AstronomyTeacher
News articles and posts about astronomy and astronomy educationSaturday, April 30, 2005
It really is a planet
AP Wire | 04/30/2005 | Next space flight led by woman with nerves of steel
A profile of Eileen Collins, the commander of the next shuttle mission.
AP Wire | 04/30/2005 | Next space flight led by woman with nerves of steel
AP Wire | 04/30/2005 | Next space flight led by woman with nerves of steel
Thursday, April 28, 2005
CBC News: Meteor sighting thrills Prairie astronomers
Summer workshop/scholar ship in astro
The Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) at the University of
Texas at Brownsville (http://cgwa.phys.utb.edu/) plans to host a Summer
Academy for High School students during June 6-July 12. The program,
with Professor Richard Price as the main adviser, is titled "21st
Century Astronomy Ambassador's Program".
Nine motivated high school students will be trained in modern GW, IR,
UV, Gamma ray and Radio Astronomy and Data Analysis techniques. These
students (deemed "Ambassadors") will be also trained in making
scientific presentations and will be asked to commit to making
presentations to other students and science clubs throughout the
following year. The program will enable them to receive college credits
at UTB. CGWA will fully fund the program and provide a $1000
scholarship to each of the selected students.
"Please contact Soma Mukherjee (soma@phys.utb.edu)
Texas at Brownsville (http://cgwa.phys.utb.edu/) plans to host a Summer
Academy for High School students during June 6-July 12. The program,
with Professor Richard Price as the main adviser, is titled "21st
Century Astronomy Ambassador's Program".
Nine motivated high school students will be trained in modern GW, IR,
UV, Gamma ray and Radio Astronomy and Data Analysis techniques. These
students (deemed "Ambassadors") will be also trained in making
scientific presentations and will be asked to commit to making
presentations to other students and science clubs throughout the
following year. The program will enable them to receive college credits
at UTB. CGWA will fully fund the program and provide a $1000
scholarship to each of the selected students.
"Please contact Soma Mukherjee (soma@phys.utb.edu)
Saturday, April 23, 2005
NASA - Gusev Dust Devil Movie, Sol 456 (Enhanced)
Friday, April 22, 2005
Constellation homework using planispheres
1. What month is Canis Major due South at 9pm?
2. What month is Andromeda highest in the sky at midnight?
3. When Leo is rising in the East at 9pm what month is it?
4. What time does Ursa Major culminate in February?
5. What time does Saturn rise today? (Gemini)
6. What time does Jupiter set? (Today) (Leo)
7. What is straight up at 5am in May?
8. What is setting at 9am today?
9. Is the Summer triangle visible at any time during December?
10. When does Ursa Major look like this in March?
(handle to the right, bowl upside down)
These are the questions I gave the class to replace the earlier set that we didn't understand too well.
2. What month is Andromeda highest in the sky at midnight?
3. When Leo is rising in the East at 9pm what month is it?
4. What time does Ursa Major culminate in February?
5. What time does Saturn rise today? (Gemini)
6. What time does Jupiter set? (Today) (Leo)
7. What is straight up at 5am in May?
8. What is setting at 9am today?
9. Is the Summer triangle visible at any time during December?
10. When does Ursa Major look like this in March?
(handle to the right, bowl upside down)
These are the questions I gave the class to replace the earlier set that we didn't understand too well.
Quiz; brightness followup;
Quiz over textbook reading.
Grade the quiz in-class and turn in papers to the teacher.
Next activity is the inverse square law for light. If you can write out proper procedures and accurately predict the outcome of the lab, you don't have to do the lab.
Given:
A light source (small)
A light sensor (digital)
A meterstick
Design an experiment to determine the relationship between distance and and brightness. Include:
Independent
Dependent
Interfering variables
Planned procedure
Discuss each variable and tell how it is controlled
Predict the kind of data you will get if you did the lab for real
Expected Result should include a prediction about the graph.
The abstract should contain the variables, possibly the hypothesis, and the results.
Grade the quiz in-class and turn in papers to the teacher.
Next activity is the inverse square law for light. If you can write out proper procedures and accurately predict the outcome of the lab, you don't have to do the lab.
Given:
A light source (small)
A light sensor (digital)
A meterstick
Design an experiment to determine the relationship between distance and and brightness. Include:
Independent
Dependent
Interfering variables
Planned procedure
Discuss each variable and tell how it is controlled
Predict the kind of data you will get if you did the lab for real
Expected Result should include a prediction about the graph.
