How to get the Astronomy badge
© Nicholas Bittner
Requirement one c: Tell what factors keep the moon in orbit around the earth. It's very simple. The moon is in an elliptical orbit, which is slightly rounder then an egg. There are two factors involved, and the first is motion. The second is gravity. The moon is moving, so when gravity pulls it inward, it slingshots around the earth in a giant circle, thus, the orbit. Without force it would just sit there, not moving, except for the slight motion caused by gravity. Without gravity, it would fly off into who-knows-where.
7 A: Describe the composition of the sun, it's relationship to other stars, and some affects of radiation on the earth's weather. Define sunspots and describe some of the effects they may have on this radiation. The sun is about 93 million miles from earth, and 75 percent of it is made up of hydrogen. The sun contains at least 67 of the of the natural elements found on earth, and may even contain all 92. It's about 865,370 miles in diameter, and weighs roughly 2 octillion tons, and the surface temperature is 10,300 F, while the core is around 30 million degrees F.
The energy of the sun heats water and evaporates it, to form clouds so that it can rain, hail, snow, whatever. When one air mass becomes hotter then another, it rises, and a cooler air mass replaces it, thus the wind. Sunspots are caused by disturbances in the sun's magnetic field. They look dark because they're about two thousand degrees cooler. When a sunspot flares up, it hit's our atmosphere and causes a magnetic storm. When that happens, communications are disrupted, radios, TVs, and other forms of radio waves are all temporarily knocked out.
7B: Identify at least one star that is red, one that is blue, and one that is yellow, and explain the meanings of these colors. Alright, well, blue stars are extremely hot, and yellow stars, like the sun, are average heat, while red ones are the coolest.
The last requirement says to list career opportunities and high school courses, so here they are! Besides Astronomers, there are instrument makers, opticians, electronics specialists, draftsmen, computing assistants, and assistants to operate telescopes. You should take all the math classes you can, as well as physics, chemistry, and a foreign language. In college, you should major in physics.
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