

Starry sky

The black velvet of the sky is embroidered with stars. A bright path runs across the sky. (R. Aldonina)

Everyone has seen the starry sky. A huge number of stars, which, at first glance, cannot be counted, the Moon, incomprehensible nebulae. The starry sky attracts and fascinates.

There is so much in the sky - nebulae, stars, constellations, planets, galaxies. Even in ancient times, while observing the night sky, people noticed that the stars are located in a certain order, and not chaotically, they can be combined into constellations.

The most ancient names are for the constellations that form the so-called zodiac. From Greek “zodiac” is translated as “circle of animals”. The Sun makes its annual journey through the constellations of the zodiac, passing through each of them in about a month, so there are exactly twelve constellations. The ancient Greeks gave names to the zodiac constellations: Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius.

The most famous constellation is Ursa Major. But it doesn’t look like a bear, but like a ladle with a long handle. The ancient Greeks told a myth about how the god Zeus fell in love with the nymph Callisto, and his jealous wife Hera turned the girl into a bear. Zeus placed her in the sky in the form of a constellation.

In Rus' this constellation was called the Cart, the Pan and the Ladle, and the Ukrainians called it the Cart.

Next to the Big Dipper is the constellation Ursa Minor, which also looks like a ladle, only smaller. At the very end of the handle of the “bucket” the North Star sparkles.

A star is visible in the north, and it is called the Polar Star. She is a reliable friend of people, And two Ursa bears are with her Among the cosmic lights They all walk in a row. (V. Lepilov)

The Milky Way is a band that circles the sky. The ancient Eskimos considered it a snowy road, the nomads of the East - a path strewn with straw, and the Greeks - the road of the gods. In fact, the Milky Way is the millions of stars that make up our galaxy. The word “galaxy” itself is Greek and means “milk”. Astronomer William Herschel proved that the Milky Way is a cluster of stars.

MYSTERY

The blue sheet covers the whole world.
(Sky)

Sun

Bucket sun, come out from behind the bald spot, sit on a tree stump, take a walk all day.

The Sun is the closest star to Earth, but it is still so far away that even light moving at a speed of 300 thousand kilometers per second takes 8 minutes to reach us from the Sun. From Earth to the Sun – 150 million kilometers.

Without the Sun there would be no life on Earth. Everything that happens on our planet is connected with the Sun: the change of day and night, the onset of winter or summer.

People began exploring the Sun more than two thousand years ago. The Chinese were the first to discover strange dark spots on the surface of the star. The expression “even the sun has spots” has become a saying, meaning that nothing is ideal in the world.

It is not safe to observe the Sun through a telescope - you can go blind from the bright light. To reduce the glare of the Sun, astronomers used special dark glass filters. Astronomers have noticed that if a ray of sunlight is passed through a prism, it will split into the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This may seem surprising, but the white light we see consists of precisely a combination of these colors.

Using a spectrograph instrument, scientists determined the temperature and pressure inside the Sun, as well as the chemical elements that make up its composition. The sun consists of hot gases. Its surface is heated to 6000 degrees. The temperature in the depths of the Sun reaches 15 million degrees.

What are stars? If they ask you, answer boldly: Hot gas. And add that, moreover, there is always a Nuclear Reactor - Every Star! (R. Aldonina)

Flashes and explosions often occur on the surface of the Sun, and prominence torches appear.

The Moon, revolving around our planet, sometimes finds itself exactly between the Earth and the Sun. Then a solar eclipse occurs. During a total eclipse, the solar corona and large prominences become visible.

MYSTERY

Well, which of you will answer: It’s not a fire, but it burns painfully, It’s not a lantern, but it shines brightly, And it’s not a baker, but it bakes? (Sun)

Comet

Spreading its fiery tail, the Comet rushes between the stars. - Listen, constellations, Latest news, Wonderful news, Heavenly news! Rushing at wild speeds, I was visiting the Sun. I saw the Earth in the distance and new satellites of the Earth. I was flying away from the Earth, ships were flying after me! (G. Sapgir)

Comets are considered the most mysterious objects in the Universe. Tailed stars that suddenly appeared in the night sky frightened ancient people. Comets were considered harbingers of misfortune. When the next comet approached the Sun, the most incredible disasters, epidemics and bloody wars were expected.

Astronomers have found that comets are ordinary celestial bodies, huge blocks of stone covered with a thick layer of ice. The closer the comet is to the Sun, the higher the temperature rises, and the ice begins to evaporate - a huge tail grows behind the comet, which stretches for millions of kilometers.

