INDEPENDENT HOMEWORK, IN GENERAL
Independent homework assignments (IH) are enrichment assignments. So, enjoy yourself! They are not supposed
to feel like homework, and they do not directly contribute to the learning you do in Freshman Physics Honors class
or in your daily homework. However, they do contribute to your awareness and enjoyment of physics.
The IH assignments come in two kinds and you will do one of each kind each quarter – so two IH assignments
each quarter. For the first kind (IH1, IH3, IH5, and IH7), you read books and/or magazine articles about physics.
You get to choose the book or articles you want to read from a list of suggested readings, in the first, third and
fourth quarters. However, in the second quarter , I choose the book and every student must read it. I do this
because this particular book is important for every young woman to read and supports the Nerinx philosophy.
For the second kind of IH assignment (IH2, IH4, IH6, and IH8) you have a wider selection of activities from which
to choose. You certainly may choose a book or set of articles to read. However, you may instead attend a physics
event, go to a science museum show, do a physics experiment, explore physics interactive websites, create
something physics-y for the classroom, etc. There are many, many options.
Tailor these IH assignments to your own interests. You get a lot of freedom in choosing exactly what you, as an
individual, are going to do for your IH. Make choices that interest you and that are at the right level of difficulty
and detail for you. Remember, these are enrichment activities. Use them to enrich your life.
That said, if you find that in a given quarter you are struggling with the class content itself, then you may choose to
use your IH not for enrichment, but to help you understand the course material. In that case you may to read books
or go to websites that deal with the class content – instead of choosing an enrichment activity.
SEE NEXT PAGE FOR PARTICULARS ABOUT IH1 AND IH2.
p. 1
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IH1 and IH2 – THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE UNIVERSE
Your email for IH2 is due to Dr. Leopold:
Wednesday, 9/16/15
Your email for IH1 is due to Dr. Leopold:
Friday, 10/16/15
In rare cases, with my permission, a student may turn in IH2 on this second due date, along with IH1. You must
ask me well ahead of time and get my permission in order to do this.
You may turn in either IH early, when you have it finished. You do not have to wait until the due date written
above.
To receive credit for an IH, you must send me an email (mleopold@nerinxhs.org). The subject line of your email
to me must be:
Your class block
one space
your last name
one space
which IH it is
Here is an example of a correct subject line, for a student named Maddie Veltz, in H block, who is turning in IH1:
H Veltz IH1
SEE PAGE 3 FOR INFORMATION ON IH1. SEE PAGE 8 FOR INFORMATION ON IH2.
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IH1 – 20 points
Read books and/or magazines about astronomy. You may use books and magazines from home, from the Nerinx
library or from your local county or city library. If you have access to a college or university library, you may also
use books from there. (You must read something new, of course; you cannot just use a book you read last year or
for another Nerinx course.) You may read books and magazines at any level – this includes books for young
children all the way up to books for adults. Whatever you would enjoy the most.
You must spend at least 120 minutes reading. (Usually this will not be enough time for you to finish a book.
That’s OK.) You should not be taking any text messages or emails, or watching TV, or have any other distractions
during this reading time. You may break the reading time into, at most, 8 sessions, with each session being at least
30 minutes long. In other words, you have to concentrate and focus on your reading.
In the email for IH1 you must tell me:
1. What you did and exactly how long you spent (to the nearest minute – so keep track).
If you read a book you must tell the title and author and which pages in the book you read. If you
read parts of several books, you must do this for each book. If you read magazine articles you must
tell the name of the article, the pages you read, the volume of the magazine (June 2014, for example)
and the name of the magazine. If you read several articles, you must do this for each one. For
reading assignments, you have to read books and magazines – you cannot read things on the web,
even if you print them first.
2. Who you told about your reading. Try to tell someone!
3. Which readings were fun/interesting enough that you would recommend them to other freshmen, and
why.
4. One new thing you learned about astronomy, that seems so interesting you think you will remember it
for a long time.
(Don’t say, “I learned more about galaxies.” Tell me specifically what you learned, so I can learn it
from you!)
Your answers must be in complete sentences. The questions must be numbered as shown above. The length of
your email should be in the range 120 - 170 words.
