Are There Aliens Out There?

Do you believe in aliens? Tell me what you think, and use the information found here to examine both sides of the question. Play with your assumption using the Drake equation. Post as a blog entry.

Religion vs. Science--The Big Bang??

As we have stated over and over in this class, there is no way to effectively overlap religion and science because they answer two fundamental questions. However, people still try to do it.
The most common religious belief in Manchester, IA is Christianity. Often, students ask if the Big Bang (science) and religious belief (which is NOT science) can be compatible. The answer, of course, depends on the specific tenets of your belief system. Roman Catholic and many Protestant religions argue that the two are compatible, suggesting one is DATA and one is DIVINELY REVEALED.
Here is the text from Genesis 1. Do you think this is a contradiction, or a support of the Big Bang Theory?

Enter as 3-4 paragraph blog post.

Hubble Deep Field

Go to the Hubble Galaxy Hunt activity. Take the time you need to explore, but when you are done, I need you to write a 4-6 paragraph reflection on your impressions, including data, statistics, and size factors. Do this on your blog. I will know it is the right post because I want you to link the image that is found here as a picture on your blog.

Galaxy Quest

Please watch these videos. Then, to find out more about Galaxies in general, go to Galaxy Zoo and Register. Go through the tutorial and print the Congratulations sheet at the end to hand in, as evidence. You must do this INDIVIDUALLY in either the north lab or in my room.

Then, work on your creative story about stellar evolution.

Stellar Evolution and the HR Diagram

How HR Diagrams evolve

Life Cycles of Stars

The Effects of Mass on Life Cycle


As you go through the timeline, jot down ideas of how stars evolve. Include facts such as mass, color, elements, and the type of death they undergo. You will be writing a murder mystery story on one of the stellar characters you encounter. Story should be 1-2 pages, typed, and posted on your blog. Include a visual on the post to help set the scene.

SDSS Scavenger Hunt

You will be completing a scavenger hunt found here This scavenger hunt uses CCD technology.

The worksheet is found at http://cas.sdss.org/dr5/en/proj/basic/scavenger/scavenger.pdf

Black Holes

Black Holes

Black Holes and General Relativity

Black Holes: No Escape

Sunspots

Sunspots are an important way that we track the sun, starting with the first observations about Galileo.
Spaceweather
Find out

a) what sunspots are
b) how they change
c) the purpose of a Maunder diagram
d) the cycle of sunspots
e) why they matter to Earth
f) when the next solar maximum will be
g) how we study them safely
h) what telescopes work the best

Post your answers, along with illustrative pictures, on your blog.

The Speed of Light in Chocolate

Get a paper plate (it works better than styrofoam) or paper towels for this activity.

Fill it with chocolate chips or mini marshmallows and heat in a microwave for 30-40 seconds. The microwave MUST have the turntable REMOVED for this experiment to work.

The microwaved sugar will have dead spots that correspond to the nodes on a transverse wave. Measure the distance between nodes, and come up with an average spacing. This should be expressed on your blog in cm. This length represents one-half of a microwave. Double it, and you will have the length of your microwave. This should be expressed on your blog in cm.

Using the formula speed= wavelength*frequency, we can figure out how many waves pass through your microwave in a second. Take the speed of light in m/s and divide by the wavelength of the microwave in m (if you have it in cm, you need to change to m by moving the decimal point two places to the left). The number you get will be the number of waves your microwave is producing each second. This should be expressed on your blog in numbers/second.

Write a 1-2 paragraph reflection on this experiment on your blog. Were you surprised at anything in this experiment? Why is a microwave a type of light? **Bonus: why is microwave light important to astronomy.

This assignment is due by Friday, 2/20 for full credit (20 points) You must show a visual of the completed microwave lab (a MMS message to me, a picture on your blog, or a cell phone photo shown to me in class).

The speed of light is 300,000,000 m/s, roughly.

