INDEPENDENT PROJECT: The Spring Night Sky

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1 INDEPENDENT PROJECT: The Spring Night Sky Your Name: Today s world of clicking and surfing around on the web has probably reduced our ability to patiently, deliberately, and intensely observe. Looking is passive. Observing is a skill that is much more than looking. The looker glances for a moment and then moves on. The observer studies, considers, compares observations with predictions, makes drawings, and writes notes. Being able to observe is a necessary skill for you to have if you are to conduct any science. It requires practice. The goal is not to look; it is not to see; it is not just to name the things you see; it is to observe. To observe is to discover things you never truly knew before. In this exercise, The Spring Night Sky, the objectives are to: 1. Observe, identify, and locate stars. This includes locating and naming several specific stars and measuring (with hands and eyes) angles between stars. 2. Study constellations and asterisms. This involves identifying groups or patterns of stars. 3. Identify and locate any visible planets (which can be seen without a telescope). 4. If the Moon is visible, identify its phase and locate it. Tips on being prepared for observing: Observe from a dark, elevated site with a wide, unimpeded view of the sky. The best observing requires no artificial lights in sight - really, no lights within many miles would be ideal, and no city night glow in general, either. Get as far from any artificial lights as you can. Also get to as high an elevation above sea level as possible. Do not observe with any lights on nearby, including streetlights. Get away from them. Preserve your night vision. It takes the eyes minutes to become dilated and achieve night vision. A white beam from a flashlight or car headlights will disrupt your night vision and you will not be able to see as many stars. Soft red light does not ruin your night vision. To see things like this page in the dark while observing the night sky, use a red flashlight or LED. Put a red balloon over the end of a flashlight or buy a keychain red LED light for a couple of dollars at a local store. Dress appropriately to stay warm and comfortable while standing outside for an hour. It is often colder than you expected. Coat, hat - don t let the cold stop you from observing. Take a camera to meet the photography requirement (see below for details). All the drawings must be real drawings you made while outside under the stars. Draw only what you actually see. Do not copy constellations from star charts, and DO NOT draw lines connecting the stars in your constellation drawings. Any constellation drawn with lines connecting its stars earns zero points. Four different nights is the minimum requirement for how many nights you observe the night sky and record your results for this project. This includes at least one postmidnight, pre-morning-light session. The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 1

2 Your Night Sky Project: What Must You Turn In? For each night you observe you MUST create a page that contains the following information: 1. Date 2. Times (start time and end time) 3. Location (be specific, give an address or a physical description of where your observing site is located) 4. Weather (be specific, give the temperature and describe the cloudiness, haziness, windiness) 5. Quality of seeing (excellent, good, moderate, or poor, and why) 6. Labeled drawings of constellations/stars/planets (see below for targets). a. Each drawing must include an indication of the horizon - sketch hills/houses/trees, or if looking high in the sky draw an arrow pointing down toward the horizon stating which compass direction the arrow points. 7. Each drawing must have your name and the date on it. The Photography Requirement: A. At least three of your constellation drawings must be accompanied by a photograph you took of that part of the sky during that observing session. B. At least one of your planet drawings must be accompanied by a photograph you took of that part of the sky during that observing session, in which the planet is visible. C. Any drawing that includes the Moon (at least one such drawing is required must be accompanied by a photograph in which the Moon is visible. D. The photographs should be printed on (or glued upon) regular notebook-size pages and should be date-stamped. (If your camera does not have the date-stamp option, write the date and time on the page with the photo.) Add a caption stating what is depicted in the photograph (what the camera was aimed at when you took the photograph). E. Digitally submitted photos of our drawings are not accepted, unless you are scanning and submitting the entire project digitally, not just parts of it. F. Your photographs must attached to the rest of the project, and captioned and labeled to show what is in them and which night they go with. I may patiently wait for a student to show me their photos on their cell phone after they have turned the rest of their night sky project in. And then, when grading their night sky project, I will disregard those photos they showed me, because they don t count if they did not get turned in as an integrated part of their report in the first place. Got it? NOTE: If you find it difficult to get the stars to show up in your photographs, then perhaps try borrowing a digital camera, or get a night-sky photography app if using a smartphone and learn how to use it. Try taking photographs of the brightest celestial objects the brightest stars and/or or the brightest planets. At least those should show up in your photographs. The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 2