SEE NEXT PAGE FOR SUGGESTED READINGS.
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ASTRONOMY BOOKS – A FEW RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONSIDER
How I Killed Pluto and How It Had It Coming by Mike Brown (I loved this book! --- Dr. Leopold)
(recommended by Nina Monafo, Olivia Mannion, Kristin Estes and Catherine Kraus. Michelle
Werkmeister recommends it only to those with a strong interest in dwarf planets.)
SOLAR SYSTEM: A Visual Exploration of the Planets, Moons, and Other Heavenly Bodies that
Orbit Our Sun, by Marcus Chown (Beautiful photos!! --- Dr. Leopold) (Recommended also by
Maddy Lowdermilk and Jaimey Minie)
THE UNIVERSE, DK publishing company. Recommended by Lucy Ebeling.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SPACE (Interesting with good illustrations. --- Dr. Leopold)
St. Louis County Library
A more Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos, by Dava Sobel (This is for a
strong reader with strong interests in both the history and astronomy. --- Dr. Leopold) (Kate
Thomas agrees that the reading level is high, but still recommends it. Kelsey McNeill does NOT
recommend it.)
The Dynamic Universe: Second Edition: An Introduction to Astronomy; by Theodore P. Snow
The fifty best sights in astronomy and how to see them, by Fred Schaaf. (Gwyneth Franke
recommends this. Lizzie Homire recommends the section on Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights.
Emma Wulf recommends this only for strong readers, with a good astronomy background and a
strong interest in astronomy.)
Lives of the Planets (not recommended: Katie Rowe,
Planetary Astronomy: From Ancient Times to the Third Millennium by Ronald A. Schorn.
(Recommended by M.C. Staed
You are Here by ? (Recommended by Imani Tyson
365 starry nights. By Chet Raymo. (recommended only if you take it outside and look at the stars to
compare the sky with what the books says – Emma Kilcoyne)
1001 Things Everyone should know about the Universe. (recommended by Maggie Winter, Mabry
Shanahan)
"The Big Splat: How our Moon Came to Be" by Dana Mackenzie. (recommended by Ella Faust,
especially chapters 1 and 2)
The Dark Night Sky by Donald D. Clayton (the part about Stonehenge is recommended by Taylor
McGee
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The Origin on the Universe. (recommended by Kelly Shannahan)
Children's Night Sky Atlas (recommended by Cassie Dawson)
A Travelers' Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet, (recommended by Sarah
Straughn
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (recommended by Eli Held, especially Chapter 10 in Part
III about the Big Bang.)
Universe. (Recommended by Megan Venturella – only for those with a pretty strong interest in the
universe)
The Mysterious Universe (recommended by Emily Tlapek
Exploring the Solar System, by Mary Kay Carson. (recommended by Melina Berra who says it has
great picture and also some activities to try, but Erin Smith says you have to be interested in the solar
system to enjoy the book.)
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. (recommended if you are a strong reader, by Annalise Tierney)
The Cartoon Guide to Physics by Larry Gonick (recommended by Rachel Gabrian)
American Astronomers by Carole Ann Camp. (recommended by Claire Thomas)
Space: from Earth to the Edge of the Universe. (recommended by Hannah Hunter)
Encyclopedia of Space by Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest (recommended by Olivia Rhoads)
The Handy Astronomy Answer Book by Charles Liu (Recommended by Sophie Schoenle. Marissa
Miles recommends it, too, but warns that the reading level is high and some of the ideas are difficult
to understand.)
Point to the Stars by: Joseph Maron Joseph and Sarah Lee Lippincott (recommended by Kala
Pangelinan)
Astronomy in 365 Days by Jerry T. Bonnell and Robert J. Nemiroff (recommended by Emma
Sonderman)
Scientific Book of American Astronomy (recommended by Shelby Long, especially the chapter
entitled “Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Meets Jupiter”)
Spacewarps- A Book About Black Holes-White Holes-Quasars and Our Violent Universe. This book
is by John Green. (Recommended by Colleen Croghan, especially the chapter called “Black Holes or
White?”
Sun and Earth, (recommended by Jessica Barreras)
The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss (recommended by Erin Schrock to anyone
interested in comparing science with science fiction.)
