Category: Astronomy

This is your next assignment of the session. You may type or write manually on it. Please write legibly. If I cannot read it, then I cannot grade it 🙂

Discussion 2: The Cosmic Calendar
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One thing we will see in later chapters is a general life cycle for the Sun. Astronomers can estimate that since the Sun’s formation, it has brightened by 30% over the past 4.5 billion years. It will continue to get brighter still during the next 4.5 billion years. The temperature of the Earth depends directly on the solar luminosity (brightness), so the Earth will heat up. There are feedback mechanisms that help maintain a more-or-less stable climate on Earth – consider trees and the greenhouse effect. But these naturally occurring processes have their limits.
However, over the next 700 million to 1 billion years, as the Sun changes, the temperature on the Earth is projected to climb to over 200°F – right around the temperature where water evaporates. At this point, liquid water would not be able to form on Earth’s surface and life as we know it cannot exist on the planet.
Your assignment: Speculate about the far future. Where will human beings be in a billion years?
One thing that can help put extinction events like this into a cosmological perspective is the Cosmic Calendar. Mentioned in Chapter 1, this “calendar” takes the entirety of the Universe’s history and condenses it into 1-year on a regular calendar. On a calendar like this, dinosaurs survived about one-week while humans have been around for only a few hours.
A really good explanation of this calendar is also available in the 2014 Cosmos series, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. (This show is a re-creation of the 1980’s Cosmos series with host Carl Sagan.)
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey – Cosmic CalendarLinks to an external site. by carterjrfilmsLinks to an external site. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3sjrbk

Use this document to submit your data and responses.
Each season brings on new constellations due to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. There are four seasonal star maps or star charts. Choose the season star chart appropriate or as directed, make your observations, and record them in the provided table.

Describe how the Planetarium at Fayetteville State University proves the rotation of the Earth Write a one page paper that answers the following.
This already exists – where is it?
What of Newton’s laws apply, how?
Predict what is observed
How does this prove anything?
Does this work at North Pole? Equator?

It is a common graded assignment, consisting of 5 parts. Some parts are making a graph using given data, others are small essays of 400 or less words. I will attatch both the prompt and the rubic below.

Overview
Students will be watching presentations, completing reading assignments, and joining in a discussion during the class.  In addition, students will be asked to provide written responses to four prompts directly related to the module materials.
Instructions
There are four Short Response assignments for the course.  Each Short Response assignment has its own prompt and addresses a different topic related to the class.  For each of the four Short Response assignments:
• The student must follow the specific guidance of the prompt.
• The student’s response must be between 200 and 300 words in total length.
• The student must use proper grammar, spelling and syntax, but there is no specific “style” requirement (MLA, APA, etc.).
• The student is only allowed one attempt.  Edit and proof-read work carefully prior to submission.
• The student must submit the short response as a Word document.
Response Prompt
For this short response, imagine that we can break some of the laws of physics or use some futuristic technologies.  If you could visit any object in our solar system, what would it be and why?  Your response should be 200-300 words in length.
• Clearly identify the specific object (planet, moon, asteroid, comet, etc.) by name and general location within the solar system.
• Discuss why you chose the object.  For example–What makes this object interesting to you?  What would you hope to see or do there?  Are there questions you think your visit might help to answer?  Include relevant details about the object from the course as part of that discussion.  If you choose to include any additional details from outside the course, cite the source(s). Note: citations are not part of the word-count requirement!

Do not exceed the word limit.
4 required sources. 
Sources must be a reputable Authority on astronomy or physics (i.e.,  either the author of a published paper or book, or if a purely online source, an academic or journalist at a reputable publishing or academic Institution.  Do not use information from blogs!!!
no more than four direct quotations and only two lines of the quotations. citations are a must, even when you are paraphrasing. 

The purpose of this paper is to explore a topic of your choice related to astronomy, to its effect on our society, its importance for our future, or its role in the evolution of philosophical and religious ideas. The paper should be an independent piece of work that expresses your thoughts, backed by at 5 sources. The length of the paper should be between 5 to 7 pages. The cover page and the reference page do NOT count towards your 5-7 pages. Be sure to include citations throughout the paper, and remember to express your thoughts and opinions as well! 

Instructions:
1. Choose the time of day/night you will observe the Moon. Pick a time you can commit to for at
least 14 days.
2. Use a Moon calendar to select the dates you will make your observations. Be sure that the Moon
is visible (that is, risen but not set) during the time you selected in step 1.
3. Find a place to do your observations where the horizon is relatively unobscured toward the south.
Come back to this place each time you do an observation.
4. On a sheet of paper sketch what you see along the southern horizon, extending from west to east.
Draw in a horizontal and vertical scale in 10-degree increments.
5. Beginning on the date you chose in Step 2, do the following things each day for the next 14 days:
a. Measure the altitude and azimuth of the Moon.
b. Record these values in a table along with the date, time, Moon phase, and notes about the
conditions, your impressions, etc.
c. On your sketch, draw the Moon as it appears to you. Be sure to draw it at the correct location
based on its altitude and azimuth. Shade in the maria that you see. Write the date next to your
drawing.
6. Be sure to come back to the same place at the same time (no more than +/- 15 minutes) for
each observation.
7. If you happen to miss an observation, make a note of that in your table. Then try again the
following day. You need to have at least 12 successful observations.
What to turn in:
1. Your sketch showing the changing location and appearance of the Moon (minimum of successful
10 observations, all on the same sketch).
2. Your table with the date, time, altitude, azimuth, and phase of the Moon during your observa-
tions, as well as notes on your observations. Please type your table.
3. The answers to the following analysis questions. Please type your answers.
Analysis questions:
1. How many degrees did the Moon move along the horizon (east/west) each day? Give the mini-
mum and maximum amounts as well as the average.
2. How many degrees did the Moon move vertically (in altitude) each day? Give the minimum and
maximum amounts as well as the average.
3. Explain why the location of the Moon changes in the sky as viewed at the same time over the
course of your observations.
4. What did you learn by completing this project?
5. What was challenging about this project?
Your project is due on the last day of class. No late work will be accepted. (But you can certainly
turn in your work early.)
One final tip: Start your project early! The weather is unpredictable, and you don’t want to
lose points because you couldn’t make enough observations. (Former students say this is the most
important suggestion they would give to future students, and I agree.)