68

Lesson 68 of 84 ยท Space

Simulationโญ 30 XP๐Ÿš€ Starbase

Galaxies: Islands of Stars (Part 4)

๐ŸงชLab Brief #68

Galaxies: Islands of Stars (Part 4).

๐ŸŽฏ Your mission

Play with the model. Break it. Understand it.

โšก The twist

Gravity is invisible โ€” but it shapes everything.

๐Ÿคฏ

Mind = Blown

๐ŸŒŸ The light from the closest star (after the sun) takes 4 years to reach you.

๐Ÿ”ฎ

Make a hypothesis first

Before you check: which is closer?

What You'll Learn

Galaxies are enormous collections of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity. Our Milky Way galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars and is a spiral galaxy.

Key Words

  • planet
  • asteroid

Steps

Step 1 โ€” Read

Read the introduction and identify the main idea of this lesson.

Step 2 โ€” Do

Build a scale model of the inner solar system using different-sized balls. Research the relative sizes and distances of the planets.

Step 3 โ€” Observe

Observe what happens and describe it in detail.

Step 4 โ€” Record

Record your observations in your science journal with measurements and descriptions.

Check Your Understanding

Question 1

1 of 3

What is a galaxy?

๐ŸŒ

Where you see this in real life

GPS, weather forecasts, and the seasons all rely on this.

๐Ÿ†

Stretch Challenge

Try this in real life this week.

Find a constellation in the sky. Look it up. Tell someone its story.

๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘ง

For the dinner table

โ€œIf you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?โ€

๐ŸŽฏ

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

โšกShare card

Share this experiment

Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.

๐Ÿ–จ๏ธ

Checkout complete lesson on Space for 8th Grade

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