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Space Place

Space Place – July 2020

GETTING A BOOST FROM GRAVITY By Linda Hermans-Killiam It takes a lot of fuel to escape Earth’s gravity. The more a spacecraft weighs, the more fuel rockets need to launch them. Spacecraft also have to carry fuel to help them travel through space. Every bit of fuel adds weight and cost to space missions. Fortunately, there is a way to help spacecraft travel around the solar system without using much fuel. How is this done? Through a clever maneuver called a gravity assist! With gravity assist, a spacecraft aimed at a faraway destination first flies close to a nearby planet. When the spacecraft gets close, the planet’s gravity causes it to fall faster and faster until it reaches its closest point to the planet. After that, it keeps going and slows down because of the planet’s gravity. However, the planet’s own motion and its gravity have changed the spacecraft’s speed and direction. In this way, gravity assist can help a spacecraft speed up or slow down by thousands of miles per hour! In 1974, Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to use gravity assist to reach another planet. It flew by Venus to reduce its speed so it could go on to Mercury. The Voyager 2 spacecraft used a gravity assist from Jupiter to propel it towards Saturn. It then used gravity from Saturn to get to Uranus and then used Uranus to get to Neptune. More recently, New Horizons used a gravity assist from Jupiter to reach Pluto in much less time than a direct flight from Earth. By using gravity assist, spacecraft can also visit asteroids and comets. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will fly by Earth in September 2020. It will get a gravity assist from Earth to propel it towards asteroid Bennu. It will gather a sample from the asteroid in 2020 and return it to Earth. Large moons can also help with gravity assists. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft used gravity assists from Jupiter’s large moons to visit other moons. The Cassini probe used gravity assists from Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. This helped it travel among the other moons and rings of Saturn. These are just a few examples of missions that have used gravity assist. Future missions will continue to use this clever method for traveling through space. We may have to fight gravity to get into space, but we can work with it to explore the solar system. Learn more about gravity! Visit the NASA Space Place: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/what-isgravity

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Letter From Truman

Truman’s Letter – July 2020

Hi, Kids! I just got back from the library. I got to bring home three books. I love reading stories. Did you know that stories weren’t always written down? For thousands of years, people told stories to entertain, to teach, to pass on history. One of the oldest written stories is the Epic of Gilgamesh. It’s about a king and his adventures with this friend, Enkidu. You can find out more about it in the “Connections” section. The people of Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3100 B.C.E. It wasn’t used for stories though — at least not at first. They used it to record information about their crops. “Cultural Connections” goes into detail about it. The Mesopotamians did more than develop the first type of writing. They also domesticated several kinds of animals. They used domesticated oxen and horses to help them work on their farms. Learn more about that in the “Wildville” section. Truman

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What’s It Like To be

What Is It Like To Be A Paleontologist?

Please tell our readers a little bit about yourself. I am a Ph.D. student at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, majoring in vertebrate paleontology, with a minor in science education. I completed my bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. I am interested in studying how the distribution of sharks has changed over time as ocean temperatures fluctuated. Using my research, we could provide strategies to better manage fish stocks and safeguard shark populations. Education is an important component to my research. I believe that the only way to effect change is by encouraging others to care about a topic. Please tell our readers a little bit about what you do. I am a part of The FOSSIL Project at FLMNH, a National Science Foundation- funded online paleontological community (myfossil.org). Through FOSSIL, I can provide paleontological content to members, showcase upcoming opportunities and initiate conversations between amateurs and professional paleontologists as well as connect K-12 teachers with resources in their area. I organize professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers that increase their knowledge of paleontology, evolution, fossils and related content. In the past year, I have taken over 20 teachers from across the United States out to an active fossil site in central Florida. While there, our participants learned how to dig for and identify fossils as well as safely remove and prepare fossils back at our prep lab. I am also involved with iDigFossils (paleoteach. org), an NSF-funded program in collaboration with FLMNH and the College of Education at the University of Florida. IDigFossils helps K-12 teachers integrate science technology engineering and mathematics with the use of 3D scanners and printers. We collaborate with our participating teachers to provide science content in lessons that incorporate the scanning and printing of fossils. In this manner, we can bring fossils into the classrooms and make lessons more interesting while teaching technological skills to students. What is the coolest fossil you’ve ever seen? The coolest fossil I have ever seen is every single one I have had the opportunity to explore within FLMNH’s collections! I have the great privilege of having access to over 4 million specimens ranging from vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology, paleobotany, and micropaleontology. My favorite are, of course, shark teeth, but some of the specimens coming out of our active fossil site, Montbrook, are also quite interesting. We have found teleoceras (rhinoceros), gomphothere (elephant-like proboscideans), as well as many turtle specimens, including trachemys inflata. While at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama last summer, I had the distinct opportunity to hold a vertebra of titanoboa, a 40-foot-long extinct snake. I cannot help but be amazed by every fossil that I get to see because I am astounded that I am holding something that lived millions of years ago! What kind of training does it take to be a fossil hunter? Anyone can be a paleontologist! You do not need a college degree to go out and search for fossils, only a fossil collecting permit, an understanding of the laws around collecting, and a plastic bag to bring back your finds. What I love most about paleontology is that, once you find your first fossil, you are hooked! Why is this work important? My work is important, not just to increase paleontological knowledge, but to inspire future generations to care about science.