The most famous is Halley's Comet, which returns to the Sun every 76 years. The last time it shone in the earth's sky was in 1986. This visit was already the thirtieth in human memory. Reports of Halley's comet are lost in the mists of time. Sometimes it came so close to the Earth that it was visible even during the day, causing horror and confusion.

When in 1910 our planet was supposed to pass through the tail of Halley's Comet, many inhabitants of the Earth were seized with panic. Shelters were urgently built - people thought that the tail contained toxic substances that would poison all living things. But scientists already knew then that the tail of a comet is just a very rarefied gas, through which you can even observe stars, and particles of this gas cannot break through the dense atmosphere of the Earth.

Modern astronomers study comets using automatic probes. Spacecraft first traveled to Halley's Comet in 1986. Approaching the comet, they transmitted images of it to Earth.

MYSTERY

Not a feather, not a wing, but faster than an eagle, As soon as it releases its tail, it will fly to the stars. (Comet)

Planet Earth

There is one garden planet in this cold space. Only here the forests are noisy, calling migrating birds, only here Lily of the valley blooms in the green grass, And only here are dragonflies looking at the river in surprise.. Take care of your planet - After all, there is no other like it! (Ya. Akim)

The planets that make up the solar system revolve around the sun. The most beautiful and most interesting of the planets is our Earth. This is what the Earth looks like from space—it’s not for nothing that it’s called the “blue planet.”

Earth is the only planet in the solar system on which life exists. The Earth formed simultaneously with the other planets of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Life on Earth is possible because our planet has a dense atmosphere in which oxygen is present. The atmosphere appeared on Earth billions of years ago as a result of volcanic eruptions.

If there were no atmosphere on Earth, the temperature in different parts of the planet would range from +160 to -100 degrees. No living creature could withstand such changes.

The Earth has a varied climate. The rainforests at the equator are hot and humid, while the poles are very cold.

Most of our planet (three quarters) is occupied by seas and oceans, so it would be more correct to call it the planet Ocean. The deepest point of the world's oceans is the Mariana Trench. It is located at a depth of more than 11 kilometers. And the highest mountain is Everest in the Himalayas. She fell a little short of 9 kilometers. In our country, the highest mountain is Elbrus in the North Caucasus.

At the center of the Earth is a solid metal core. Above is a layer of molten rock - the mantle. The Earth's surface consists of the earth's crust, its thickness ranges from 6 to 40 kilometers. The crust is made up of platforms that constantly move across the upper mantle. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions often occur at plate boundaries. At the dawn of the Earth's history, when our planet had not yet cooled down enough, thousands of volcanoes erupted on it, and the layers of the earth were constantly moving. Nowadays, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes do not occur so often.

Mars

And in the darkness, Burning with a crimson light, From the depths of the cosmic ice, Mars looks - a deserted planet, a gloomy military star. (S. Zolotsev)

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. Science fiction writers believed that intelligent beings—Martians—lived on Mars.

At the end of the 19th century, the Italian astronomer Schiaparelli discovered long straight lines on Mars, which he called canals. American astronomer Percival Lovell suggested that the Martians suffered from drought, recurring every year, and therefore dug canals from the poles to the equator. Only decades later, when powerful telescopes were built, scientists discovered that the canals are actually just chains of craters or high mountains, which at a great distance appear to be straight lines.

With the beginning of the era of space flights, automatic probes began to explore Mars. In 1962, the Soviet station “Mars-1” passed at a distance of 197 thousand kilometers from the planet. In July 1965, the American spacecraft Mariner 4 flew near Mars. He transmitted the first photographs of the surface of Mars.

In 1976, two Viking landers landed on Mars and discovered a lifeless, cold world.

...The craters and scatterings of stones were blackened menacingly, But the wild rocks were darker and more menacing! They, like peaks, crashed into the cloudless expanse. No bushes, no grass, no rivers, no lakes. (S. Baranov)

Mars has the largest mountains in the solar system. The extinct Olympus volcano has a height of 27 kilometers. It is three times higher than Everest!

Geologists believe that there used to be a lot of water on Mars. Images taken by spacecraft show long, branching valleys that look like dry river beds. Their length is tens and hundreds of kilometers. Today, scientists believe that there is no intelligent life on Mars, although it is possible that simple organisms could (or may still exist) here. Space probe studies have not yet confirmed, but have not refuted this fact either.