5
The Hubble (Recommended by Aly Henning for its great photos.)
"Are We Alone?" by Paul Davies (Recommended by Maggie Dunne.)
“The Planets” by Dava Sobel (the chapter on Mythology is recommended by Rachel Maus)
"A Black Hole Is Not A Hole" Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano, (recommended by Lillie Bradshaw for
its great pictures.)
"Black Holes A journey to the heart of a black hole - and into one of the greatest mysteries of the
universe" (recommended by Lillie Bradshaw for its great pictures.)
The Home Planet. (recommended by Lily Kerns to those who are interested in what the Earth looks
like from outer space – from the point of view of an astronaut)
A Briefer History of TIme by Stephen Hawking with Leonard Mlodino (recommended by Gracie
Hesser)
Black Holes and Time Warps Einsteins Outrageous Legacy, forwarded by Stephen Hawking. (Not
fun – avoid it – although you do learn things…. --Emilie Garza )
Hubble: A New Window to the Universe. The authors are Daniel Fischer and Hilmar Duerbeck.
(Cassidy Love says the beginning drags, but the book gets interesting when they talk about how the
Hubble was built and launched.)
Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide. (recommended by Amber Sneed)
Earth, Space, and Beyond: What Do We Know About Stars and Galaxies? (recommended by
Danielle Voss, who says you have to work at reading it in the beginning, but after that you catch on
and it gets fascinating.)
Astronomy Today" by Chaisson/McMillan (recommended by Perry Lodes)
The Incredible Journey to the Planets by Nicholas Harris (recommended by Katie McLaughlin)
"Passion for Astronomy" by Patrick Moore. (Recommended by Hannah Knapik)
NOVA: Saved by the Sun --- . Mary Pinkowski would recommend this, but Sarah Bub would NOT.
EARTH by Matt ? recommended by Meredith Price
Science Magazines (You must select ASTRONOMY articles to read – reading other ones doesn’t count!)
Discover (Recommended by Mya Wells and Kathyrn Normington, but NOT recommended by
Allison Harris.
"Darklands of the Cosmos," "20 Things You Didn't Know About Gravity," "Signals From the Void,"
and "How to Live on Mars." From the Atlantic, Popular Science and/or Discover (recommended by
Lea Leisure)
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April 2013 issue of Discover (recommended by Kelly Gallagher for all the the things she learned
about the many new planets being discovered around other stars – not the Sun)
"The Benevolence of Black Holes" out of Scientific American (recommended by Mary O’Leary if
you are willing to work very hard to understand what you are reading and are fascinated by black
holes)
5 page article from Discover called, Planet Hunter. (recommended by Abby Host to people who
enjoy learning about NASA and their recent projects. )
"Tools of the Trade: Hubble Space Telescope" and "Is This the Best Place to Find Life in the Solar
System" from the magazine Discover. (recommended by Kaitlyn Reynolds
The Origin of the Universe by John D. Barrow (recommended by Courtney Haid)
Popular Science (recommended by Beka Reznikov) Scientific Book of American Astronomy
Avoid these books…
The Amateur Astronomer by Shawn Carlson. (Boring, says Courtney Haid)
7
IH2 – 20 points
Do something “astronomical.” You may attend an event, watch videos, explore web sites, do a project, or research
a topic. You get to choose!
On the next few pages, you will find a list of some events, videos, web sites, projects and research topics. If you
know of any other things, not listed here, that you would prefer to do, please get it approved by me first – send me
an email with a description. I will probably approve it and add it to the list below.
You must spend at least 120 minutes doing astronomy activities.
In the email for IH2 you must tell me:
1. What you did and exactly how long you spent (to the nearest minute – so keep track). If you use web
sites, you must tell me EACH site address and how many minutes you spend on each one.
2. Who did you do this activity with and/or who did you tell about it? Try to do these activities with
someone. At the very least tell someone in class or in your family about what you did.
3. Which activities were fun/interesting enough that you would recommend them to other freshmen, and
why?
4. One new thing you learned about astronomy, that seems so interesting you think you will remember it
for a long time.
(Don’t say, “I learned more about galaxies.” Tell me specifically what you learned, so I can learn it
from you!)
