Astronomy Activities

Activity	Grade Level	Tour or Classroom?	Day or Night?	Photo
1. Tour of the Dome and 24" Telescope Students will learn how the computer-controlled 24" telescope, CCD camera and spectrograph works. Students learn how astronomers determine an object's luminosity, temperature, velocity and chemical composition using telescopes. High school students will learn about spectroscopy and Dopplershift. Students are introduced to the diversity of objects in the Universe (stars, star clusters, planetary nebulae, galaxies, etc.) pictured on the walls of the Observatory.	All Ages	Tour	Day and Night
2. Star Gazing During night time visits, students will view planets, stars and nebule with the 24" telescope and another portable 8" or 12" telescope set up outside the dome. Note that a specific object might only be visible at certain times of year. If you are interested in seeing a specific planet, please ask the outreach coordinator when it will be visible and you can plan the date accordingly. Students will receive a Night Sky map. An instructor will show them how to use it, and how to identify the planets and some popular constellations.	All Ages	Tour (Night time school visits are possible if you can provide a dark location)	Night
3. Viewing Solar Flares and Sunspots Students will use two portable 8" telescopes to look at sunspots and solar flares. Solar flares are imaged through a narrow-band Halpha filter that allows us to see solar prominences and flares on the limb of the Sun.	All Ages	Tour and Classroom Visit	Day
4. Slides of Stars and Galaxies We have developed slide viewers that we can use at the Observatory during the day to teach students about stars, nebulae and galaxies. Specifically, we illustrate how objects look different in different filters and teach students about the various objects.	Gr 5-12	Tour and Classroom Visit	Day
5. Scale Model Solar System Students create a scale model solar system constructed from spheres of different radii and compare and constrast the relative sizes of the planets. In addition, they walk a path through the fields surrounding the observatory that shows them the relative spacing of the planets in the Solar System.	Gr K-6	Tour and Classroom Visit	Day
6. Making a Comet Lead by an instructor, students create a comet out of dry ice and dirt and discuss the life cycle of comets and the formation of the solar system. Students get to watch as the comet periodically shoots out jets of gas as it melts.	Gr K-6	Tour and Classroom Visit	Day
7. Exploring Moon Phases Students use hands-on demos to explore why the Moon's phases change during the course of the 28 day lunar cycle.  In an additional activity, students can explore why each different phase of the moon rises and sets at a different time of day.	Gr K-5	Tours at Night or Classroom Visits During the Day	Needs a Dark Location
8. Experimenting with Craters Students experiment with cratering by dropping rocks of various sizes from various heights into a vat of flour and measuring size of the craters produced. Its messy, and lots of fun.	Gr 3-5	Tour and Classroom Visit	Day
9. Searching for Meteorites Students wil simulate meteorite impacts and debris dispersal using water balloons filled with flour and colored pebbles. They will examine the ejection patterns to see how they very with the meteor's trajectory and learn where to hunt for meteorite debris. This is another messy, but very fun activity.	Gr 3-5	Tour and Classroom Visit	Day
10. Constellations of the Zodiac Students explore how the constellations of the Zodiac change as time passes during the course of a night and over the course of a year. They learn to predict what constellations they can see at any given time and month.	Gr 8-HS, but can be adapted for younger children	Tour and Classroom Visit	Day