Jupiter

In order, all the planets can be named by any of us: One - Mercury, Two - Venus, Three - Earth, Four - Mars. Five is Jupiter, Six is Saturn, Seven is Uranus, followed by Neptune. He is the eighth in a row. And behind it, then, is the ninth planet called Pluto. (A. Hight)

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. The diameter of Jupiter is 11 times larger than that of our planet. Jupiter takes 12 years to travel around the Sun.

Jupiter has been known since ancient times due to its great brightness. The ancient Greeks named it after their supreme god, the ruler of the sky Zeus (in Roman mythology - Jupiter).

For a long time, Jupiter was considered a star. In 1610, the famous medieval astronomer Galileo Galilei, after carefully observing Jupiter through a telescope, came to the conclusion that it was not a star, but a planet. Galileo noticed that Jupiter was not completely round, but flattened at the poles. The scientist also discovered four large satellites of the planet, which were later called Galilean. In the 17th century, the English astronomer Cook discovered spots on the surface of the planet, and the Italian Cassini discovered the Great Red Spot in the southern hemisphere of the planet. He could not explain the nature of this mysterious formation.

Nowadays, scientists observe Jupiter through telescopes from Earth. Spaceships are sent to the largest planet. Studies have shown that the internal structure of Jupiter is very different from Earth. The visible surface of Jupiter's disk is actually clouds consisting of methane and ammonia. At the center of the planet there is a small solid core. Spots on the surface of Jupiter are atmospheric cyclones and vortices. The Great Red Spot is the most powerful hurricane in the solar system. It has been raging for more than three hundred years. During this time, it changed its color more than once, becoming darker and lighter. The dimensions of the Great Red Spot are such that our Earth could easily fit inside it.

Saturn

Each planet has something of its own that most clearly distinguishes it. You will certainly recognize Saturn by sight - It is surrounded by a large ring. It is not continuous, it is made up of different stripes. Here's how scientists solved the question: Once upon a time, water froze there, And Saturn's rings were made of snow and ice. (R. Aldonina)

Saturn is easily recognized by its belt of bright, wide rings. It is the second largest planet, its diameter is 120 thousand kilometers. Saturn orbits the Sun every 29 years.

Saturn has been observed by people since ancient times; it is the farthest planet in the solar system that can be distinguished with the naked eye. The first person to point a telescope at it was Galileo Galilei. His telescope was low-powered and did not allow the scientist to clearly see the rings. Galileo managed to see only the disk of the planet, on both sides of which two more small disks were located - the planet seemed to have large ears. Galileo decided that these were the satellites of Saturn. It was only in 1655 that Christian Huygens, using a more powerful telescope, determined that Saturn had rings.

Astronomers have hypothesized that Saturn's rings are fragments of its satellite, torn apart by Saturn's gravity. The planet's gravity prevents the particles of the ring from reconnecting into one object.

Like Jupiter, Saturn is composed almost entirely of gas. Saturn's temperature is lower than Jupiter's, so its atmosphere doesn't appear as bright as its neighboring giant planet. Saturn has the strongest winds in the solar system. Their speed reaches almost two thousand kilometers per hour.

Saturn has many satellites, and the largest is Titan. It is the second largest moon in the solar system. It is surrounded by a dense atmosphere, which consists of nitrogen and hydrocarbons. Titan's surface has oceans filled with liquid methane. Astronomers suggest that the simplest forms of life may exist on Titan. In 2005, Titan was explored by the Cassini space probe. A lander was dropped onto the surface of Titan, which transmitted photographs of the distant planet to Earth.

Moon

Faithful companion, night decoration, Additional lighting. Of course, we must admit: The Earth would be boring without the Moon! (R. Aldonina)

The Moon is the Earth's satellite. It shines brightly in the night sky. It can be observed even with the naked eye, and with small binoculars on the surface of the Moon you can see dark extended spots that have been called maria.

Galileo was the first to discover mountains and plains on the Moon. He found that the seas were plains of a darker shade than other areas, which were called continents. There are many craters on the continents formed after the fall of meteorites.

Astronomers have given names to the lunar ridges and mountain ranges. As on Earth, they called them the Apennines, the Caucasus, and the Alps. The Ocean of Storms, Sea of Crises, Sea of Tranquility, and Sea of Rains appeared on the map of the Moon. The craters received the names of earthly scientists: Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho Brahe. Objects on the far side of the Moon photographed by space probes have received the names of modern scientists and astronauts.