Your answers must be in complete sentences. The questions must be numbered as shown above. The length of
your email should be in the range 120 - 170 words.
8
EVENTS
DATE
Tuesday
9/15/2015
TIME
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
WHAT
Closed 9/14 –
9/18
Open on any
other date
Saturdays and
Sundays
Any week
Monday through
Saturday, 10am
– 4pm and
Sundays,
Any of the planetarium shows at the St. Louis Science Center.
http://www.slsc.org/planetarium-shows
For reservations: 800.456.SLSC x4424 or 314.289.4424
$6
Almost every student who sees “Live Sky Tonight” says it is great. Once in awhile someone says that
we already learned most of the info in Unit 1, so that made it less interesting.
A 5-minute long ride called the SOLAR COASTER in the Pulseworks Simulator at the St. Louis
Science Museum.
http://www.slsc.org/experience-flight
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11:30am – 4pm.
Any day
Any month
Every Friday
evening
One Saturday
each month
Saturday, 8:30 pm
anytime
anytime
http://www.slsc.org/Journey-To-Space#overlay-context=
See the Omnimax show called “Journey to Space”
http://parks.sccmo.org/parks/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=17
View the night sky through telescopes provided by the St. Charles Astronomical Society in this park in
St. Charles
View the night sky at the Richard D. Schwartz Observatory on the University of Missouri – Saint Louis
campus during the Public Open House - weather permitting
http://www.umsl.edu/~physics/astro/
Recommended by Ellie Rabenberg.
Visiting the Adler Planetarium when you are in Chicago.
I will post other events as I hear about them. Please let me know if you hear of any.
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VIDEOS
“Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” with Neil
de Grasse Tyson, especially episode 1 and
Available on Netflix.
episode 8, “Sister’s of the Sun
a lecture DVD from my local library. The
DVD is called "Understanding the Universe:
An Introduction to Astronomy", which is a
collection of lectures by Professor Alex
Fillippenko from the University of California
in Berkeley.
Travel INSIDE A Black Hole.
(recommended by Emma Sonderman)
Ella Faust says: I think that these lectures would be great for any freshman who
enjoy a challenge of listening to a college course, but also want to learn a lot of
interesting new things.
Asteroid
PBS online
http://video.pbs.org/video/1506748851
“Weird Planets” Lots of students like this one.
Can we Make it to Mars?
NOVA – Einstein’s Big Idea (Kala Pangelinan and
Eme Akpan recommend this)
The video is linked here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pAnRKD4raY
Lots of students like this one.
4 minute video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl5EknhEsSQ
PBS online
Lots of students liked this one.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2240306135
constellations and the stars (recommended on http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations
by Abby Host)
How the Universe Works – a TV documentary
series – recommended by Maggie Winter
Monster of the Milky Way
PBS online
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Into the Universe, by Stephen Hawking; Marissa
Miles especially recommends episode 3: The Story
of Us. Also recommended by Rachel Maus, Jaimie
Minie and many others. But Allison Harris does
NOT recommend it.
the Universe in a Nut Shell - 42 minutes.
Recommended by Emilie Garza and Eme Akpan
Netflix
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NbBjNiw4tk)
The Largest Black Holes in the Universe.
Recommended by Emilie Garza
PBS Seeing In The Dark 2007
(recommended by Hannah Clemens)
Hunting the Edge of Space
Highly recommended by Michelle Lewis, Catherine Kraus and Caroline Kraus.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1752557302/
telescopes
http://www.telescope.org/pparc/res8.html
song about the life of a star
Explains the life cycle of a star
Also explains the life cycle of a star
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueCXydnpMX4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM9CQDlQI0A
http://aspire.cosmic-ray.org/Labs/StarLife/starlife_main.html.
Look at the ones that have to do with astronomy.
www.billnye.com
50 Amazing and strange astronomy facts in
5 minutes HD and 10 Rare Astronomical
Events. (recommended by Kristin Estes)
These are on YouTube
A large set of videos made by an astronomer, telling
about her career, about astronomy, etc.
