A Project That’s Out of This World!

Congratulations! Your advertising firm (I choose the group!) has just landed a lucrative account with the first commercial star liner company. Since the invention of the warp drive, Man has been able to travel great distances in a short amount of time. For years, explorers have been crossing the galaxy to get first-hand knowledge of the heavens and bring back an incredible treasure of information. Now the universe is open to pleasure cruises, and your company gets to promote the first-ever commercial venture to “the Final Frontier.”

As part of your campaign, you are being asked to create two venues for promoting space travel:

A brochure and a web site promoting the trip. Each should include:

A brief history of our study of the stars, and the equipment that’s been used.

  • How light is produced or seen by us coming from different objects in the sky.

Information about the star liner and the amenities on board.

Describe a trip that takes the passenger around both the inner and outer planets, and then out into the galaxy and back.

Include detailed information about at least one inner and one outer planet.

Other celestial information to be included:

  • Describe different types of objects that will be visited or viewed in the galaxy, such as a black hole, nebula, another galaxy.
  • Discuss some of the stars you will encounter and how they’re classified.

Academic Guidelines:

  • The brochure should be 2-sided, with pictures and descriptions.
  • It may be produced using Publisher, Word, or more conventional methods.
  • The website should be at least 6 pages, also with various graphics and detailed descriptions. It is expected that the website will more completely demonstrate your knowledge of the subject.
  • It may be produced using Netscape Composer, Word, Publisher, or another HTML editor. If you decide to use you own editor at home, you must be able to do some of the group work in class, as wasted time will not be tolerated. I will provide instruction in the choices we have in class.
  • Use your this science text, chapters 19-20 as a guide to the amount of information you should include.

The Science Standards you will be graded on, and should be able to demonstrate knowledge with are:

Earth in the Solar System (Earth Science)

4. The structure and composition of the universe can be learned from studying stars and galaxies and their evolution. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know galaxies are clusters of billions of stars and may have different shapes.

b. Students know that the Sun is one of many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and that stars may differ in size, temperature, and color.

c. Students know how to use astronomical units and light years as measures of distances between the Sun, stars, and Earth.

d. Students know that stars are the source of light for all bright objects in outer space and that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight, not by their own light.

e. Students know the appearance, general composition, relative position and size, and motion of objects in the solar system, including planets, planetary satellites, comets, and asteroids.

Live Long and Prosper!

--Mr. Wright