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Summary of Contents for starwaders v1-20718
- Page 1 Portable Solar System Model Instruction Manual v1-20718...
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Table of Contents PREFACE The Structure of this Booklet? Contact Starwaders The Design Cutouts The Planets The Sun Assembling the Model Using the Model Setting Up The View from the Top – or the Bottom? - Page 3 STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Other Solar System Phenomena 4.15 Packing Away A Short History of the PSSM The Value of Understanding Models Traveling Version History: V1-20714 – Introduction of PVC model V1-20714 – Added stabilizer cord v1-20718 Page...
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Page 4: Preface
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model 1 PREFACE This user manual shows how to build the model and how to use it to explain why we see the planets where they appear in the sky. The Structure of this Booklet? •... -
Page 5: The Design
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model 2 The Design • The planet orbits are made of concentric hoops, which fit onto a frame comprising four arms. • The planets are made of hollow plastic balls with a slot halfway through them, so that they can easily slide onto the concentric hoops. -
Page 6: The Planets
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model The Planets The objects representing the planets are balls of different sizes in appropriate colours which allows a school child with a little knowledge to identify them easily. The planets each have a slot cut in one half of the sphere allowing them to be mounted onto the hoop. -
Page 7: Assembling The Model
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model 3 Assembling the Model When children are part of the audience, this is time for fun. They can build the tripod, frame and attach the orbit hoops. Show them the planets and tell them to get on with building the Solar System. This activity provokes lively argument amongst the children as they put the hoops into the correct slots and decide which planet goes where. - Page 8 STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model The Parts of the PSSM Follow these instructions to assemble the model: • Build the stand by inserting the legs into the base. • Insert the lower upright into the neck on top of the base. Align the hole near the bottom end of the lower upright with the hole in the neck.
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Page 9: Using The Model
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model The Hoops • The folded hoops are springy and the tightly folded Mars hoop can spring open. When loosening the strap that holds the hoops together, take care that the Mars hoop does not spring open. For this reason, mount the Mars hoop onto the arms first. -
Page 10: The View From The Top - Or The Bottom
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model The View from the Top – or the Bottom? We are in the Southern Hemisphere. The classical view of the Solar System is looking down from above the North Pole, in which case the planet’s orbits are anti-clockwise. Viewers looking towards the... -
Page 11: Mimicking Sunset
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Mimicking Sunset In the evening as the sun sets in the west, place Earth on a level with the Sun on the eastern side of the model. This means that little humans living on the surface of the model Earth will see their plastic Sun in the west. - Page 12 STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model With the model in this orientation, and the horizon pointer placed from Earth to the Sun, allow the viewer to look from east along the model ‘horizon’. They can easily see that the real Sun and the model ‘Sun’...
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Page 13: Planet Positions
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Planet Positions We now place the planets in the positions on the hoops corresponding to their actual positions. To do this (unless you know them well enough to keep their movements in your head) you will need a Solar System chart for that evening. -
Page 14: Early Evening Planet Positions
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Early Evening Planet Positions The planet positions used in these instructions are those of the 6 September 2009. With the model orientated so that it is parallel to the real Solar System, it now is roughly a miniature Solar System. In the diagram, when the Earth observer looks to the West along the horizon, the Sun has dipped below the horizon. -
Page 15: 9Pm Planet Positions
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model 9pm Planet Positions Three hours after sunset, the horizon shows that Jupiter and Neptune are nearly overhead. Uranus has just risen. Mercury has set. v1-20718 Page... -
Page 16: Midnight Planet Positions
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Midnight Planet Positions At midnight the visible planets have moved a further 45° across the sky. No other planets have risen yet. Note the special feature of the PSSM that avoid disconcerting effects ‘standing sideways’, rotate the... -
Page 17: 3Am Planet Positions
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model 3am Planet Positions At 3am, Jupiter and Neptune are about to set while Uranus is still high in the sky. Mars has now risen and Venus will rise shortly. The PSSM rotated to the viewer upright position. -
Page 18: Dawn Planet Positions
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Dawn Planet Positions 4.10 Just before sunrise, Mars is high in the sky and Venus is well up. Note that Saturn has not been visible at any time during the night because it is so close to the Sun. -
Page 19: The Morning And Evening Stars
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model The Morning and Evening Stars 4.11 Probably the most common question a layman asks is “Where is the evening star?” or “Oh, Venus is the evening star?” The Solar System model illustrates and explains how Venus is sometimes the evening star and at other times is the morning star. -
Page 20: Venus Transit
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Venus Transit 4.13 The Solar System model can be used in a special way to illustrate and explain how Venus moves across the face of the Sun and why it happens so seldom. The planets do not all lie in the same orbital plane. -
Page 21: Other Solar System Phenomena
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Solar Eclipse 4.14 Solar and Lunar eclipses can also be demonstrated by taking the Moon (the tiny polystyrene ball) and moving it around the Earth by hand. Other Solar System Phenomena 4.15 The model can be used to demonstrate many configurations and movements of the solar system. -
Page 22: Packing Away
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model 5 Packing Away If there are still young people around when it is time to go home, they can have some fun dismantling and packing the model away. The plastic planets and Sun are packed into the bag first, (preferably a separate bag that itself is packed into the model’s carry bag). -
Page 23: Short History Of The Pssm
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model 6 A Short History of the PSSM The Value of Understanding I have always found more value in understanding the night sky as opposed to simply remembering star patterns. The movements of the planets between the stars confuses the general public while many an amateur astronomer has been known to find it difficult to interpret. -
Page 24: Traveling
STARWADERS Portable Solar System Model Traveling I built my model in 1999. It is 2012 The local astronomy club goes to as I write. The shopping centres to raise awareness model went of the club and astronomy. At one of...
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