We’re floating weightlessly in a vast sea of stars, looking back at the earth suspended in the absolute black, infinite void of space. Only the sound of our own breathing from within our helmets pierces the quiet galaxy air. We begin to make our way back to the shuttle as we continue our journey navigating the endless depths of the universe.
… Just another day at Outer Space Camp here at Austin Children’s Museum. When we weren’t off exploring the planets and stars in our rocket ship, we were doing all kinds of other fun activities and learning lots of interesting facts about our universe. Today we painted pictures of earth using pie plates. Did you know that about 70% of the earth’s surface is covered in water? We may need some more blue paint guys!
We drew pictures of a nighttime scene to illustrate what we know about the sky. Some of us drew owls gliding silently through the night air and bats flitting across the moonlit sky. Others of us dotted ours with shooting stars and constellations. Can you see the big dipper tonight?
What other things do you see when you look at the night sky? Share your observations with us!
I love to look for satellites in the eavening just after it get dark. They look like fast-moving stars. You can usually tell they are not airplanes because they don’t blink. You can see ones that are going north-south and east-west.
I also love to look at the moon through my telescope or binoculars when the moon is in one of it’s quarters. If you are patient you can sometimes see mountain tops as they come out of the shadow and light up in the sunlight! Looking at the edge of the shadow is pretty cool because you can see the shadows of both mountains and craters.
That’s awesome, Erich! I’ve often seen what I thought were fast-moving stars in the sky and wondered what they were…Now I know! The next time there’s a clear sky I’m getting out my binoculars and going moon-gazing!