1. Astronomy & Our Lives or…
What could learning about the planets and stars possibly have in common with my life now??

2. Astronomy & Our Lives
There are more connections between astronomy than you realize…
Days of the Week?
Months of the Year?
Time itself!
Words, words, words,
Products, products, and more products
A sense of who we are.

3. Seven Days of the Week Sunday - the Sun’s day, of course
Monday - the Moon’s day
Tuesday - ?
Wednesday - ??
Thursday - ???
Friday - ??#$
Saturday - ???%^?

4. Seven Days of the Week Sunday Domingo Dimanche Sun
Monday Lunes Lundi Moon
Tuesday Martes Mardi Mars
Wed Miercoles Mercredi Mercury
Thurs Jueves Jeudi Jupiter
Friday Viernes Vendredi Venus
Saturday Sabado Samedi Saturn
Seven objects are easily seen to move in regular patters in front of the stars across the skies during the year

5. Moonths of the year…
A “month” of time is around the same time as it takes the moon to repeat its phases from full to full.
Many cultures still use lunar calendars for religious festivals
Easter
Ramadan & Islamic New Year
Chinese New Year
Tết

6. Time itself…
“Clockwise” from the motion of the sun’s shadow over a sundial! 12 3 9
Early morning sun casts a shadow towards the “9” side of a clock face…

7. Time itself…
By noon, the overhead sun casts a (smaller) shadow towards the “12” side of a clock face… 12 3 9

8. Time itself…
By afternoon, the setting sun casts a (longer) shadow towards the “3” side of a clock face… 12 3 9

9. Words, words, words… “aster” = star (from Latin) “cosmos” = order
Astronomy, Astrology
Disaster! “dis-aster” – going against the stars can be bad!
“cosmos” = order
Cosmology – the study of the order of the universe
Cosmetics – putting your face “in order”
“Meteorology” – the study of weather?

10. Products, products, products!
Cars
Ford: Taurus, Galaxy, Mercury Comet…
Chevy: Astrovan, Nova, Vega…
Plymouth Satellite, Pontiac Sunfire, Oldsmobile Starfire…
Subaru, Saturn…
Food
Sunchips, Sunny Delite, Mars bars, Moon cakes, Starkist
Products & Companies
Comet cleanser, SUN mirosystems, Visa STAR network…
TV & Movies galore…

11. A sense of who we are…
Astronomy allowed us to develop agriculture, create calendars, maintain our history, navigate, explore…
Trying to understand nature led us to develop technologies absorbed into our culture…
Lasers, GPS, Cell Phones, Computers
Weather Satellites, Velcro, Tang…

12. Key Questions for YOU… How does science work?
What do we gain, as humans, by asking questions of Nature?
Is the quest for knowledge worth the costs?