There is no water or air on the moon. During the day the temperature reaches +120 degrees, at night the frost is -170 degrees.

The moon shines because the sun illuminates it. From the Earth we see it either round or in the shape of a sickle, sometimes it is not visible at all. We see only the part on which the sun's rays fall.

How did the Moon originate? There are three versions explaining the origin of our satellite. In the 19th century, astronomer George Darwin proposed that the Moon and Earth were originally one molten mass that broke into two.

Other scientists have put forward the version that the Moon was originally an asteroid that was captured by the Earth's gravity and became its satellite. Domestic scientists led by O.Yu. Schmidt in the mid-20th century developed a hypothesis that the Moon and Earth were formed from a cloud of small particles.

PUZZLES

A piece of flatbread hangs above the houses along the path. (Moon)

There's a piece of bread hanging over grandma's hut. The dog barks, but he can’t get it. (Month)

People on the Moon

In 1958, the first earthly vehicle, the Soviet probe Luna 1, set off for the Moon. It flew at a distance of 6 thousand kilometers from the surface of the Moon. In September of the same year, Luna 2 made a hard landing on the earth's satellite.

"Luna-17" and "Luna-21" delivered self-propelled vehicles to the Moon - lunar rovers, which were controlled from the Earth by radio. Lunokhod-1 worked for 11 lunar days (10.5 Earth months) and covered about 10 kilometers on the surface of the Moon; Lunokhod-2 covered about 37 kilometers in 5 months. The Lunokhods photographed the surface, took soil samples, and studied its chemical composition.

In July 1969, the Saturn 5 launch vehicle launched from the Cape Canaveral launch site, which launched Apollo 11 into low-Earth orbit. The ship's commander was Neil Armstrong. On July 19, Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit. Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin boarded the Eagle lunar module and began their descent. At 21:00 Central European Time, the astronauts landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Aldrin and Armstrong set foot on the surface of the Moon. This was man's furthest journey in space.

There, on the Moon, on the Moon, On the blue boulder, Lunar people look, do not take their eyes off, Like above the Moon, above the Moon, a blue ball, an earthly ball, rises and sets very beautifully! (Yu. Mikhailov)

In total, 12 astronauts in six crews visited the Moon. They brought more than 300 kilograms of lunar rock to Earth for study. In recent expeditions, astronauts traveled on the Moon in four-wheeled electric vehicles. Apollo 17 became the last manned Earth spacecraft to land on the Moon.

Ship launch

If you try really hard, If you really want to, You can rise to the sky And fly to the Sun. And seriously, not in fun, Get to know the Moon, Walk on it a little and return home again. (S. Baruzdin)

To study the stars and planets, as well as observe the Earth from space, people invented spaceships. They send them far from Earth for various scientific purposes.

A space rocket is a complex structure, the creation of which involved specialists from various professions. Some prepared the engines, others built the frame of the ship, and others worked with scientific instruments.

The spacecraft is launched into space by a launch vehicle, which consists of two or three stages. When the first stage runs out of fuel, it is discarded and the second stage engines begin to operate. Then the third. A “payload” is launched into orbit - an artificial Earth satellite, a ship with astronauts, or an orbital station.

In 1981, the American reusable spacecraft, the Columbia shuttle, made its first flight. In appearance, the shuttle resembled a large airplane with wings and a tail. The shuttle was launched into orbit by two booster rockets. Having used up the fuel, they separated from the ship at a high altitude and parachuted into the ocean. There they were caught and sent to the plant for refilling.

The shuttle landed like a regular plane. The landing strip for it was very long, lined with durable concrete slabs.

The chief designer told me: - The takeoff will not be very smooth... The heart, perhaps, will often sink into the heels... - I’ll lift the heels higher, So everything will be all right! And then during the entire flight the Heart will not leave you behind. (A. Shlygin)

Rockets are launched into orbit from special launch sites - cosmodromes. Now there are many such structures, almost every country has its own cosmodrome, there are even floating cosmodromes.

The most famous Russian cosmodrome is Baikonur, located in the Kazakh steppes. Nowadays, this is the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, but Russian citizens still work there and service the cosmodrome.

