The Invisible Universe
Students explore the electromagnetic spectrum and learn how radio, infrared, ultraviolet and X-ray telescopes reveal parts of the universe invisible to human eyes.
Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops7 stops
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What students will see and do
Students fly from the Sun to the James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes, then to the Crab Nebula, the Orion Nebula, the black hole at the galaxy's center and Cygnus X-1 while Aetherion explains what each kind of light reveals. The class can pause to discuss at the Webb, galactic center and Cygnus X-1 stops.
Learning objectives
- Name the main bands of the electromagnetic spectrum in order of wavelength.
- Explain why some telescopes must be placed in space above Earth's atmosphere.
- Describe what infrared light can reveal that visible light cannot.
- Explain how a black hole can be detected through the light of matter around it.
NGSS connections
| MS-PS4-2 | Students describe how different wavelengths of light are absorbed, transmitted or reflected by dust, gas and Earth's atmosphere. |
|---|---|
| MS-PS4-3 | Students see how digitized signals from telescopes across the spectrum are combined into images that carry reliable information. |
Stops on this journey
- More Than Meets the Eye
- The Infrared Giant (discussion stop)
- A Telescope Above the Air
- One Star, Many Colors
- Seeing Through the Dust
- Listening to the Center (discussion stop)
- An X-Ray Mystery (discussion stop)
Vocabulary
- electromagnetic spectrum
- wavelength
- infrared
- ultraviolet
- X-ray
- radio telescope
- accretion disk
- neutron star