Category: Astronomy

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!)

About this Assignment
In this course, you learned about the sizes of the Sun and the Moon and angular diameters of objects in outer space. Using the angular diameters of objects in space and their distance, it is possible to estimate the actual size of that object. It is also possible to estimate the angular diameter of the Moon using the methods covered in this course.
Estimating the angular diameter of the Sun is more difficult since looking at the Sun is very dangerous for your eyes. However, one lesson showed how Galileo was able to study sunspots by projecting the Sun’s image. Using a similar method, it is possible to project an image of the Sun, which can be used to estimate the diameter of the Sun.
Note as you do this assignment: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT PROPER EYE PROTECTION!
Estimating the Diameters of the Sun and Moon
To estimate the diameter of the Moon:
Estimate the angular diameter of the full Moon in degrees using the methods discussed in the course.
With the angular diameter of the Moon, calculate the diameter of the Moon using the equation:
(Angular diameter) / (360°) = (Moon’ s diameter) / (2 x distance to Moon)
To estimate the diameter of the Sun:
Construct a pinhole camera using two pieces of thick white paper and a pin or paper clip.
Using the pin or paper clip, make a small hole in one piece of paper.
Then hold the paper with a hole in it between the Sun and the other piece of paper to project an image of the Sun’s disc on the piece of paper without the hole.
The size of the Sun’s disc projected on the paper depends on the distance between the two sheets of paper. The farther away the pieces of paper are, the larger the image is.
The diameter of the sun can be calculated using the equation:
(Diameter of the image) / (Distance to the image) = (Diameter of the Sun) / (Distance to the Sun)
Make a measurement of the image diameter and the distance to the image.
A distance of 3 feet is a good place to start.
Use pre-drawn image diameters on the piece of paper with the projections and moving piece of paper with the hole to match distances to match. This can make the measurements more accurate and easier to do.
After making the measurements and doing the calculations for the diameters of the Moon and the Sun, write a report giving the estimated angular diameters and calculated diameters for each and showing the calculations.
Also, compare the calculated diameters with the actual diameters.
Include photos or charts to show your work and calculations from your experiment.

Please look at the attachment for the instructions. Please use the source provided. It’s preferable if you already have knowledge with star properties, galaxies, and astronomy.

Summarize these notes on Galileo, taking special notice of the discoveries he makes with the telescope.