Space telescope

Using a space telescope, astronomers obtained photographs of extremely high resolution, inaccessible to earthly telescopes. The “visual acuity” of the Hubble telescope is such that it can see a small fly from a distance of 10 kilometers. The space telescope has helped discover thousands of new stars, galaxies and nebulae. For the first time, the surface of the huge star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion was photographed.

The results of the telescope's observations truly exceeded all possible predictions. He looked into the depths of the Universe, showed astronomers stars located at a distance of many billions of light years from us.

It would not be bad at all: Observe the orbit of Saturn, Admire the constellation Lyra, Discover black holes And certainly compose a treatise - “Explore the depths of the Universe!” (Tim Sobakin)

Today, there are dozens of different specialized telescopes in Earth orbit, each of which examines celestial objects in a special wavelength range: Copernicus, Astron, Uhuru, Einstein and many others.

In July 1999, the Columbia spacecraft launched the Chandra X-ray telescope into orbit, designed to study cosmic radiation and mysterious “black holes.”

PUZZLES

Millet is spilled onto a black scarf. The cockerel came, but it’s not easy to peck. (Sky, stars, month)

White flowers bloom in the evening and fade in the morning. (Stars)

SPACE TELESCOPE

Astronomers have always dreamed of good conditions for observing the stars. They climbed high into the mountains, where the atmosphere was cleaner, and built large telescopes to distinguish faint stars. But the best place to study the starry sky is space, where there is no atmosphere. And in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into earth orbit. The telescope weighed 12 tons, the diameter of its mirror was 2.5 meters. Using a space telescope, astronomers obtained photographs of extremely high resolution, inaccessible to earthly telescopes. The “visual acuity” of the Hubble telescope is such that it can see a small fly from a distance of 10 kilometers. The space telescope has helped discover thousands of new stars, galaxies and nebulae. For the first time, the surface of the huge star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion was photographed. The results of the telescope's observations truly exceeded all possible predictions. He looked into the depths of the Universe, showed astronomers stars located at a distance of many billions of light years from us. This wouldn't be bad at all:

Observe the orbit of Saturn,

Admire the constellation Lyra,

Detect black holes

And definitely compose a treatise -

"Explore the depths of the Universe!"

(Tim Sobakin)

In July 1999, the Columbia spacecraft launched the Chandra X-ray telescope into orbit, designed to study cosmic radiation and mysterious “black holes.”

Galaxies

Galaxies are clusters of groups of stars united by vast distances. Our galaxy, which includes the entire solar system and beyond, is called the Milky Way. Galaxies can be of different shapes: spiral, elliptical, irregular. For example, the most famous galaxies, the Andromeda Nebula and the Milky Way, have a spiral shape.

Galaxies can collide with each other, pass through one another and merge into a new larger galaxy.

About Gagarin's task

Nobody knew how a person would behave in space; There were serious fears that, once outside of his home planet, the astronaut would go crazy from horror.

Therefore, the tasks that Gagarin was given were the simplest: he tried to eat and drink in space, made several notes in pencil, and spoke all his observations out loud so that they would be recorded on the on-board tape recorder. Out of the same fears of sudden madness, a complex system was provided for transferring the ship to manual control: the astronaut had to open the envelope and manually enter the code left there on the remote control.

Cartoons on the topic

Cartoon series “Children and Space”;
Educational cartoon “Planet Earth”;
Entertaining lessons from Sahakayants “Astronomy for the little ones”;
“The Secret of the Third Planet”;
"Dunno on the Moon";
“Monkeys in Space”;
“Pep's Pig”, episode “A Trip to the Moon”;
“Star Dogs: Belka and Strelka”;
“Belka and Strelka: Lunar Adventures”;
“Egon and Donchi”;
“The Lunar Expedition of Christopher Cullumbus”;
“Tom and Jerry: Flight to Mars”;
“The Mystery of the Red Planet”;
“Planet 51”;
“Big space adventure”;
“Planet of the Wind”;
“Let's fly to the moon”;
“Wally”;
“Treasure Planet”;
“Smeshariki: pin code collection.”

About "Vostok"

We are accustomed to the appearance of a rocket - a grandiose elongated swept structure, but all these are detachable stages that “fell off” after all the fuel was used up in them.

A capsule shaped like a cannonball, with the third stage of the engine, flew into orbit.

