Day 23-25 Learning About Telescopes/Assessment

This is due on 5/1/2012.   The paper (or digital artifact) must be shared individually.   Because of the number of people gone to, well....everything, I have made today a workday.


The James Webb Telescope is slated to be deployed in 2018, but......budget cuts may get in the way.

Your ASSESSMENT for this unit is to find out this telescope, compare it to one specific telescope located in space, a specific reflecting or refracting telescope and a specific radio telescope. Your goal is to decide if we need this telescope or not, based on what we already have in the way of telescopes.

Job 1:  

1. Find 3 or 4 resources to learn about the James Webb telescope.  These must be included on the poster instead of a  Works Cited sheet.
2. Compare the projected use of the James Webb telescope to a specific space telescope that is already deployed.  Decide if the Webb telescope is looking for the same wavelengths or objects. What tools do the telescopes share?
3. Compare the projected use of the James Webb telescope to the Mount Wilson, or a backyard reflector/refractor.  Can a ground-based telescope get the same results?  What tools do the telescopes share?
4. Compare the projected use of the James Webb telescope to a radio or microwave telescope (COBE, Horn, VLA).  What are the similarities to the design or purpose of the data collected?  What tools do the telescopes share?
5. Compare the projected use of the James Webb telescope to COBE, or one of the neutrino labs on earth (Homestake, Super-K, Kamiokande).  What do we still need to know about neturinos?  What tools do the telescopes share?
6. Think about costs for all of these things, and the scientific and economic benefits or drawbacks they represent. 

Create a chart similar to this one, adding table columns as needed.  This may be a poster or a powerpoint slide.  The chart itself is worth 20 points.

Job 2:

Develop an opinion paper or powerpoint that is 5-10 slides or paragraphs and supported with details, including whether or not the James Webb telescope should be built, how this will affect Sun research, how this affect our knowledge of neutrinos, and what we can potentially discover. This essay will be worth 20 points

Things to be included on Job 2
Thesis/opinion statement: 3 points
Evidence supporting whether other telescopes can do this job: up to 6 points
Evidence on tools/comparison: 4 points
Evidence supporting your view of the economic and scientific pros/cons : 4 points
Grammar and mechanics:  3 points