Course title

Pre-requisite

Course description

Course Overview
Astronomy is an observational science! Astronomy is the science that deals with the study of the heavens and the realms extending from the Earth’s atmosphere to the distant reaches of the universe.
During the school year you will be required to memorize some definitions; some values of constants that will help to bring alive the amazing diversity of the planets; stars; and galaxies. You will encounter planets with dead volcanoes where summits dwarf Mount Everest and stars that are a hundred times the size of the Sun (mass of the Sun = 1.98 x 10^30 Kg; Radius of the Sun = 7000;000 km). They are so vast that the Earth seems like a grain of in comparison. And even more amazing is the size of our Milk Way galaxy; which is approximately 100;000 light years across and is relatively minuscule to the diameter of the Visible Universe which s believed to be about 15 Billion light years. The size of the Total Universe is still virtually unknown because it consists mostly of Dark Matter which invisible to us and cannot be assessed. Still scientists believe that the all of the luminous objects in our visible universe represents a mere 1% of the total mass.

The project-based style of teaching adopted for this course will require you to work responsibly in small groups as you explore topics; create visual models; review; analyze and document data that you will present using Methodologies of Science.

Duration of Study: (full year; one semester; trimester): One semester on a 90 minute block schedule which is equivalent to a full year course

Textbook title and copyright date:
No specific textbook is used in the course. The materials used come from a variety of sources dependent upon the students’ selected topics for research. Scientific journals and data bases are typical.

Supplemental Resources
Project Star
The Universe at your Fingertips
More of the Universe at your Fingertips
Kinesthetic Astronomy
NASA Space Math
Mars Student Imaging Project

Context for Course
This course is designed to provide students with an authentic science experience. This will be accomplished by accessing scientific data bases; using on-line bibliographic search techniques; using inquiry and developing hypotheses; performing experiments; and communicating findings.

Course Outline
The goals in Astronomy are to explore and gain appreciation of this vast cosmic universe that is continuously expanding. The topics will include but are not limited to the following because of current research:
Measurements; Scientific Notation; Significant Figures; Order of Magnitude; Scaling Models; Scientific Method; Reasons for the Seasons on Earth; Lunar phases; Earth-Moon Relationships Mars Imaging Project; Project Star; Space Travel; Analysis and Interpretation of Cosmic data; Historical Perspectives; Law of Gravity; Laws of Motion; Spectrum and Basic Spectroscopy; Structural description of the (a) Terrestrial planets – Mercury; Venus; Earth; Mars; (b) the outer Frozen planets – Jupiter; Saturn Uranus and Neptune; (Pluto); (c) Insights of Meteors; Asteroids; Comets (d) Stars – Sun: (d) Stellar Evolution & Remnants – White Dwarfs; Neutron stars; Black Holes; € Milk Way Galaxy; Local Groups; Super Clusters Probes of Intergalactic Space- Quasars.

Course Expectations
•Students will be required to master the various concepts and skills that are needed to become a novice astronomer.
•Students will become part of the RECON team (Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network) and on certain occasions; be required to take part in observing and capturing video data of Trans-Neptunian Objects outside of school time.
•Students will host star-gazing “parties” for the community using the telescopes and demonstrating their understanding of the telescope mechanics and also their knowledge of the sky.
•Students will engage in hands-on and minds-on lab activities with emphasis on measurement and observation involving mathematics; physics and chemistry.

Course Objectives
•Students will learn to use tools and instruments for observing; measuring and manipulating observations.
•Students will use standard safety practices for all investigations.
•Students will identify and investigate problems scientifically.
•Students will communicate scientific investigations and information clearly.
•Students will examine astronomical cycles in nature and apply them to the daily; monthly and yearly cycles of Earth such as rotation; revolution and cycle.

Learning Goals:
Inquiry is the integration of process skills; the application of scientific content and critical thinking to solve problems.

Science is the method of observation and investigation used to understand our world.

The stars of the night sky were grouped long ago by human imagination into patterns called Constellations.

Astrology and mythologies offer an understanding of the historical development of modern astronomy.

The study of constellations provides a means to better recognize and predict the movement (rotation and revolution) of the Earth.

What we see with our eyes is a partial picture; the entire EM spectrum is needed for a complete picture of the universe.

Human understanding of the universe is changing as knowledge is acquired through the use of modern technologies

Lab and activity Examples

A. Parallax in the Lab
When you look at things from two different points of view; nearby objects appear to shift with respect to more distant ones. This is called parallax; and it's a basic tool for measuring astronomical distances. The same technique can be used to measure distances to objects on Earth.

Astronomers first used parallax to measure distances to other planets in 1672; but living organisms have been using parallax for several hundred million years- ever since the first animals having two eyes evolved. Two eyes are better than one because they give you two different views of the world; by combining these views; your brain can estimate distances to nearby objects. The parallax measurements we will make in this lab use a technique you have been practicing since infancy. In some sense; you are already an expert at using parallax to measure distances; but at the same time; you may not know how your brain accomplishes this very useful trick.

JUDGING DISTANCE
A simple experiment illustrates the role of binocular vision - that is; vision using two eyes - in judging distance. First; close both eyes and lift one hand over your head. Have your lab partner place a coin (or other small object) on the table within reach in front of you. Now open both eyes and quickly lower your hand so that the tip of your finger lands on the middle of the coin. You should have no trouble doing this; try it a few times - with the coin in a different place each time - to convince yourself that you can always place your finger more or less exactly on top of the coin. (If you consistently miss the coin; you may not be employing both eyes - get your vision checked!)
Now try the same thing again; but this time; open only one eye (no peeking - cover your other eye to make sure). You will probably have much more trouble putting your finger down on top of the coin. Again; try this a few times with the coin in a different place each time. About how often do you hit the coin? Do you tend to reach too far; or not far enough? Try using your other eye - is it any better?