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Wildville

Saber-Toothed Cats

The La Brea Tar Pits is a group of tar pits in Los Angeles where asphalt forms naturally and seeps up from the ground. These pits have been there for thousands of years. Sometimes animals wandered into the area and would get trapped in the tar. When this happened, the bones would be preserved. Scientists have found millions of bones from 231 species of vertebrates, 159 species of plants and 234 species of invertebrates in the tar so far. The most common bones come from dire wolves; the second most common are the saber- toothed cats. These are also some of the oldest fossils; they are believed to be around 44,000 years old. These animals found in the tar pits lived during the last ice age. • There are many kinds of saber-toothed cats, but the most commonly known is the saber-toothed tiger. • They are named after the long teeth that protruded from the sides of their mouth. • The teeth were around a foot long. • They used these teeth to stab their prey. • They were about the size of Siberian tigers, 350-620 pounds. • They were most commonly found in North America and South America. • Bones from 2,000 individual saber-toothed cats have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits. • They probably drooled as Saint Bernards do. • Sabre-toothed tigers went extinct 12,000 years ago. • They are not related to tigers. • Different species of saber-toothed cats had differently shaped teeth. • They were more muscular and shorter than today’s big cats. • They most likely hunted by ambushing prey. • They did not have very strong jaws because a strong bite could break their teeth. • They were carnivorous. • They had short tails. • Scientists think they lived in packs like lions do today. An ice age is a period, sometimes millions of years, where the global temperature is colder, and the glaciers expand. Earth has had five ice ages. The last one is just called the ice age and ended 11,700 years ago. During this period, the Earth looked very different. Massive sheets of ice 12,000 feet thick covered Canada, Russia, Scandinavia and South America. The animals were different as well. Mastodons, saber-toothed cats and giant ground sloths were common in the ice age.

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Kids

La Brea Tar Pits & Museum

The La Brea Tar Pits is a National Natural Landmark that is in the middle of downtown Los Angeles in California. The tar pits were discovered by the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola in August 1769. Tar pits are created when crude oil from deep in the ground seeps through the surface soil. The sun will evaporate part of the oil, and all that is left is a very thick, sticky and heavy tar or asphalt. • Another name for the area is Rancho La Brea; it is Spanish for “the tar ranch.” • The Page Museum is located at the pits and displays many of the fossils that have been found there. • It has the largest and most diverse collection of extinct ice age plants and animals. • Native Americans used the tar to waterproof baskets and canoes. • Between 1870 and 1890, a family mined and sold the asphalt. • Fossils were rst recorded in the pits in 1875. • In 1916, the area was donated to Los Angeles County so the area could be preserved and explored. • Scientists have found living bacteria in the tar. • Some of the species found are so different from what lives in the area today because 40,000 years ago the area was cooler and wetter. • There are still excavations and projects nding fossils. • Pit 91 is a long-term excavation e ort that the museum sta has been working on for 40 years. • They still work on it every summer. • Tar pits usually form in pools. Sometimes dust, leaves and other debris can cover the tar pits so that they look like regular ground. Animals will wander into these areas and get stuck in the thick substance. Scientists also noticed that most of the fossils in the pit are carnivorous. This is interesting because there are usually 90 percent more herbivores than carnivores in an area. It is thought that entire packs of animals might chase prey into the pits and then the predators and the prey would get stuck and preserved in the pits. The second largest group of animals found was the scavengers. These animals may have also gotten stuck trying to eat the animals already caught in the tar.

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Weather

What Makes Lightning?

We’ve all experienced thunderstorms and lightning. When lightning ashes and strikes the ground, it can be both an amazing and scary experience. But have you wondered how lightning forms? Scientists have wondered this as well. The primary theories involve something called “charge separation” (we’ll get to that shortly), which leads to the generation of an electric eld within a thunderstorm. Also, recent studies suggest that the production of ice, hail and semi-frozen water drops in a thunderstorm are essential to the creation of lightning. First, you cannot have lightning without electricity! All matter in the universe is made up of particles, and these particles all contain an electric charge, which can either be positive, negative or neutral. The most common building block of matter is the atom, which is made up of particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons have a positive charge, neutrons a neutral charge and electrons a negative charge. Normally, atoms contain the same number of protons and electrons, which results in a neutral charge. Now that we have a basic understanding of electric charges, let’s talk about how thunderstorms result in charge separation. The inside of a thunderstorm is a very turbulent environment, with strong updraft and downdraft winds regularly occurring very close to each other. Because of this, ice, hail and semi-frozen water drops get tossed around all over the inside of the thunderstorm. As a result, the top of the thunderstorm ends up containing an overall positive charge while the thunderstorm’s bottom becomes negatively charged. This is charge separation. Because electricity generates between positive and negative charges, the charge separation causes an electrical field to be generated inside of the thunderstorm. This electrical field creates lightning within the thunderstorm, but it’s not yet enough to cause lightning to strike the ground. When it comes to electric charges, opposites attract. erefore, the massive buildup of negative charge near the base of the thunderstorm can eventually create a lot of positive charge on the ground below it. e buildup of positive charge on the ground can then interact with the buildup of negative charge at the base of the thunderstorm, and the eventual interaction between those positive and negative charges is what we see as lightning. That’s what we know about how lightning is formed. So now the next time you see a lightning strike, you’ll also know the science behind it. But don’t forget that lightning is very dangerous as well. If there’s a thunderstorm happening outside, you should be inside.