The total mass of the spacecraft reached 4.73 tons, the length (without antennas) was 4.4 m, and the diameter was 2.43 m. The weight of the spacecraft together with the last stage of the launch vehicle was 6.17 tons, and their length together — 7.35 m

Rocket launch and model of the Vostok spacecraft

The Soviet designers were in a hurry: there was information that the Americans planned to launch a manned spacecraft at the end of April. Therefore, it must be admitted that Vostok-1 was neither reliable nor comfortable.

During its development, they first abandoned the emergency rescue system at the start, then the soft landing system of the ship - the descent took place along a ballistic trajectory, as if the “core” capsule had actually been fired from a cannon. Such a landing occurs with enormous overloads - the cosmonaut is subject to a gravity force 8-10 times greater than what we feel on Earth, and Gagarin felt as if he weighed 10 times more!

Finally, the redundant brake system was abandoned. The latter decision was justified by the fact that when the ship was launched into a low 180-200 kilometer orbit, it would, in any case, leave it within 10 days due to natural braking on the upper layers of the atmosphere and return to earth. It was for these 10 days that the life support systems were designed.

Where to look at the stars in Moscow

Observatories

Moscow City Palace of Children and Youth Creativity

m. University, st. Kosygina, 17, cor. 1 Price: free.

Astronomical Observatory of Moscow (State Astronomical Institute named after P.K. Sternberg at Moscow State University)

Moscow, Universitetsky Prospekt, 13 Price: free.

Observatory at the Moscow Planetarium

m. Barrikadnaya, Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya, 5, building 1 Price: on weekdays 250 rubles, on weekends 300 rubles.

People's Observatory on the territory of Gorky Park

m. Gorky Park, Oktyabrskaya. Price: 200 rub.

People's Observatory on the territory of Sokolniki Park

m. Sokolniki, park territory Price: 150 rub. From Thursday to Sunday you can rent an external telescope for 50 rubles.

Efrem Levitan “For kids about stars and planets”

For children from 5 to 8 years old

The book by the famous teacher and popularizer of astronomy Efrem Levitan introduces children to the entertaining science of astronomy. The presentation of the material is mainly structured in the form of fascinating conversations between the characters: small children and their dad, who tells them stories about Gnome Knopkin, who loves astronomy and wants to share his knowledge about the Solar system, the phases of the Moon and much more. Each section of the book is accompanied by bright illustrations.

Excerpt from a book:

One day the Pope said:
— Gnome Knopkin told me very interesting news!
- Which one? - the children shouted.
— Soon you will see three planets in the sky: Venus, Mars and Jupiter.
One evening, the Pope showed the children three luminaries in the starry sky. They did not twinkle like stars, but shone with an even light: Mars was reddish, and Venus and Jupiter were bright white. They were even brighter than the stars.
- Dad, planets are not stars, so you can live on them?
“Of course,” said Papa. - After all, you live on planet Earth.
— Do people live on other planets? - Sveta asked.
“No,” answered the Pope. — In the family of the Sun, people live only on Earth.

Planet Earth

The only planet on which there is life at the moment is our Earth. The main difference between the Earth and other planets is the presence of water - the source of life and the atmosphere, thanks to which the Earth has the air that we breathe.

We learned a lot of fascinating things about planet Earth thanks to the adventures of Chevostik in his time. There are also visual experiences and experiments. For more details, read the article “Planet Earth. Travels with Chevostik."

Efrem Levitan "Fairytale Universe"

For primary school age

This colorful book is intended for inquisitive children who are interested in astronomy and cosmonautics. The famous Russian teacher and author of a large number of books about space for children, Efrem Pavlovich Levitan, answers the most popular and difficult questions. The main characters of the “Fairytale Universe” - the children of Alka and Sveta - find themselves in an extraordinary world that their dad talks about. In this magical universe, the gnomes Knopkin and Nedouchkin help the children penetrate into the secrets of space.

Excerpt from a book:

“It’s very easy to remember the colors of the rainbow,” said Dad. “You just need to learn the phrase: “Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits.”
The children did not understand what the hunter had to do with some pheasant.
“Of course, it has nothing to do with it,” said Papa, “but is it difficult to remember these words?”
“Easy,” the children answered.
– The word “everyone” will remind you of the color red, “hunter” - of orange, “wants” - of yellow, “know” - of green, “where” - of blue, “sits” - of blue, “pheasant” - about purple.
The children understood everything and were very happy. And Sveta found a book about animals and birds and calmed down only when she found a pheasant in this book...

Quasars

A quasar is a cosmic object that releases a huge amount of energy. They are the brightest and most distant “residents” of the Universe from us.

