Friday and Monday

Part 2:  Planet rotation.



  http://www.solarsystemscope.com/


http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/my-solar-system/my-solar-system_en.html




Monday:


You and your partner have a choice to make.   Should the first off-Earth settlement be built on the Moon or on Mars?  There are pros and cons to each.

To start, go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Mars
http://marshome.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_the_Moon
http://www.nss.org/settlement/


Now look at some of the missions:

http://planetary.org/explore/topics/the_moon/missions.html
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/programmissions/

Use your Unit 2 readings to help you see if there are:

a) plate tectonics
b) a magnetosphere
c) an atmosphere
d) water
e) gravitational forces
f) minerals
g) temperature extremes


Come up with a list of up to 40 must-have items on your colonization effort.  Also, be sure to tell me WHERE you plan on making your settlement (equator, a pole, etc.)

Jan 23

I'm still out with a medical issue.   Your goal today is to finish up on the things from the past two days and then come up with a list of questions for which you are UNCLEAR.   

In particular, most of you didn't do this

HELIOCENTRIC  vs GEOCENTRIC

Send me an email telling me the point of this article:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/ast99/ast99237.htm

Jan 22: Scales and the Solar System

On Friday, we took a look at the idea of looking at one planet through the lens of another.  We also compared Copernican theory to Epicycles.   Today we'll try again, without the extensive vocabulary and the wordy explanations.


QUESTIONS TO ANSWER


When you get done with this, you will need to locate the distance to the seven primary stars in the asterism Ursa Minor using the program Stellarium. (If it's not on your computer, you can find it at http://www.stellarium.org ) We're going to make a model of the star constellation.

===================== Links of Note

Today, in addition to looking at the issue of Retrograde Motion, we also need to consider the issue of how big the solar system is.  We really don't understand that too well.  You need to take the time to look at the following links, and then answer the questions below.


Scaling the Solar System
Retrograde Motion
Parallax

Lunar Phases

Lunar Phases (handout)  study this and see if it makes sense to you.


Softball and light activity

At Home Lab:
Diameter of the Moon Lab (to be completed by 2/4)

Complete the activity shown at http://sunshine.chpc.utah.edu/labs/moon/lunar_phases_main.html and then show me your completed quiz results to Mrs. Deutmeyer)


Read and take notes from slide 80 to the end of the presentation.

Stellarium

I.  Using Stellarium
II.  Right Ascension/Declination Models and the movement of the Earth/Sun system
III. Magnitude
IV. Distance in Space
V.  Phases of the Moon

Understanding Brahe, Kepler, and Ptolemy

Go to the Nebraska Astronomy Lab on the solar system models

 The applets that accompany this lab are found here.

KEPLERS' LAWS


UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems

Video

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Day 2

 Reading 1

Reading 2


Skymaps

GlobeatNIght.org

Day 1: What is Astronomy?

• Watch the video. Write 3 questions about what you see. Carl Sagan is a critical friend to astronomy, who helped popularize it in the last half of the 20th century.
• Spend 25 minutes looking at the presentation that is published. Take notes and be prepared to discuss things you DO and DO NOT understand.
• You will be given a copy of skymaps, with a Northern, Equatorial, and Southern projection. On each of them, find
  
  1. The Ecliptic
  2. Orion
  3. Taurus
  4. Ursa Major
  5. Ursa Minor
  6. Casseiopeia
  7. Cepheus
  8. Draco
  9. Polaris
  10. Betelgeuse

Discuss The night sky from different latitudes