Assignment: Choose a short observational project which interests you. Decide what measurements need to be made, gather the necessary equipment, make the observations carefully, and write a poster paper and a standard lab report. (This should include purpose, equipment, procedure, raw data, calculations, graphs, assumptions, conclusions, comparison with accepted values, error analysis, and discussion.) Remember to estimate your errors as you take the measurements.
Tools available: small telescopes, camera/tripod/filters, CCD camera and image archives, binoculars, stopwatch, sextant, Sunspotter, Voyager software, celestial sphere, clock drive, grating, spectroscope, theodolite, radio telescope, online sources such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Some Possible Projects with Solar System Objects:
1. Period of Earth's rotation: solar and sidereal, by sighting pole
(on two successive clear days, then two successive days a month later)
to determine the changing speed of the Earth.
2. Sundials: construction in cardboard or wood and comparison of three
different types (flat horizontal with vertical gnomon, flat horizontal
with inclined gnomon, cylindrical inclined, wall with inclined gnomon).
3. Outdoor Gizmos
4. Measure Earth's circumference with a noon pole shadow (ala Eratosthenes,
the Noon Day Project), 3 clear days before March 21 and 3 days after.
5. Direction of true north using the sun and also Polaris, and comparison
with magnetic north and landmarks on maps.
6. Direction of the setting point (or the rising point) of the sun
on the horizon (at least once a week) to determine the horizontal apparent
speed of the sun.
7. Determination of your location on Earth by celestial navigation
(by sextant).
8. Whole Moon photos or sighting measurements every few days through a
whole month: (phases, measure changes in the Moon's size, then calculate
distances, orbit eccentricity).
9. Moon close-up: shadow and height of a mountain or crater rim.
10. Moon passing a bright star or planet: calculate the Moon's orbital
speed and period.
11. Moon illusion (it looks large near the horizon).
12. Crater formation in other soils than sand: measure crater diameters
from balls falling from various heights into two other soils (dirt, snow,
flour, plaster powder, salt, sugar, ..).
13. Lunar eclipse: darkness, color.
14. Earthshine photos: brightness, contrast.
15. Star trails: photograph trails and horizon for 15 minutes, 30 minutes,
60 minutes, calculate your latitude and Earth's rotation period.
16. Motion of a constellation with time and date.
17. Clarity of atmosphere: star trails show extinction as they near the
horizon.
18. Light pollution: Use binoculars or camera to determine the faintest
star visible from a variety of locations in our area from urban to rural.
19. Venus: observing it every few evenings for a month and seeing phases,
apparent motion relative to your horizon; try seeing it in the daytime.
20. A planet's motion against the background constellations (Mars or Venus
are possible).
21. Jupiter's moons: orbit periods, mass of Jupiter, relative brightness.
22. Saturn's moons: measure positions to determine their orbits, the mass
of Saturn.
23. Meteor shower photography: Oct 20 (Orionids), Nov 3 (Taurids), Nov 17,
(Leonids), Dec 13 (Geminids), Apr 22 (Lyrids), May 4 (Aquarids).
24. Timing occultations of stars by the Moon or by asteroids.
25. Spectrum of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars or Venus: to look for atmospheric
gases.
26. Motion of an asteroid or satellite to determine its orbit and period.
27. Images of an asteroid, measure its light intensity vs. time to determine
its tumbling period.
28. Use our radio telescope to monitor Jupiter/Io emissions, check the model
from U. Florida.
29. Use our radio telescope to monitor flares on the sun.
30. Sunspots by Sunspotter: measure number, size, and duration, then calculate
rotation of sun vs. latitude, compare with www.spaceweather.com (SOHO) or
NJIT solar observatory.
Some Possible Projects with Stars and Galaxies:
31. Temperature by color: use color filters with black and white film
or CCD, or use color film.
32. Variable star: use binoculars or camera to estimate brightness vs.
time (Delta Cephei).
33. Eclipsing star pair: Algol.
34. Binary star pairs: Sirius B, Kruger 60B, 36 Andromedae, Alpha
Geminorum, Gamma Leonis.
35. Star cluster (Beehive or Pleiades) in two colors: measure intensity of
stars and plot a color-brightness diagram.
36. Star cluster (Beehive or Pleiades) at two times: measure intensity of
stars to plot a luminosity function and to look for variable stars.
37. Counting stars in the Pleiades cluster: naked eye, binoculars, small
telescope. Try correlation with the observer's age.
38. Spectra of stars of different temperatures.
39. Spectrum of bright nebula (Orion Nebula, Crab Nebula).
40. The Milky Way in radio waves (20 MHz).
41. Nebulae or galaxies: Multiple images stacked and processed.
(Orion Nebula, Crab Nebula, The Eyes in Virgo)
42. Quasar brightness vs. time, or spectrum.
Deadline: April 23, 2007.
Projects chosen so far:
2. Sundials - Stef R.
3. Outdoor gizmos - Megan D.
4. Eratosthenes - Matt D.
6. Setting point of the sun - Mike S.
7. Latitude - Will D.
9 or 13. Moon images - Chris S.
10. Moon passing a star, Moon's orbital speed - Ted G., Kwang B.
11. Moon illusion - Hung L., Igor V.
12. Craters in other soils - Sean R. and Nick M.
18. Light pollution - Rich D.
21. Jupiter's moons - Jon N. and Ed K.
24. Lunar occultations - Ted G.
29. Radio flares on the sun - Chrissy V.
30. Sunspots - Elizabeth T.
Moon mosaic - Nathaniel F.
Send an abstract to the Student Research Symposium (win $500 for the best poster or talk!) at chss.montclair.edu/asrs by late Friday night, April 6, 2007. The symposium will take place in the MSU Student Center on Saturday, May 5.
This page is http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~west/ast280/ast280projects.html