The Pluto files
Stephen Hawking’s Universe
360 minutes long for 6 episodes
(any 1 hour episode counts as 1 video)
http://www.careergirls.org/careers/astronomer
On NOVA
Available at St. Louis County Library
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NOVA episode about the black hole at the center of
our Milky Way Galaxy
The Elegant Universe – this is about “string theory”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blackhole/program.html
Show about how the Discovery Channel telescope
in Arizona was built
Any PBS video listed at this web site
Discovery Channel
Short videos on interesting topics in astronomy –
made by NASA
Science news from NASA – All the news is
astronomy news
Video about the Milky Way Galaxy
http://www.youtube.com/user/ScienceAtNASA
"Beyond the Big Bang"
On a history or science channel… (ask Shelby Long)
The Elegant Universe
PBS online
http://www.pbs.org/search/?q=the+elegant+universe&mediatype=Video
All students got something out of this one. Many found in very interesting – loved it.
On the other hand, some students felt it dragged a bit and they recommend watching
short sections of this at a time.
PBS online
http://video.pbs.org/video/1512280538
http://www.pbs.org/topics/science-nature/astronomy/
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sciencecasts/
http://www.astronomycast.com/2008/07/ep-99-the-milky-way/
The Pluto Files
Is There Life on Mars?
http://video.pbs.org/video/1456686369/
Space dangers
How to raise a scientist – get out of the way!
http://video.pbs.org/video/1741656835/
http://video.pbs.org/video/1904492543/
Any other PBS video listed at this web site
http://video.pbs.org/subject/957383708/topic/957390630/viewmode/grid
Space Shuttle Disaster"
PBS online
53 minutes
13
NOVA – Einstein’s Big Idea
library?
The Universe
By the History Channel; there are lots of episodes on different topics
Some students own the DVD set – you might be able to borrow it.
One hour long.
Maybe the county library?
Wonders of the Solar System by Prof. Brian Cox
Stephen Hawking’s Universe
360 minutes long for 6 episodes
400 Years of the Telescope
Netflix has it
Videos that explain why Pluto is no longer a planet
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Pluto&Display=OverviewLon
g
http://www.space.com/5503-astronomers-argue-pluto-planet.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3349184/Pluto-should-get-backplanet-status-say-astronomers.html
http://www.barbarafeldman.com/should-pluto-be-a-planet/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060824-pluto-planet.html
http://astroversity.blogspot.com/2007/07/explained-why-pluto-is-not-planet.html
"Finding Life Beyond Earth".
The Visible Universe: A Visual Journey Through
Space and Back in Time. NASA - Hubble Space
Telescope
‘The Largest Black Holes in the Universe’.
‘Mysterious Black Holes’
On PBS
library?
YouTube
20 minutes
YouTube
15 minutes
14
October Sky
How we sent a rover to Mars
On DVD – good movie!
Mrs. Winkler found this:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/XRCIzZHpFtY?rel=0
It is a short video showing how we send a rover to Mars. Some of it seems to be real video, but
some of it I THINK might be animation – I just can’t tell. I went to the NASA site and I see
some of this same footage, so I think we can believe that this video is correct.
15
ASTRONOMY WEB SITES
Astronomy Crash Course – 28 separate videos you can
watch in order, or just choose one or two on your
favorite topics. Each video is under 20 minutes long.
Kerbal Space Program – a game in which you explore
a solar system
The St. Louis Astronomical society web site
This has talks you can attend once a month, telescope
viewings you can attend and many reference to other
interesting web sites
Adoptaphysicist
This begins in October. You can’t work on this until
then. I try to sign us up for 3 different
astronomers/astrophysicists. You first read a couple of
paragraphs about each person. Then choose one
whose work you are interested in. Then you begin an
email conversation with him or her. You may ask
questions about his or her work day, his or her
preparation for career, the physics he or she has to
know, etc.