The abstract should contain the variables, possibly the hypothesis, and the results.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
meteor shower tonite
The Lyrid meteor shower has been observed for more than 2,000 years; Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C. But in recent times the Lyrids have generally been weak. They have a brief maximum that lasts for less than a day, and even then only 10 to 20 Lyrids per hour may appear.
But there have been some remarkable exceptions. In 1982 the rate unexpectedly reached 90 for a single hour, and 180 to 300 for a few minutes. A brief outburst of 100 per hour was also seen in 1922. And on April 20, 1803, the residents of Richmond, Virginia, upon being rousted out of bed by a fire bell, were startled to see great numbers of meteors in all parts of the sky. "This unpredictability always makes the Lyrids a shower to watch, since we cannot say when the next unusual return may occur," note Alistair McBeath and Rainer Arlt of the International Meteor Organization.
In 2005 the peak is expected near 5h Universal Time on April 22nd, which is 1 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the night of April 21–22 in eastern North America. But the waxing gibbous Moon is in the sky all night, and its glare will hamper observations. The radiant point of this shower lies between the bright summer star Vega and the keystone pattern of the constellation Hercules.
Use our interactive sky chart to see the appearance of the heavens at 2:00 a.m. during the peak morning of the Lyrids. The chart is set at 40° north latitude for central North America. On the chart, the meteor shower name and symbol is visible in both windows. Click on the "change" button to alter either the date and time or viewing location displayed by the chart. Generally, there will be more meteors than usual visible for a few days on either side of the peak of a meteor shower.
But there have been some remarkable exceptions. In 1982 the rate unexpectedly reached 90 for a single hour, and 180 to 300 for a few minutes. A brief outburst of 100 per hour was also seen in 1922. And on April 20, 1803, the residents of Richmond, Virginia, upon being rousted out of bed by a fire bell, were startled to see great numbers of meteors in all parts of the sky. "This unpredictability always makes the Lyrids a shower to watch, since we cannot say when the next unusual return may occur," note Alistair McBeath and Rainer Arlt of the International Meteor Organization.
In 2005 the peak is expected near 5h Universal Time on April 22nd, which is 1 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the night of April 21–22 in eastern North America. But the waxing gibbous Moon is in the sky all night, and its glare will hamper observations. The radiant point of this shower lies between the bright summer star Vega and the keystone pattern of the constellation Hercules.
Use our interactive sky chart to see the appearance of the heavens at 2:00 a.m. during the peak morning of the Lyrids. The chart is set at 40° north latitude for central North America. On the chart, the meteor shower name and symbol is visible in both windows. Click on the "change" button to alter either the date and time or viewing location displayed by the chart. Generally, there will be more meteors than usual visible for a few days on either side of the peak of a meteor shower.
LabWrite for Students
Monday, April 18, 2005
Inverse square law
A brief lab/demo to establish the inverse square law of light. Sensors used to measure small light sources show intensity falls off as the square of the distance.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
ISS crew change
Nice slideshow showing Russian rocket docking with the space station. Good view of the the current space station configuration.
Technobabble about the tsunami
Planetary alignment caused tsunami: Scientist - Deccan Herald - Internet Edition: "Paramahamsa Tewari, who supervised construction of Narora and Kaiga atomic plants and authored the controversial Space Vortex Theory, says his conclusion about the cause of tsunami stems from his theory that all spinning cosmic objects, including the sun, develop electrical fields that repel each other.
"
If it looks like science, sounds like science, calls itself science, but is not testable, it's babble.
"
If it looks like science, sounds like science, calls itself science, but is not testable, it's babble.
Asteroid identified as a threatening object / Though it will miss Earth in '29, space wanderer remains a threat
Asteroid identified as a threatening object / Though it will miss Earth in '29, space wanderer remains a threat: "Six months later, Tholen's object was spotted again in Australia as asteroid '2004 MN4.' In the space of five days straddling Christmas, startled astronomers refined their calculations as the probability of the 1,000-foot- wide stone missile hitting Earth rose from 1 chance in 170 to 1 in 38."
Saturday, April 16, 2005
A Century Later, Einstein's Legacy, Like the Universe, Keeps on Expanding - from TBO.com
A Century Later, Einstein's Legacy, Like the Universe, Keeps on Expanding - from TBO.com: "'Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something,' Einstein once said, 'wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.'"
