Am I Wrong or Am I Right? (10 pts)

Here are the class responses to the movie "Great Books: Galileo's Dialogue. Take some time to look at these, and find three points you agree with and three points you disagree with. Explain your rationale.

This should be a comment at the end of the post.

Due Date 8/29/2008

Astro Lab 1: the Number of Stars in the Heaven (20 pts)

Go outside one night in the next week, and use a toilet paper tube as your viewfinder. Point your viewfinder towards three different constellations in the sky (use your starmap or stellarium to identify them). Look through the viewfinder and count the number of stars you see. Post on your blog in a list

Constellation Name # of Stars I Saw
1.
2.
3.

Now, take an average of those three counts, and multiply by 100. This gives you the number of stars you can see in the sky on an average night.

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How does this work? Well, the average tube is about 11.5 cm long, and about 2.3 cm across. If we calculated the Surface Area of a sphere that was made entirely of toilet paper tubes (4 pi * r^2=1667 cm^2


If we figure each tube is about 2.3 cm across, the Area of the tube is about pi*2.3^2= cm^2=16.7 cm^2. 1667/16.7 = about 100 tubes to view the entire night sky... assuming you have the same type of toilet paper I do.

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So, do you expect everyone in the class to get the same number of stars according to a range of say, +/- 100? Yes or no? Explain your rationale.

Due Date 9/4

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, a vlog, a youtube video, or a paper timeline.

ASTRONOMERS:
Aristotle, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Pope Gregory XIII, Albert Michelson (Michelson-Morley experiment), James Van Allen, Bode, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Edwin Hubble, Albert Einstein, Johannes Kepler, Clyde Tombaugh, Annie Cannon, Robert Wilson, S. Chandrasekhar .

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. Mail electronically, post on your blog, but do NOT print a paper copy unless it is a visual timeline. Notify me in the comments when you are done.

Resources:
Use your 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.

Due Date: 8/28/2008

8/21/2008

What is the URL of your blog? By now, you should have one. When you get it, I need you to send me a link: via facebook, text, or email(mapowellATmapowellDOTorg)

Create a first post that tells me something about who you are. This is worth 10 points and must be completed by Monday, 8/25.