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Letter From Truman

Truman’s Letter – June 2020

Hi, Kids! I found a cool rock with a shell imprint in it. My teacher told me it’s called a fossil. I can’t wait for you to learn what I found out about how fossils are made! I had no idea there were so many kinds of fossils! Check it out in the “Connections” section. Did you know that tree sap is not only part of the fossilization process? it is also used to make art. It can be quite beautiful, and many people even wear it as jewelry. You can read more about it in “Cultural Connections.” It was really cool to find a fossil. Did you know there are people who study fossils for a living? They are called paleontologists. It must be amazing the things they learn from their work! You can find out more about that in the “What’s It Like to Be …” section. Truman

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Space Place

Orbiting Earth From Pole To Pole

Did you know that when you check the weather on your phone or watch your local weather forecaster on TV, you’re actually looking at information from a faraway satellite? In 2020, a new satellite will be launched that will give us a better understanding of Earth’s climate and environment. It is part of a mission called the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). JPSS is a collaboration between NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). JPSS actually includes five satellites that will be placed in polar orbits around Earth. These satellites will use the latest advanced instruments to observe our Earth. The JPSS satellites will also collect information about Earth’s weather, the oceans and our atmosphere. When a satellite orbits over the North and South Poles, we say it’s in a polar orbit. As the satellite orbits the Earth from pole to pole, Earth spins below. This allows the satellite to view different parts of the earth. The polar orbits of the JPSS satellites will let them observe the entire earth twice each day. The five JPSS satellites will be launched at di erent times. The first one, called Suomi-NPP, was launched in 2011. It is about the size of a mini-van, and it orbits Earth about 14 times each day. It will soon be joined by JPSS-1 in 2020. JPSS- 2, JPSS-3 and JPSS-4 are planned to launch in 2020, 2026 and 2031. That way, when one stops working, we have another one ready to take over and get data! The JPSS satellites will measure land and sea surface temperatures. They will also monitor storms, sea and land ice, cloud cover, rainfall, snow, ozone and water vapor. The satellites will also observe the health of vegetation, and they can even monitor ship traffic! JPSS will increase the accuracy of weather forecasting. This will help people better prepare for severe weather. These satellites will also monitor fires, droughts, floods and volcanic eruptions. Data from JPSS will give us information which will help protect people’s lives and property. JPSS will continue to provide these important observations of Earth through 2038, giving us a better understanding of our planet.

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Cultural Connections

Amber Art

Amber is a kind of fossil made from resin. Resin is a substance that plants and trees produce to help protect themselves from disease and injuries. A tree might produce resin when a branch is broken or an insect harms the tree. In addition to preserving ancient animals, amber is also incredibly beautiful. Humans have been using amber for thousands of years; the earliest example of this dates to 11,000 BCE in England. Today it is often used in jewelry. Ancient Egyptians used it for decoration as well; it has been found in tombs as early as 3,200 BCE. Another popular use for Amber thousands of years ago was as medicine. Amber is a translucent orange-yellow. It is a gem but not a gemstone. The amber produced by the Paleogene Forest is the largest deposit of amber in the world. It is also considered the highest quality of amber in the world. It is called Baltic amber. Most amber is between 30 and 90 million years old. Ancient Egyptians called amber the “Tears of Ra.” Amber can come in 300 colors. The color is determined by the plant material in the amber and by the amount of sunlight that it was exposed to while it was forming. Amber is clearer the more sunlight it is exposed to. Amber can be burned, and it smells like pine. It is very sticky, so sometimes debris and insects can get caughtin it. If the resin fossilizes then the resin and whatever is stuck inside it are preserved for thousands of years. Frogs, lizards, bird feathers and pieces of small mammals, insects and even a dinosaur feather have all been found in fossilized amber. ese fossils are not only beautiful; they also contain a lot of information for scientists. They have discovered 1000 extinct species of insect because they were preserved in Amber.

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Kids

Ticks

Ticks spread Lyme disease to people and other animals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that, in humans, untreated Lyme disease can create an array of symptoms, depending on the stage of infection. Anyone who has spent time outdoors should be aware of the potential symptoms, which can include fever, rash (classic erethema migrans rash, also called ‘bull’s-eye rash’), facial paralysis and arthritis. Some people with later stage Lyme disease may have rashes on other areas of their bodies; intermittent pain in tendons, muscles and bones; and experience heart palpitations. LymeDisease.org states that not every person suffering from Lyme disease will develop the same symptoms. The distinctive rash occurs in less than 10 percent of those who contact Lyme. If a tick bite is verified, promptly contact a physician.

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