Astronomy

Gr 4–8—This short overview of astronomy focuses on the expanding universe and the Big Bang Theory. After a brief summary of the beginnings of the study of astronomy, with questions asked by child speaking with a lisp, galaxies are described and information is communicated about how they were formed after the Big Bang. There is information about Edwin Hubble, who discovered the "red shift"—the shifting of light towards the infrared portion of the spectrum as light moves away from us. The "red shift" is compared to the "Doppler effect" where sound changes as it moves toward and then away from you, demonstrated by the sound of a car as it passes on the street. Another example shown compares the expanding universe to baking raisin bread: as the bread rises, the raisins (or galaxies) do not get larger, but they do get farther and farther away from each other. Also discussed is the COBE space mission to gather data on background microwave emission, a remnant of the Big Bang. While covering the facts and theories fairly well, the film doesn't create real interest in the topic, with mostly still photos of varying color quality, models, and video clips that appear somewhat dated.—Ann Brownson, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston