1929 Cosmic Times Articles
This poster is the second edition of the Cosmic Times, with the publication date chosen to coincide with the announcement of Hubble's results which found that the Universe was expanding. These results were contrary to Einstein's assumption of a static Universe. In addition, in order to show that the galaxies were all moving away from us, Hubble first showed that there were other galaxies outside the Milky Way.
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Content Overview :: Downloads :: Articles :: Lessons :: Style Notes
Content Overview
The headline story in this 1929 issue is that Edwin Hubble has discovered that the Universe is expanding. The idea of an expanding Universe is contrary to Einstein's assumption of a static Universe, and while Einstein was not convinced of the veracity of Hubble's results, the astronomical community had generally accepted them. This discovery came on the heels of the discovery that the Milky Way is not the only galaxy in the Universe, which was determined in 1920, also by Hubble.
Downloads
- 1929 Poster (printable at 8.5" x 11" or at its full size of 24" x 33"): pdf
- 1929 Newsletters:
- 1929 Questions for Understanding: doc, pdf
- 1929 Glossary: doc, pdf
- Full Cosmic Times Glossary: doc, pdf
- Educator's guide for all Cosmic Times editions: doc, pdf
Articles
- Age of the universe: 2 Billion Years; Size of the universe: 200 Million Light Years
Learn more about the age and size → - Andromeda Nebula Lies Outside Milky Way Galaxy
- Summary: Hubble's observations of Cepheid variable stars in Andromeda show that it is actually separate from our Milky Way galaxy.
- Thread: Size of the Universe
- Additional background and information →
- "Great Debate" Resolved
- Summary: Hubble's distance to the Andromeda Nebula resolves the debate held in 1920 between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis over whether the spiral nebulae were part of our Galaxy or outside it.
- Thread: Size of the Universe
- Additional background and information →
- Universe is Expanding
- Summary: Hubble's careful distance calculations coupled with redshift measurements show that the Universe is expanding.
- Thread: Expanding Universe
- Additional background and information →
- Sidebar: The Minds atop Mount Wilson
- Summary: Biographical information about Hubble and his assistant, Humason.
- Additional background and information →
- Sidebar: Classifying Nebulae
- Summary: Brief overview of Hubble's system of classifying galaxies.
- Additional background and information →
- In Their Own Words
- Summary: Snippets of papers published by other astronomers during this time. The snippet here is from Hubble about observing distant objects in the Universe.
Lesson Plans
Download a .zip file containing all 1929 lessons with their associated handouts: doc, pdf
Note: the pdf handouts for the "Discovering the Milky Way" and "Unsung Heroes" lessons are included in the .doc zip bundle.
- Discovering the Milky Way
- Overview: Students look at historic astronomical data to find the pattern originally seen by Henrietta Leavitt.
- Grades: high school
- Topics: Physics, Astronomy
- Downloads
- Lesson Plan: doc, pdf
- Reading: Henrietta Levitt's original paper (pdf)
- Just How Far is that Star?
- Cosmic CSI
- Overview: Students explore what spectra from different elements looks like and how astronomers can learn composition of objects with this tool.
- Grades: middle school
- Topics: Earth Science, Physical Science, Chemistry
- Download
- Determining the Universe
- Overview: Students measure the size of several galaxies to reproduce a plot of Hubble's Law.
- Grades: high school
- Topics: Physics, Astronomy
- Download
- Unsung Heroes of Science
Style Notes
The language in the 1929 newspaper mimics the style of writing that would have appeared in a real 1929 newspaper. The language and sentence structure may be a bit difficult for your students to read; however, we have provided three versions of the text in newletter form: an Early Edition aimed at 7-8 graders, a Home Edition aimed at 9-10 grades (with text from the online edition), and a Late Edition aimed at 11-12 grades (with the text from the poster). These, along with a glossary and questions for understanding are available above.
The poster also shows a layout that mimics the papers of the time, however, we have taken some creative license to make it more readable in a classroom setting. Real newspapers of the time would have had 5-7 narrow columns of small type.
