In this course you will learn about some of the important topics
in astronomy. We will learn about the night sky, the motions of
the earth, moon, sun and planets, and how to be an amateur
astronomer.
The grading policy of Astronomy is designed to reflect how much
work you put into learning. If you put in the effort to learn the
material you will do well. Your grade will be based on the
following categories.
Make-up Work
If you miss class, and it is an excused absence, then you may
make up the work you missed. You must see me before class starts
or after it has ended and ask for the work. It is your
responsibility to find out what you missed and to do it
within one week.
Late Work
Lateness is not acceptable unless you were absent and have shown
me proper documentation to prove your absence was excused.
Arrangements to hand in work missed when absent must be made at
the first class meeting upon your return. Late work is
subject to a penalty of 25 points on a 100 point
assignment. Late work will be accepted only within two
days of the original due date. After that it will not be
accepted. Incomplete work handed in on time will not be eligible
for do-overs. Incomplete work handed in late will not be
accepted.
Resources for Extra Help
I am available before and after school most days to provide help
with your work. I arrive around 7 am and will usually be here
until at least 2:30 pm.
First Quarter
Stars and the Night Sky Basics
Watched “Powers of Ten” video. This is a classic
in the world of science videos and gives an overview of the entire
universe seen at different distance scales.
Write a brief reaction paper to describe what you learned from
this video. What was the take-home message?
Due this week: your own Personal Introduction Essay
This week we also build a homemade planisphere for use in
predicting the constellations that are visible in the night sky. A
list of
constellations will
be provided as well.
Next we will begin to learn to use the Planisphere and equivalent
tools on the internet.
The following activities require information in the
The Edmund Sky Guide by Terence Dickinson and
Sam Brown, which was handed out in class.
Questions
about Sky Motion: An assignment to read a packet and use your
planisphere to answer some questions.
Questions about
the Stars: a continuation of the set of questions begun last
week about the
Edmund Sky Guide.
These questions concern a bit more about the motions of the sky
and a little about the stars.
Questions about
the Stars 2: covering stellar magnitudes and spectral
types
We will have a quiz over the previous material before
moving on to another topic.
We will spend one or two days in the computer lab
Exploring
Astronomy Online
Before moving on we will take some time to learn to use the
Sky View
Café:
Web
Assignment: Sky View Café: we will spend time in the
computer lab to work on this. The assignment uses an amazing
online tool called the
Sky View Café, which allows you to see
what’s in the sky at any time from the remote past to the
distant future from any place on Earth.
The above assignment is aided by a general reference sheet on the
constellations
available
here.
Latitude, Longitude and the Seasons
Activity:
Latitude and Longitude: This serves as an introduction to the
Seasons topic. Getting familiar with how locations on the globe
are specified and with some important lines of latitude will make
understanding the seasons lessons easier.
Introduction to
the Seasons: an activity with a few questions to introduce
students to some of the key issues in understanding the cause of
the seasons and the apparent motions of the Sun.
After the above in-class activities we will begin working on the
materials about the seasons found at the Nebraska Astronomy Applet
Project site titled
Basic Coordinates
and Seasons Module. Download and work through the
Basic
Coordinates and Seasons Student Guide if working at home. The
material covers the basics of latitude and longitude, right
acension and declination and the basics of why we have seasons on
Earth.
This week we will wrap up our work on the seasons with the
following activity:
Questions:
Motions of the Sun
We will have a quiz on the seasons when we have completed
all of this work.
Exploring
Astronomy Online: Visit some great sites and learn what the
Internet has to offer when it comes to learning about Astronomy!
page break
Second Quarter
Phases of the Moon
We begin our study of the phases of the Moon with this
activity:
Phases of the
Moon
We continue our study of the Moon in class with this activity:
Moon
Phases and Rise and Set Times
Activity:
The Size of the Sun
We will further our study of the Moon using the
NAAP Moon
Simulator and these questions:
Moon
Phases with Simulator
Solar Interlude
Activity:
the Size of the Sun This page includes an in-class activity
with questions to complete for homework and a separate homework
assignment.
We will end our study of the Moon by summarizing what we have
learned in a class discussion.
After this discussion students will make
posters to display
all that they have learned about the Moon and the Phases of the
Moon. The poster will be counted as a quiz grade. The
grading rubric for
the poster is available.
There will be a quiz on the Phases of the Moon.
The Solar System
The
Size of the Solar System. This activity should require several
hours of class time to complete.
Asteroids,
Part I
Asteroids,
Part II
Asteroids,
Part III
Asteroid Facts
Worksheet
Asteroids:
What should be done about Apophis?
Activity:
Orbits and Ellipses.
Orbit Simulator Activity Fill out the questions in the “Notebook” and print out. An in-class, computer lab activity.
See the information and lessons and activities at the Univ of CO, Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics:
LASP. Probably a great resource to develop more lessons about the solar system.
an on-line research activity
All students are required to take the final exam: the exam will be
comprehensive.