PARALLAX MEASUREMENT
Fig. 1 shows an overhead view of the geometry of a parallax measurement. Such a measurement requires observations from two different places separated by a known distance. This distance; the baseline; is represented by the symbol b. Pick a fairly nearby target which you can view in front of a background much further away (for example; you might use the pole of a streetlight as your target; with the side of the valley as a background). For the first observation; line the target up with some definite landmark in the background (for example; a rock on the side of the valley). Now move to your second observation point; and use a cross-staff to measure the angle between your target and the background landmark.

Fig. 1. Overhead view of a parallax measurement. Observations of the target are made from the two positions on the left. From the first observation point; the target is aligned with a very distant landmark. From the second observation point; the angle between the target and the landmark is measured. Simple geometry then gives the distance D to the target in terms of the distance b between the two observation points.
Once the baseline b and parallax angle θ have been measured; the distance D to your target is

This formula is fairly easy to derive using simple geometry; and we will cover the derivation in class. The angle θ should be measured in degrees. Note that it does not matter what units you use for b; you will automatically get D in the same units!

An Example
The pictures below show how to make a parallax measurement. For simplicity; I chose a fairly unexciting target - the top of an electricity pole near my home; which I can view in front of the side of a hill somewhat further away. As the background landmark; I used a transformer on another electricity pole on the distant hillside. Fig. 2 shows the overall situation. One important fact; which may not be obvious from this picture; is that the background landmark was much further away than the target.

Fig. 2. Target and background landmark for a parallax measurement. Arrows mark target (top of pole; on right) and landmark (transformer; on left).
To make the first observation; I moved around to line up the target and background landmark; as shown in Fig. 3b. I used a pebble to mark the location of my first observation. I then shifted to my left until the target and the background were no longer lined up; as shown in Fig. 3a. The distance to shift depends on the situation; but the key thing is to make sure that the target and background landmark appear comfortably separated from each other. I used another pebble to mark the location of my second observation. The baseline distance between the two pebbles was b = 45 inches.

Fig. 3a. Second observation: target is visibly shifted with respect to background.
Fig. 3b. First observation: target and background landmark are lined up with each other.
Now; from my second observation point; I used a cross-staff to measure the angle θ between the target and the background object. This was a little tricky; since it's hard to keep the background; target; and ruler all in focus at the same time; Fig. 4 shows that my camera also had some trouble focusing. Nonetheless; even this fuzzy image is clear enough to show that the background landmark fell at the 16.0 cm mark on the ruler; while the target fell at about 16.8 cm. Thus the apparent separation between the target and the background was 16.8 cm - 16.0 cm = 0.8 cm. Since 1 cm on the ruler represents an angular separation of 1°; the angle between the target and the background landmark was about = 0.8°.

Fig. 4. Measurement of parallax angle. Dotted lines show where the background landmark (left) and target (right) appear on the cross-staff ruler.
Using b = 45 inches and θ = 0.8° in the formula above; I got D = 3200 inches = 270 feet. My results are given to slightly better than one significant figure; the measurement of θ could easily be off by ±0.1°; so there's no point in trying to claim any higher level of accuracy. The most serious source of error is probably my use of a background landmark which was only a few times further away than the target. For example; if the background was about five times further away than the target; the resulting value of D would be about 20% too large.
PARALLAX EXPERIMENTS
In addition to the simple experiment on distance judging described above; you will also make two measurements of distance using parallax. One measurement will be performed during the lab; we will set up a suitable target and coach everybody on the proper technique. The second measurement should be made later; using a target and background that you select. The key here is not just to make a measurement - you will also have to make some choices; and explain why you made those choices. At every step; your choices affect the accuracy of your result; so think carefully when choosing.
REPORT: PARALLAX IN THE LAB
Do the experiments described in the sections on JUDGING DISTANCES and PARALLAX EXPERIMENTS; and write a report on your work. This report should include; in order;
1.the general idea of the experiments;
2.the equipment you used for this work;
3.a summary of your experimental results; and
4.the conclusions you have reached.

B.Solar Observing
The telescope you will be using has solar filters so you can observe the Sun safely. There are two types of filters here: a white light filter and an H-alpha filter. Do not look through any telescope; including the finder 'scopes unless there is a filter on it. Permanent eye damage can be almost instantaneous!

Part 1: White Light Filter
1.Before you begin; take a look at the front of the telescope. You may need to back far away or step up onto the stepstool to see. What do you see? Why is it safe to look through the telescope at the Sun?
2.Look through the telescope. What color is the Sun viewed with the white light filter?
3.What do you see? Describe it in words and do a sketch below.
4.Measure one of the sunspots in your picture. Indicate the spot in your sketch. Given that the Sun's diameter is 1.39x106 km; how big is the sunspot? How does this compare to the size of the Earth (12;400 km diameter)?

Part 2: Hydrogen alpha Filter
Note that this actually uses 2 filters; one to cut down on the light entering the telescope and one to limit what you see to a single wavelength: the first Balmer line.
5.Look through the telescope. What color is the Sun viewed with the white light filter?
6.What do you see? Describe it in words and do a sketch below.
7.In the sketch; label a sunspot; a plage; a filament; and a prominence. If any of these are not visible; describe what they would look like and where you would look for them.
8.Compare this sketch to the white light one. Is there a link between activity on the photosphere and in the chromosphere?

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• LINT
• Integrated science

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