Explore and Discover Observing - Astronomy Projects and Science Guides

Welcome to http://sunra.lbl.gov/~vhoette/Explorations/edo/ Moving Objects \| Phases of Venus and the Moon \| Planets and Moons \| Astro-Spectroscopy \| Active Galactic Nuclei \| Supernova \| Star Clusters \| Planetary Nebulae \| E. E. Barnard's Star \| Tactile Astronomy \|

Astronomy Projects and Science Guides These pages are a work in progress.
Moving Objects in the Solar System
Asteroid Toutatis See this image in inverse grey. Sept. 21, 2004, Yerkes 24 inch telescope. The image is a composite of six images taken at 10 minute intervals to show the motion of Toutatis. The telescope was pointed to this asteroid by students from Williams Bay HS and Badger HS. Here is a graphic of all six images. Print, cut out and assemble to make a flipbook. Download Toutatis fts images and add them together using HOU-IP software.	Find an Asteroid... Comet or Other Moving Solar System Object Follow the motions of known solar system objects. Search to discover new ones. There are countless asteroids and comets orbiting the Sun. Plenty for everyone to track and map. All are interesting. Some astronomers are searching for ones that are in Near Earth Orbit and other astronomers search for dim ones way out by the orbits of Pluto and beyond.
	To observe solar system objects you will need to look up the coordinates. The code for Yerkes Observatory is 754. Ephemeris Generator http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eph What's Observable? http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/what_obs IAU: Minor Planet Center http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html SkyCAL http://www.calsky.com/ You may need to put in the latitude and longitude for Yerkes Observatory if you wish to set this up for observations you request from the telescopes at Yerkes. Here are the coordinates. Longitude -88.556, Latitude 42.57 Coordinate System WGS84. Or, try this preset Yerkes link. Hands-On Universe Teachers may request images taken by telescopes. Use this request page and click in the second submit button to fill out your request for objects in the solar system. You will have to have the coordinates which you find by looking up the objects in the above links. You may also copy and paste tables of object positions in the 'reason' section of the request. http://sunra.lbl.gov/participant/requests/requestobs.html People who look for and discover solar system objects: Chad Trujillo discovered Quarar, Sedna, and 2004DW. Bob Holmes is an amateur astronomer who looks for and finds asteroids. Andy Puckett, a graduate student at Univ. of Chicago, is working on searching for distant asteroids. Kuiper Belt object discovered by Hands-On Universe Students: HOU Asteroid Research Project
Phases of Venus and our Moon
	Why do we see Phases? Follow the Phases of Venus or our Moon. Figure out how the geometry between us as observers on Earth, the Sun and our Moon or Venus work together to create the phases that we observe.
Planets and Moons
	Track a Moon By following the motions of moons around planets, such as Saturn or Jupiter, determine the orbital diameters and periods. Use this data with Newton and Kepler's laws to calculate the mass of the planet being observed.
Astro-Spectroscopy
	Astro-Spectroscopy What's in stars? How hot are stars? How old are stars and how far away are they? O B A F G K M Astronomers assign stars to these spectral type categories. See for yourself the signature of the stars that determines their classification. We have pointed out Objective Prism Telescope at stars and nebulae, then taken images with an SBIG ST8 CCD. You will open spectra images and analyzing them with the slice tool in Hands-On Universe image processing software. You will import the data to an Excel template for calibration. Then you will be able to figure out the elements present in these far away celestial objects by the absorption and emission lines you see in their spectrum. Use this data to learn about the star and apply models that will characterize the star's composition, temperature, and age, and distance.
Monitor Active Galactic Nuclei
	Active Galactic Nuclei An exciting area of study today involves monitoring Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN's) for changes in brightness. These galaxies are distant, yet very bright. They are also known as Blazars and Quasars. It is thought that they are powered by giant black holes.
Search for Supernova
	Supernova A supernova results from the energy released during the implosion/explosion of a star much more massive than our Sun during the final phases of its existence. Though the central star in this image is in a galaxy millions of light years away, it appears as bright as stars in our own galaxy. If you observe the same galaxies over and over, you may discover a 'new star' or track the light curve of a recently discovered supernova! We have been keeping track of supernova SN 2004et in the constellation Cepheus. You can see images here taken with the 24 inch telescope (y24) and with the 10 inch rooftop telescope (yrt10 or ELM).
Star Clusters
	Star Clusters Make a Color Magnitude Diagram and Determine the Age of the Cluster. Take filtered images of star clusters and analyze the brightness of the stars in different colors to determine characteristics of the clusters in a color magnitude diagram which can lead you to estimate the age of the cluster.
Planetary Nebulae
	Planetary Nebula What happens to a star like the sun at the end of it's life? It shrinks down to a very hot white dwarf star about the size of Earth within a nebula of gas and dust blown off from the star's outer layers. Collect and catalog these beautiful nebula. Study their images by using color filters. Even study their spectra to figure out which gases are present!
Edward Emerson Barnard and Barnard's Star
	Barnard's Star Edward Emerson Barnard discovered a star with very high proper motion, now called Barnard's Star. Currently its position is RA 17 57 48.50, Dec + 4 41 36.24. All stars, even our Sun are moving through space. They orbit in our galaxy but some have different speeds and directions. A star's proper motion shows this motion in space in reference to other stars. Barnard's star has the highest proper motions of any stars we observe. Frank Mills and Vivian Hoette have taken .fts images of Barnard's Star using the Yerkes 24 inch telescope periodically since the spring of 2000. See on-line movies of the motion of Barnard's Star, made with these images. See also A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way. http://www.library.gatech.edu/barnard/. Frank Mills has taken notes for us on a book about Barnard, The Immortal Fire Within by William Sheehan. To find the position of a star or a deep sky object, you can use a web tool called SkyView Virtual Observatory. http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/ In this example you could simply type in Barnard's Star in the box labeled Coordinates or Source, then press go. You will get an image of the sky where the object can be found and the coordinates.
Tactile Astronomy for the Blind and Visually Impaired
	Tactile Images for Project SEE Astronomers often use digital cameras to record images of celestial objects. These digital images can be displayed in inverse gray and then copied onto special heat sensitive paper. The special paper is then put through a thermo-form graphics machine to raise the darkened areas to make a tactile print. We are making collections of images to support astronomy projects by students who are blind and visually impaired. In fact many of these images are taken by the students themselves when they come to Yerkes Observatory for an Astronomy Camp, or use our remote telescopes. Moon Pictures to make into tactile form with a Swellform Graphics Machine.
Hands-On Universe^TM * NSF * NASA IDEAS * SOFIA and Active Astronomy * University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory Wednesday November 10, 2004 16:09:14 -0600