Learn about the planets, recommended by Abby Host
A websites that show the relative sizes of all things, starting
from the smallest and going to the largest; there are 2
different looking web addresses that take you to the same
thing
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPAJr1ysd5yGIyiSFuh0mIL
https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/en/?page_id=7
http://www.slasonline.org
http://www.adoptaphysicist.org
http://nineplanets.org/jupiter.html.
http://www.primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/scale-of-universe-v1.swf
http://scaleofuniverse.com
http://www.numbersleuth.org/universe/
A few of the very best of the many photos taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
http://www.google.com/earth/explore/showcase/hubble20th.html#tab=ngc-6302
Astronomy picture of the day
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070817.html
Women who work for NASA
http://women.nasa.gov
Website of the mission that is looking for planets around
other stars that could support life.
http://kepler.nasa.gov/
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lectures on many topics – choose ones on astronomy topics of
http://www.learner.org/resources/series42.html?pop=yes&pid=560
interest to you
Khan Academy - short lecture videos – choose ones on astronomy
topics of interest to you
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/solarsystem/index.shtml
“Origins of the Solar System” (13 minutes long)
The Hubble telescope site
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/
Gameshttp://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-system-explorer/en/#
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/1/7/exploring-the-invisible-astronomyin-the/
—http://www.planetfacts.net/
—http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml
—http://library.thinkquest.org/J002231F/Sun/factsaboutthesun.htm
—http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sun
-http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/black-holes-article/
-http://www.universetoday.com/46687/black-hole-facts/
-http://physics.about.com/od/astronomy/f/BlackHole.htm
-http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/black_holes.html
-http://www.kidsastronomy.com/black_hole.htm
-http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/home.html
Astronomy Word Puzzle; Astronomy Hangman; Astronomy Quiz.
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/fun/
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Space and Astronomy Quiz; Space Word Scrabble; Earth, Moon, and Sun games.
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/astronomy.html
1. http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/moon.html?day=31&month=8&year=2012.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/1/7/exploring-the-invisible-astronomyin-the/
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/Apollo11_Press-Kit_restored.pdf
18
ASTRONOMY PROJECTS
Make a balloon rocket
This is easy and quick.
http://www.slsc.org/balloon-rockets
Make a large 1D scale model of the distances of
the planets from the Sun
Use a long rope and make knots or tie ribbons where each planet is. Then get students to “be the
planets” – hold the rope at those spots – and take a look at how far apart the planets are. Make it
BIG – as in the size of a football field – or even bigger! If you need help with the calculations,
just ask me.
We will hang these from the ceiling in the classroom. Figure out how to do that – maybe your art
teacher has an idea. Have a string or something coming out of the top of each planet for hanging.
If you need help with the calculations, just ask me.
Same as above. If you need help with the calculations, just ask me.
Be sure to include first homo sapiens in 50,000 BC, and big bang 13.7 billion years ago. Make it
so it fits on, and can be displayed on, the Science Bulletin board in the west hall. Or make it on a
rope, that we kind wind up and put in a drawer.
Use http://www.seasky.org/celestial-objects/nebulae.html to help you do this. Your poster must
be small enough to fit on ONE cabinet door in N3
Your poster must be small enough to fit on ONE cabinet door in N3
Make a 3D, scale model of all the planet sizes.
Make a 3D, scale model of the sun and the earth
Make a time line of the history of the universe
Make a poster about the five different types of
nebulae
Make a poster about some other aspect of
astronomy
Get a telescope kit and build yourself a telescope
View the night sky
View the night sky
View the night sky
View the night sky.
Lie on your back on the ground outside and look at the stars. What do you see? If you can, get
out into farm country to do this, away from light pollution. The best is to try this once at home
and then once out in the country, and to compare the difference.
Use binoculars to view the night. Compare looking at a star to looking at a planet, both with
binoculars and without them.
If you have a telescope, use it! Go out in the night and look at the Moon. Find out what planets
are visible and take a look at them. What features can you see?
If you have a smart phone, download an app called SkEye. Then lie out in your yard looking up
at the sky and use the app to identify constellations, stars and planets.
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RESEARCH TOPICS: ASK YOURSELF AN INTERESTING QUESTION AND TRY TO
FIND THE ANSWER IN BOOKS, MAGAZINES AND ON THE INTERNET.
Where did the names of the days of the week come from? Kaitlyn Reynolds recommends this.
What different calendars are there now, and how were they devised?
Look into the inner planets in detail. How are they similar? How are they different?
Look into the outer planets in detail. How are they similar? How are they different?
Who was Copernicus and what did he do that was so interesting?
Who was Galileo and what did he do that was so interesting?
Who was Newton and what did he do that was so interesting?
Who is Vera Rubin and what did she do that is so interesting?
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