The Sky Through the Year
Students learn that different constellations appear in different seasons because Earth orbits the Sun, and they tour the bright stars of each season and the Pleiades, which many cultures used as a calendar.
Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops9 stops
The full guide, with the 40-minute plan, discussion key points, exit ticket, activities, transcript and PDF, comes with a teacher license. Already licensed? Use Open the full guide.
What students will see and do
Students fly from Earth to the Orion Nebula (in winter's Orion), Regulus and Spica (spring), Vega, Deneb and Altair (the Summer Triangle), Fomalhaut (autumn) and the Pleiades. Aetherion pauses for discussion at Earth (which constellations are hidden behind the Sun this month), Altair (why so many cultures tell sky stories) and the Pleiades (why a star cluster makes a good calendar).
Learning objectives
- Explain why different constellations are visible in different seasons using a model of Earth's orbit around the Sun.
- Identify bright stars and patterns for each season, including Orion, Regulus, Spica, the Summer Triangle and Fomalhaut.
- Describe how stars rise about four minutes earlier each night and how that adds up over months.
- Compare how different cultures, including Greek, Hawaiian, Maori and Andean peoples, used the Pleiades as a seasonal calendar.
NGSS connections
| MS-ESS1-1 | Students develop and use a model of the Earth-Sun system to explain the yearly cycle of visible constellations. |
|---|---|
| MS-ESS1-3 | Students compare the distances of seasonal stars, from nearby Altair to distant Deneb. |
Stops on this journey
- Your Planet's Yearly Trip (discussion stop)
- Winter's Hunter
- Spring's Lion
- Spring's Blue Jewel
- The Summer Triangle Begins
- The Swan's Tail
- The Eagle and an Old Story (discussion stop)
- Autumn's Lonely Star
- The Seven Sisters Calendar (discussion stop)
Vocabulary
- orbit
- constellation
- season
- Summer Triangle
- Milky Way
- star cluster
- Pleiades
- calendar