3 Format The format of your report reflects the quality of your work and has a big influence on the points it will earn. A high-quality report will have a cover page that gives an explanatory title and all necessary related information; an introduction that explains what the report is about and what you did to create it; a table of contents; a page before each drawing that tells the date, time, weather, and quality of seeing; no lines connecting stars in constellations; labels of the constellations, bright stars, planets, and the Moon (specifying its phase) where they appear in the drawings; photographs that are labeled or captioned to explain when, where, and what they are of; and a table of the angles you measured for the assigned things in the sky, using a compass or sense of direction, and your hand to measure the angles, to a precision of no better than ± two degrees. OBSERVING TARGETS AND TASKS Note: You also need to observe any of the planets that are visible to the naked eye, so check in advance to see which planets will be up and which constellations they will be in, so you can find them and draw them as a key part of your night sky observing. See #8, The Planets, below. 1. The circumpolar constellations. On clear nights, the circumpolar stars are always visible from mid-latitudes (like Wenatchee) and from higher latitudes closer to the earth s North Pole. In the northern sky, locate the star Polaris and constellations Ursa Minor (includes the Little Dipper asterism), Ursa Major (includes the Big Dipper asterism), Cepheus, and Cassiopeia. Draw a sketch of the stars you see defining the circumpolar constellations. Label the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and the stars Polaris and Mizar/Alcor. o Note: Only label Alcor if you can see it, a faint star right next to Mizar. 2. The Big Dipper Asterism as a Locator. This needs to be a separate drawing from the one you make for the circumpolar constellations (above). It needs to be made either later the same night or else on a different night. Draw the Big Dipper Asterism. On your drawing of the Big Dipper, draw an arrow through the pointer stars extending in the direction of Polaris, the North Star. Label the tip of the arrow to Polaris. Draw an arcing arrow extending through and beyond the handle of the Big Dipper, and label it arc to Arcturus. (Note: For many more ways to use the Big Dipper, and Orion, to find constellations, check out the web page 3. The Summer Triangle asterism. Early in fall quarter, right after dark, these stars, and the constellations they are in, are fairly high in SW quadrant of the sky. By December they will be located much lower toward the western horizon and Altair will be setting right after dark. Draw and label the three stars of the Summer Triangle, Deneb, Vega, and Altair. Indicate which way is north (N) and which way is west (W) on your drawing. The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 3

4 Important: See the section on Altazimuth below for measuring angles between these stars. Around each star of the Summer Triangle, draw the other stars you can see of its constellation. The stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair, are in, respectively, the constellations Cygnus (the Swan), Lyra (the lyre, a stringed musical instrument), and Aquila (the Eagle). Important: This has to be done early in the fall, soon after dark. 4. Andromeda and Pegasus 5. Hercules 6. Perseus Draw and label the constellations Andromeda and Pegasus. Note that you should see the great square (box, diamond, or kite) of Pegasus, as a square (tilted onto one corner so it looks to some people like a diamond or kite). Show with a label and an arrow to a small circle where the Andromeda galaxy is located. Draw and label the constellation Hercules. Circle and label approximately where in the vicinity of Hercules you could see galaxy M13, if you had a telescope pointed there. Draw and label the constellation Perseus. Circle and label approximately where in the vicinity of Perseus you could see the double star cluster, the pair of star clusters close by each other, NGC 869 and NGC 884, if you had a telescope pointed there. Note that if you are at a site away from any artificial light, with little moonlight in the sky, and with a very clear sky, you can see the fuzzy spots of the double cluster in Perseus, NGC 869 and NGC 884, with the naked eye, if you have good eyesight 7. The Moon You are likely to see the Moon on at least one of the nights you observe. If so, you are expected to take advantage of the opportunity to include it in your observing results. Draw the Moon, name its phase, give its altazimuth coordinates, and state which constellation it is in. Also, remember to photograph it. 8. The Planets. Observe, draw and label as many of the following planets as you can see this fall (all are possible, three is minimum for passing this category): Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury. On your drawings of each planet you see: Label each planet. Draw the brightest stars you can see in the vicinity of the planets. Label the constellation each planet is in. Give the altazimuth coordinates for the planet. The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 4

5 Look up when the planets will be up and visible in the night sky this fall, and where in the sky they ll be, and fill in the following table. This is your planet prediction table. Planet Prediction Table Mercury (you don t need to see Mercury, it is not required. It s hard to spot Mercury if you have any hills or mountains on your eastern and/or western horizon. But if you do see it: bonus points. Venus Mars Saturn Jupiter Two recommended sources to help you plan our observing, and find your stars and planets, are In the Sky and EarthSky-Tonight. See their websites at and (click on Tonight). Cite any sources of information you actually use here: The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 5

6 Altazimuth Coordinates and Angular Separations of things you observe in the night sky. Fill in the following table to record the date/time and altazimuth coordinates of selected objects as you see them in the night sky, and for angles between selected objects. These measurements, conducted by you while observing the celestial objects in the sky and written down here, are required for a significant amount of points in this project. Polaris azimuth: altitude: Dubhe azimuth: altitude: Arcturus azimuth: altitude: Antares azimuth: altitude: Moon azimuth: altitude: Jupiter azimuth: altitude: Mars azimuth: altitude: Saturn azimuth: altitude: Mercury* azimuth: altitude: Angle between Mars and Polaris: Angle between Mars and Saturn: Arcturus: Regulus: If you don t look at the sky at night in time to observe some of the data above, fill in your choice of alternative altazimuth positions and angles between things that you did see, below. azimuth: altitude: azimuth: altitude: azimuth: altitude: Angle between and : : Angle between and : : Angle between and : : The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 6

7 You must measure the angles yourself. Therefore, they will only be accurate to a ± 4 precision and cannot be written to more than whole-number units. Remember, except for any asterisms you are instructed to draw, do not draw lines connecting stars in your constellations. Only draw what you see. Each drawing of things relatively low in the sky must either include some horizon features roughly sketched, such as hills, trees, or outlines of buildings in your view, to orient your sketch for those who look at it later. Always indicate a direction on drawings: N, S, E, or W. Finally, and necessarily: On the next page, on the Hertzprung-Russell diagram, plot (graph) the location of each star you observed in your night-sky observing project. Lab each star by name as well, in small letters. (If necessary, draw a line or arrow from the name to the star.) The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 7

8 The Autumn Night Sky Fall 2018 Page 8

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