Category: Astronomy

Instructions
Write a Research Question and Conduct Preliminary Research
Please develop a research question. You will use this research question throughout this course. Your paper should include a paragraph or two to provide some background about the topic and explain how your research would fit into existing literature on the topic. Also, explain your search method (APUS library, other university or scholarly databases, academic journals, or Google Scholar) to access the most relevant information about your topic.
If you are wondering what a search method is, it is a process or technique. It is “how” you go about researching a topic. Typically, you will have criteria (a way of measuring what you find to determine if it is relevant) and you will have search terms (which are specific references to dates, places, events, people, concepts, or authors, that can be used in a search engine). A search method might include examining a wide variety of databases; it might include using the references in books and articles to find more sources. It might include restricting yourself to peer reviewed journal articles and government publications. No matter what paper or what topic, you will always be using some method for searching for the information you need.
Then go to the APUS online library and conduct a search for articles in peer-reviewed, academic journals or books about your topic. You can access the Library from the Classroom by selecting Library on the left vertical toolbar. Navigate the online databases and conduct a search based on keywords relating to your topic. Remember when you use the APUS library site, you must sign-in with your student account information.
Choose two (2) scholarly articles pertinent to your topic and provide a citation for these articles using APA format.
Technical Requirements
Your paper must be at a minimum of 1-1 ½ pages (the Title and Reference pages do not count towards the minimum limit).
Scholarly and credible references should be used. A good rule of thumb is at least 2 scholarly sources per page of content.
Type in Times New Roman, 12 point and double space.
Students will follow the current APA Style as the sole citation and reference style used in written work submitted as part of coursework.
Points will be deducted for the use of Wikipedia or encyclopedic type sources. It is highly advised to utilize books, peer-reviewed journals, articles, archived documents, etc.
All submissions will be graded using the assignment rubric.

https://openstax.org/books/astronomy-2e/pages/9-thought-questions
Please ensure each answer has the correct question number beside it.

Jupiter and Saturn are currently prominent in the early evening sky. In this project you are going to go outside around 8pm, find Jupiter and Saturn, and measure their azimuth with a real compass, or if you don’t have one, a fake compass, such as the compass utility on your phone. Fakeness is quite fashionable these days, and apparently completely ok.
So, step one, GO OUTSIDE at around 8pm. Face East. If you don’t know where East is, use a compass. East has a compass heading of 90 degrees. If you don’t have a real compass, use the compass utility on your phone.
Now, you are facing East. Fairly low in the sky you will easily see the current brightest star in the sky. You can’t miss it. There is no other star in the area nearly that bright. That “star” is the planet Jupiter. It is bright white.
Aim your compass at Jupiter. Read the heading. It will be around 90 degrees, but its exact heading depends on the time, so measure it accurately. That heading is Jupiter’s azimuth. You measured the Sun’s elevation in a previous project, but not its azimuth. Azimuth is the number of degrees around the horizon circle, starting at North and moving East, to some point of interest. If Jupiter’s azimuth were 80 degrees, Jupiter would be directly above that 80-degree point on the horizon. If you have binoculars or a telescope, take a look at Jupiter. You’ll see three or four tiny “stars” in a line across Jupiter. Those are some of Jupiter’s moons.
Once you have measured Jupiter’s azimuth, turn to face South. South is 180 degrees on your compass. Now look up at an angle of about 45 degrees. That’s halfway from the horizon to the point straight up. There will be a medium bright star in the area. It is most unremarkable, but it is the brightest thing in the area. That “star” is the planet Saturn. Use you compass to measure Saturn’s azimuth.
Go back inside and scrub the kitchen and the bathroom for two hours. Don’t forget to scrub behind the toilet. Then go back outside and measure Jupiter’s and Saturn’s azimuth again. You will see it has changed for both planets.
Draw me a simple sketch of the horizon. On a piece of paper, the horizon is NOT circular. It is a straight line. Draw it parallel to the bottom edge of the paper. Put in a few major landmarks on your horizon. For example, a phone pole, big tree, big building, incoming missile, etc. Don’t think artist, think map maker. Then draw in two dots for Jupiter at 8 pm and 10 pm and two dots for Saturn at 8 pm and 10 pm. 9 pm and 11 pm is also fine. Times don’t have to be exactly 8, 9, 10 or 11, but whatever they are, be sure to record them. Label the dots with the name of the planet and the azimuth at the two times. I want to see where those planets were compared to landmarks on your horizon. Scan or photograph your sketch and send it to me.