You and Your Passion

Annie Jump Cannon spent her entire life following her passion. It was not common for a woman in her day to get a degree in physics. It was not common for a woman to have a career. And it was not common for anyone to have the dedication to do one thing for almost 400000 specimens.

So now, I ask you: What's your passion? What do you dream about doing in your future? Post a 2-3 paragraph reflection on your blog.

It's the End of the World as we Know it....or not.

Spaceweather

The World will end!
No, it won't!

Well, what do you think? Support your blog post with references, video clips, or other material to illustrate your point.

Tell me about Comets

Tell me about comets.  Use the terms nucleus, head, tail, coma in your description.  Describe their orbits.  Find out five facts about one of the following:  Halley's comet, Shoemaker-Levy comet, or Hale-Bopp comet.   Post as a blog, with a visual to support your comments.

Rocky planets and plate activity

An iron core, surrounded by magma, surrounded by a crust, is a feature of a rocky planet or a moon that exhibits rocky tendencies.

Find out what you can about volcanic activity on the Moon and on Mars, and write a 2-3 paragraph blog summary. List your sources

Plate Techtonics

The mid Atlantic ridge has experienced many different types of study, and we have found that the North Pole oscillates over time. What does this mean?

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Focusing on One Part of the Solar System

As assigned in class, find one video about the piece of the solar system on which you are focusing. Embed this video in your blog. Summarize the video with 3-5 bullet points.

Below is an example:

• Fact 1:
• Fact 2:
• Fact 3:
• Fact 4:
• Fact 5:

Scaling the Solar System

Today, you will scale the solar system and post that scale on your blog.

Pick a diameter for the Sun.....someplace between 1 mm and 1 meter. Then, use the activity at http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/
to figure out the distance and size scale.

If the downtown four corners in the city of Manchester is where the Sun is parked, what object represents each one of the planets, and where is it located.

You will need to post this information on your blog. When you get done, comment on the accuracy of the scale found in the diagram above (2-4 sentences).

Quiz following Moon Movie

1. What is one theory for how the moon formed?
2. Why does the earth have erosion on its surface but the moon doesn't have erosion?
3. How do the moon help with the earth's rotation?
4. How long does it take for the moon to rotate on its axis (Hint--we always see one side of the moon)

A Brief History of Astronomers

History and the Universe (25 pts)
Scale the Solar System

Compile the following information into a project that reflects your understanding of the history of astronomy. This can be a series of powerpoint slides, a music video/rap, a vlog, a youtube video, or a series of blog posts.

ASTRONOMERS:

• Aristotle,
• Hipparchus,
• Ptolemy,
• Carl Sagan,
• Stephen Hawking,
• Pope Gregory XIII,
• Albert Michelson (Michelson-Morley experiment),
• James Van Allen,
• Henrietta Leavitt,
• Copernicus,
• Tycho Brahe,
• Galileo Galilei,
• Isaac Newton,
• Edwin Hubble,
• Albert Einstein,
• Johannes Kepler,
• Clyde Tombaugh,
• Annie Cannon,
• Arno Penzias/Robert Wilson,
• S. Chandrasekhar,
• Ray Davis/John Bahcall

For each astronomer: Include the years of their birth/death dates and a picture. Hint: Google Images will be especially helpful with this.

For each astronomer: Include one or two relevant contributions in astronomy (um, Galileo has FIVE), as well as the approximate year of those discoveries. Note if the information is from your book or a website Also note that this is a survey of astronomers; as a result, not all information will be found in your book.

Slide sorter: Use the slide sorter on Powerpoint to put the astronomers into order chronologically

Resources:
Use the classroom book, Chapters 1 and 2, the index, and especially the links on pp 39 and pp. 57. While the pictures do not need to be referenced, the source for each astronomer MUST be listed at the bottom of each page.

Note: WIKIPEDIA is NOT a valid reference that can be listed. Neither is Google.com. They are starting points for future reference.

My First Entry

I want to tell you about myself...but Orion is more interesting