Completed notes on stars Smartboard notes 2-16-11 including information on stellar magnitude. Check out the video (youtube) or (school site) that we watched to compare sizes of stars. You have to be impressed! Back to the planetarium tomorrow to finish up the winter sky and start on the spring constellations. There is a quiz on Tuesday 2-22-11 on constellations up to Andromeda and the basics on stars and the HR diagram.
Introduction to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and a chance to see the diagram in “action” via the HR Diagram Explorer as seen on the left. Students worked on questions (pdf) with the website. Note that the temperature increases as one moves to the LEFT and that luminosity increases as one moves towards the TOP of the diagram. The green “path” represents the Main Sequence. Our Sun would plot at a surface temperature of 5800K and a luminosity of 1 (10^0). Note the color and size of the star on the left and the equation that uses the luminosity and temperature to determine the radius of the star.
Student met in the planetarium and learned SIX new constellations, 3 stars, an asterism, and a galaxy. We looked at the Summer/Fall Sky (Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila). Students will need to know the three stars (Vega, Deneb, and Altair) that form the Summer Triangle. Also learned about Corona Borealis, Pegasus, and Andromeda. We learned how to find them in the night time sky along with the Andromeda Galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is also know as M31 (a Messier object). In Pegasus is an asterism called the Great Square and there is a star that is shared with Andromeda the Princess. Can you find the items below? Bring a stuffed animal to class on Friday for x-credit (see if you are reading the blog).