Space is an endless space with millions of different galaxies, planets and stars that have not been fully studied by scientists. Scientists who study space are called astronomers. Previously, people did not really know anything about space, but gradually they studied it and made discoveries.

The famous astronomer and scientist Nicolaus Copernicus proved that our Earth and other planets move around the sun. Another scientist, Isaac Newton, determined why the planets move around the sun and do not fall. Step by step, people all over the world are becoming familiar with the secrets of space, which will last for many centuries.

Yakov Perelman "Entertaining Astronomy"

The book by the Russian scientist Yakov Perelman introduces readers to various issues of astronomy and scientific discoveries. The author unfolds before the reader a picture of the world space and the phenomena occurring in it. Most of the book is structured in the form of questions and answers (Why doesn’t the Moon fall on the Sun? Are stars visible during the day? When are we closer to the Sun: at noon or in the evening? etc.).

For children from 12 to 18 years old and for anyone interested in astronomy, including teachers.

Excerpt from a book:

“The reader will probably ask the question: if the telescope does not magnify the stars, then why is it used to observe them? A telescope is powerless to increase the apparent size of stars, but it increases their brightness, and therefore multiplies the number of stars accessible to vision (...). The telescope reveals to us double, triple and even more complex stars where the naked eye sees a single star. Star clusters, which for the naked eye merge beyond the distance into a hazy speck, and in most cases are completely invisible, scatter in the telescope field into many thousands of individual stars.”

Asteroids

An asteroid is a rocky celestial body that has an irregular shape and varies in size: from a grain of sand to many kilometers of boulders. Due to the complete absence of gravity, asteroids cannot acquire a spherical shape, and therefore more closely resemble shapeless stones.

Asteroids are composed of iron, nickel, cobalt, oxygen, titanium, hydrogen and other elements. Asteroids can have craters and even satellites. And between Mars and Jupiter a whole asteroid belt formed. It’s very interesting about him and more, Smeshariki says:

When did the word “space” appear in the Russian language?

“Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language” by P. Ya. Chernykh reports that the word “cosmos” has come into use in the Russian language (as well as in the West) since the second quarter of the 19th century. In the dictionaries of the Russian language, “cosmos” is from 1861, while “cosmography” is from 1780, and “cosmogony”, “cosmology” and the adjective “cosmic” are from 1804.

The primary source is the Greek word kosmos, which originally meant “order”, “ordered unity”, then “world order”, “world order”. For ancient philosophy, space is the highest example of the universe. Pythagoras was the first to designate the world that exists around man as space, drawing attention to the order and harmony that reigned in it. The Greek word kosmos, of course, was already known in the ancient Russian era and was translated with the words “beauty”, “peace”, “light”.

Before the word “space” entered the Russian language in the meaning “Universe; world; space extending beyond the earth’s atmosphere,” the corresponding meaning was expressed by the words “system of the world,” “system of light,” etc.

Genrikh Sapgir “Star Carousel”

For preschool and primary school age

This small book is a collection of poems by the poet Genrikh Veniaminovich Sapgir, dedicated to various constellations. In the preface to “Star Carousel,” the author wrote: “And in this book you will also find poems about children who dream of flying into space. Maybe it's you or your friends. After all, it is given to you to be the first to pave routes to distant planets.” “Star Carousel” is great for children’s first acquaintance with the theme of space and a star map.

One of the poems in the collection:

In the sky - Ursa, Dogs and Taurus, In the sky - Libra, Bootes and Sagittarius, Pisces, Dolphins, Cancer and Dragon... How many constellations - So many names. Whoever manages to find them on the map will not go astray in flight.

Yuri Usachev “One Day in Space”

For children from 7 to 14 years old

This book invites readers to take an exciting journey - to spend one day in space. The author of the book is cosmonaut pilot and Hero of Russia Yuri Usachev, who completed four space flights and went into outer space several times. Here he appears as an experienced guide-commander of a ship in which children are his crew. Readers feel like they are taking a trip to the space station (ISS), trying to move in zero gravity, conducting experiments, and much more.

Excerpt from a book:

“You, like most people, think that astronauts still eat by squeezing food out of tubes, like toothpaste tubes, right? Unfortunately, I must disappoint you. Space nutrition has changed a lot over the past 40 years (…). With the advent of plastic packaging, it became possible to have in the astronauts’ diet not only pureed foods, but also the same cookies, fish, and meat.”