This is an excellent article and discusses how Einstein came up with the theory which predicts the time travel effects we learned about in class.
This is an excellent article and discusses how Einstein came up with the theory which predicts the time travel effects we learned about in class.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
ABC News: Scientist Urges Dormant Eggs to Life to Test Evolution
Evolution theory is an advanced science; it has moved on years ago from "did evolution occur?" to refining the subtle details of th theory, testing predictions such as the Red Queen hypothesis, and other details. That's why resurrecting a 100 year old theory to debate whether or not it is valid seems so ... pointless.
ABC News: Scientist Urges Dormant Eggs to Life to Test Evolution
ABC News: Scientist Urges Dormant Eggs to Life to Test Evolution
Perfect Spot Found for Moon Base
Parallax
We will finish the parallax activity and do a statistical analysis on the results.
The point is, we now know how the distances to stars nearest the earth are determined, which allows us to calibrate our spectroscopic parallax assumptions about the absolute magnitudes of stars by spectral class.
If time permits, we'll begin introducing the electromagnetic spectrum with definitions and demonstrations.
The point is, we now know how the distances to stars nearest the earth are determined, which allows us to calibrate our spectroscopic parallax assumptions about the absolute magnitudes of stars by spectral class.
If time permits, we'll begin introducing the electromagnetic spectrum with definitions and demonstrations.
Statistical Analysis
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
A little more on logs
Understanding magnitudes means you must understand logs. Based on the reaction to the apparent magnitude lab last class, I see we need to spend a little more time on logarithims and understanding them. Materials from the NASA TOPS guide on logarithims will be used.
We will derive the distance relation for finding the distance to stars using spectroscopic parallax.
This will lead us into an activity about using parallax to find the distance to nearby stars. We will use parallax to find the distance to the school flagpole. It is unlikely we'll get to finish both of these actvities in one period.
We will derive the distance relation for finding the distance to stars using spectroscopic parallax.
This will lead us into an activity about using parallax to find the distance to nearby stars. We will use parallax to find the distance to the school flagpole. It is unlikely we'll get to finish both of these actvities in one period.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Need more research students
Juniors!
I need more people to sign up for the research class next year. Please see me immediately if you want to be in the class but didn't register.
I need more people to sign up for the research class next year. Please see me immediately if you want to be in the class but didn't register.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Sea life 'killed by exploding star'
Actually the SWIFT probe has already been launched.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Sea life 'killed by exploding star'
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Sea life 'killed by exploding star'
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Apparent magnitudes + major project updates
Brightness counts and brightness ratios were described, with the definition of magntiudes and how to convert brightness counts to apparent magnitudes. A short activity called "Apparent magnitude" was completed.
We turned in our constellation homework using the planisphere, and your major project updates were due.
We turned in our constellation homework using the planisphere, and your major project updates were due.
Notes on a recent conference on space elevators
Ride an elevator into space? yes, that's exactly what this is about--and they're not kidding.
Blaise Gassend' Home Page
Blaise Gassend' Home Page
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
More constellation training
We visit the planetarium to try to learn some basic constellations in the current sky.
The Bayer designation system will be described.
Magnitudes will be described.
Limiting magnitude of the sky will be set up as a lab activity.
Planisphere homework is assigned.
Students were warned that major project updates were due on Friday.
The Bayer designation system will be described.
Magnitudes will be described.
Limiting magnitude of the sky will be set up as a lab activity.
Planisphere homework is assigned.
Students were warned that major project updates were due on Friday.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Learn your Constellations
The definition of constellations will be given, plus a short activity to create your own constellation.
Right Ascension and Declination coordinates will be defined, with a short activity to plot these coordinates on a piece of paper.
Right Ascension and Declination coordinates will be defined, with a short activity to plot these coordinates on a piece of paper.
Wired News: What a Little Moon Dust Can Do
Saturday, April 02, 2005
CNN.com - Astronomers capture photo of extrasolar planet - Apr 1, 2005
John J. Miller on Daylight Savings Time on National Review Online
Why do we have DST? I thought it had to do with farming too. Apparently not.
John J. Miller on Daylight Savings Time on National Review Online
John J. Miller on Daylight Savings Time on National Review Online
Friday, April 01, 2005
How Tycho Brahe Died - Aase Jacobsen & Lars Petersen, IPS Planetarian
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