Mass of Jupiter as determined by
lo: _____Solar Masses
Europa: _____Solar Masses
Ganymede: _____Solar Masses
Callisto: _____Solar Masses
Average:____Solar Masses
Conclusion
1. Based on your results, imagine there was a moon orbiting Jupiter further than Callisto. Would this moon have a longer or shorter period than Callisto?
2. Which would have a more detrimental impact on your final Jupiter mass? A 10% error in your measurements of a or P? Why?
3. The orbit of Earth’s moon has a sidereal period of 27.3 days and an orbital radius (semi-major axis) of 2.57 × 103 A.U. (= 3.84 × 105 km). What is the mass of Earth? What are the units? Show vour work.
4. Using your result from the previous question, determine how much more massive Jupiter is compared to Earth (fractional, i.e. Jupiter is X times more massive than Earth). Show your work!

Assuming you reside in northern hemisphere, download and print free Uncle Al’s Star WheelLinks to an external site. for northern hemisphere:
Follow the instructions in Demonstration 2 and make this planisphere.
Write your full name along with your BCC number on it. Now take a picture that shows you made it and your name is on it.
Upload this picture here. (10 pts).
Using the planisphere you made, set the date and time to midnight this week and answer these three questions:
(Use only the constellations wheel which has no grid on it).
What is the name of the closest constellation to the western horizon? (3 pts)
What is the name of the closest constellation to the northern horizon? (4 pts)
What is the name of the closest constellation to the eastern horizon? (3 pts)

Writing in first person (telling the story of your experiences as you researched and
learned about your chosen topic. Why
you picked that topic; how you started your research; what you learned; what confused
you; what you did next; etc)
No Cover Pages or Folders Desired. Put your Topic Title at the top of the first page
followed by your name, section, and the date. Paper length is expected to be 4 to 5
pages of typed text with 1 ½ line spacing and 12-point font maximum. Papers must also
have literature-cited section and in-text references (no special style is required). Expected five sources for your paper.
Research Advice: Don’t search for peer-reviewed technical articles, those are usually
too technical and focused on minute details rather than the big picture. Better are
encyclopedia entries, information in introductory textbooks, articles in popular
magazines, and books written for non-scientists.

Shadowland – The Sequel
Work on Activity 3 in Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual.
Show your complete calculations, drawings, measurements, … for full credit.If you still have difficulty finding the required workbook, Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual (2nd edition), you can use its old version in the meantime:
Hirshfeld, Alan. Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual, Jones & Bartlett, 2008. ISBN: 978-0763760199
Right now, if you log into Google Books (https://books.google.com/) and search for Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual, you can preview the first three activities there (All you need for the first week lab activities!)

This activity assesses students’ ability to apply learning objective #2: Use Hubble’s Law to intercompare distances to galaxies from redshift measurements.
Understanding Cosmological Redshift. Fill out the velocity column in the table above using RV calculator above or just your own calculator. In order to calculate v = zc in km/s, use the speed of light as 300,000 km/s.
Understanding the Hubble Law. For each galaxy’s velocity, fill out the two distance columns in the table using CT then CA.
Fill out the table and answer the questions below
Look at your calculated values for the velocity. What is wrong with them? What page(s) of the Content Slides explains how to fix the problem?
Was it easy for astronomers to find the value of the Hubble constant? Does everyone agree on it now? What page(s) of the Content Slides gives you this information?
Compare your distance values in the two columns. Are they the same or different? Do you know why?
Go back to CT and CA and enter 1 Mpc the distance in each. This gives d = v/H0 = 1 in Mpc units. What is the number for H0 for CT? For CA?
Using Dr. Weil’s Math shortcut. Looking at v = 30,000 km/s and v = 90,000 km/s? How many times bigger should the distance for 90,000 km/s be than the distance for 30,000 km/s? Is that true of the distances you found for CT and CA?
Using Dr. Weil’s Math shortcut. Looking at v = 30,000 km/s and v = 240,000 km/s? How many times bigger should the distance for 240,000 km/s be than the distance for 30,000 km/s? Is that true of the distances you found for CT and CA?
Do you need to know an exact value for the Hubble constant in order to use the math shortcut? Why or why not?

Imagine you are called to advise Congress on the following proposals for new space explorations. For each one, specify whether you are in favor of it or not. Defend your answer.
a )A space mission to study the radio emission by distant quasars
b) A mountain-top telescope to study the cosmic microwave background
c) A space mission to study the X-ray emission from very hot regions of the universe, such as exploded stars and clusters of galaxies
d) A mountain-top telescope to study the atmospheres of exo-planets
e) A very large telescope in a desert in the South West USA to study the gamma ray bursts emitted by very massive stars as they collapse into a black hole

Work on Activity 2 in Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual.
Show your complete calculations, drawings, measurements, … for full credit.
If you still have difficulty finding the required workbook, Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual (2nd edition), you can use its old version in the meantime:
Hirshfeld, Alan. Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual, Jones & Bartlett, 2008. ISBN: 978-0763760199
Right now, if you log into Google Books (https://books.google.com/) and search for Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual, you can preview the first three activities there (All you need for the first week lab activities!)