James Manzanares

Phys-1040-011-F16
12/6/16

Astronomy Conversation Paper

On Sunday, December 3, 2016, in the living room of my girlfriends house, I had
a conversation with her and her sisters which lasted an hour. I planned to record the
conversation to reflect on what was said, as well as asking them questions about topics
we covered in class to test their knowledge as well as teaching them things they havent
learned before. The conversation went pretty much as I intended it to. But I was very
surprised at how much information my girlfriends sisters knew about astronomy, for
them being ages eight and eleven. I feel that they enjoyed our conversation because they
were able to help and be a part of the homework and learn new things about astronomy as
well as showing how much information they already knew. I would change staying on
each topic so I was able to organize it better. But it still went really well but we would
forget some things but we would always come back to them. I made sure I recorded every
word and got all the questions I wanted to ask and had enough time for the girls to answer
and share information. Our conversation isnt very organized by topics because we would
forget some facts and come back to the, and we just had so much to talk about.
At the very beginning we started talking about the sun and if the Sun will
eventually blow up because it is a star, and stars blow up all the time. One of her sisters
thought it would cause an explosion, and if humans are still around when it does go, it
would take Earth and all of us down with it because of how close the Earth is to the Sun.

James Manzanares
Phys-1040-011-F16
12/6/16

She brought up a fact about scientists finding evidence of another planet because they
discovered a seventy-two second signal, which they call the wow signal, and they
actually dont know what it was, but they think they found evidence of other living
organisms in space.
She also brought up a fact about gravity in space and how it is not just zero
gravity because there needs to be gravity to hold up the planets. We started talking about
what a comet and an asteroid is which she already knew. Which a comet is a combo of
rocks, ice, and dust. An asteroid is small, rocky object that orbits the Sun. Then we started
getting on the topic about how scientists are studying stars to see if there is another solar
system out there, because there might be another star like our Sun. There is star that they
found where planets orbit it. We also started talking about the theory of there being other
planets far away like Earth that can support living organisms, but earth is just smaller.
She then brought up how Pluto isnt a planet anymore because it is considered a dwarf
planet. She surprised me with the stuff she knew about this.
We talked a bit about constellations, which is a bunch of stars which form a
picture like, how her sisters put it, connect the dots and how constellations are
connected to zodiac signs.
Going into the Mars discussion, scientist are studying to see if living organisms
can live on Mars. (Farberov, 2015) The thing is, they can also never come back. They will
be permanently living there. (Mars-One) Because they actually found frozen water there.

James Manzanares
Phys-1040-011-F16
12/6/16

We questioned if the moon could have the same characteristics for living, and we
discussed how the moon probably has the ground for growth. Then we got back on the
topic of stars along with Gama rays and our solar system. Stars that reflect blue light are
hotter and yellow/red are cooler. Gama rays are lights with very short wave lengths, and
we discussed how there might be a star that has their own solar system. We then talked
about what a star actually is. A star is a ball of gas that takes a million years to form,
because when stars blow up, their parts explode everywhere and form with other stars
that have blown up and they compress to form a new star. Also, when stars blow up they
have a chance of becoming a black hole.
We debated since there is no wind or water movements on the moon, astronauts
footprints could probably stay on the moon for years and years. We considered what
determined what made a planet able to sustain life. The rest of our planets are either too
hot or too cold for living organisms to live on, as in Neptune, our coldest planet. A theory
her sister read and mentioned was we might be able to travel though worm holes, but the
only problem with that is we dont have anything to keep the worm holes from closing.
This got us on the topic of black holes and how they are so strong that not even light can
escape it.
I had an astronomy conversation with my girlfriend and her sisters. They
answered my questions as well as informing me on the information they had already

James Manzanares
Phys-1040-011-F16
12/6/16

knew before our conversation. I learned a lot about how much they knew and informed
them of facts I learned from the class.

Bibliography
Farberov, S. (2015, 2 17). Meet the 33 Americans who could live on MARS
and never return. Retrieved 12 4, 2016, from Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2957309/Meet-33-Americanslive-MARS-never-return-Mission-reveals-final-longlist-manned-one-wayjourney-red-planet.html
Mars-One. (n.d.). Mars One. Retrieved 12 4, 2016, from mars-one:
http://www.mars-one.com/