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For this class you will need to create a research topic based on a current event in astronomy. This project has two parts: A written 3 page paper, and a series of online discussions.
Here are the details about the project. If you have questions about a possible topic let me know.
Black holes
RESEARCH BLACK HOLES, AND WRITE A 2 PAGE ESSAY ON HOW THEY ARE FORMED, WHAT DO THEY AFTER THEY ARE FORMED, ALSO ADDRESS IF THEY STAY OPEN OR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME OR DO THEY DIE OUT LIKE A STAR.
Race is social construct
Explain what a social construct is. Explain how “race” is a social construct. also using quotes from these three articles.
Project #1 Description
Use the Disk Detective project to identify the disks around nearby stars where planets may be forming.
Go to https://whttps://www.zooniverse.org/projects/ssilverberg/disk-detective/classify (links to an external site) (Links to an external site.)
Select the “Tutorial” tab. For each potential planet host, you will press the ‘play’ button to click through a few images of the same star taken with different telescopes. You can manually click through the images using the round buttons on the bottom. You will be asked to identify if the star has a suitable debris disk around it (if the disk is round and contained within the outer circle in all the telescope images), or to identify potential spikes or image artifacts, or if the image extends beyond the circles. Pay attention to the name of the telescope in the top of the image, as this will help you identify potential problems with the images.
After completing the tutorial, analyze 5 potential stars. Take screenshots of all the telescope images for your candidate star (12 per task), to help justify your classification of the potential debris disk.
What to Include in The Project Plan
Research debris disks and star formation and talk about how you will use Zooniverse. What resources will you use to complete this project? (Remember to include Zooniverse.)
Project #2 Description
Use the Radio Galaxy Zoo: LOFAR project to help find supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies and galaxies where stars are forming.
Go to https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/chrismrp/radio-galaxy-zoo-lofar/classify (links to an external site) (Links to an external site.)
Select the “Tutorial” tab. For each galaxy, you may be asked to place a “+” marker inside a blue dashed ellipse if it seems to belong in the same radio region (shown by the yellow lines) as the main solid blue ellipse. If there do not seem to be any dashed ellipses that match the radio region of the solid ellipse, you can move on.
For some images, you will also be able to match the optical image (shown as the background) to the radio emission (shown by the yellow lines and blue ellipses). If you think you can identify a single point (‘counterpart’) on the optical image that is generating the radio emission, mark it with a pink “+”. If there does not seem to be an optical source, you can move on.
The tutorials will give you some feedback on how you are doing before you start. After completing the tutorial, analyze 5 different images. Take before and after screenshots of each image that show the image before you have identified the centres of the matching dashed ellipses and the optical counterpart.
What to Include in The Project Plan
Research radio emission from galaxies and talk about how you will use Zooniverse. What resources will you use to complete this project? (Remember to include Zooniverse.)
How does Global Warming affect the Earth?
Edited the paper. Create a PowerPoint presentation for a 10-15 minutes presentation with a full script. The PowerPoint should be around 15 slides. The script should be around 1300 words.
A video presentation (around 10 min long) discussing for example, how and why you chose your research topic, some of the main things you discovered that you want to share with the rest of the class, anything else you did not get a chance to explore about your topic but would have liked to if you had more time
Chapter 17 and 18
Assignment 9: Chapters 17 and 18 // Due 11/12 [1] (10 points) Short answer questions:
Name a galaxy besides our own that can be seen with the naked eye?
What do astronomers attribute the ring of the cartwheel galaxy to?
About how many times more luminous are powerful quasars compared to the Sun?
About how many times more luminous are powerful quasars compared to a galaxy like the MW?
(Hint: The Milky Way (MW) shines with about 20 billion solar luminosities)
Why were astronomers originally led to believe that the energy producing region of a quasar must be small?
About how many solar masses is the Supermassive black hole in the giant elliptical galaxy M87 in the center of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies?
Where are giant elliptical galaxies found.
How did giant elliptical galaxies get so massive?
Name two very reliable standard candles for determining distances to galaxies.
(10 points) How can a collision between galaxies produce a starburst galaxy? (Explain thoroughly)
(10 points) Discuss two observations that seem to indicate that clusters of galaxies are embedded in huge halos of dark matter. (be specific give details)
(10 points) Explain how supernovae type la are utilized to measure Hubble’s constant?Why are measurements of the redshifts of the galaxies that host the Supernovae type la just as important? Think Hubble’s law. (Explain thoroughly)
(10 points) Distant galaxies have a dominant recessional velocity dictated by the expansion of the universe. If Hubble’s constant is 71 (km/sec)/Mpc, how far away is a galaxy receding at 8.88 x 103 km/sec? Hint: See Astronomer’s Toolbox 17-1 page 573.
Extra Points (8 points) Centaurus A lies at a distance of 4 Mpc from Earth. This galaxy has radio jets that span across the sky –from the end of one lobe to the end of the other lobe — with an angular diameter equivalent of 28.5 full moon widths. If the jets are equal in length how long is one of them in parsecs? Hint: one full moon is .5 degrees in angular diameter. Once you get the angular length of the jets in degrees convert to radians and use the arclength formula s = r 19„d to find the length ‘s’ of both jets in Mpc. Then convert to find the length of one jet in parsecs. (Show all work)
Two Sentence Answer” Questions (10 points; 2 points for each lettered subheading):
What causes the Cassini Gap in the rings of Saturn? See figure 9–29.
What causes the Kirkwood Gaps in the asteroid belt?
Describe Oumuamua’s trajectory.
What evidence supports the speculation that Enceladus (a moon of Saturn) might harbor life.
Describe the strange behavior of Saturn’s co–orbiting satellites: Janus and Epimetheus.
Assignment 5: Chapters 9 and 10 // Due 10/08
[1] Short Answer Questions (10 points; 1 point for each lettered subheading):
How long is a day for Jupiter’s equatorial clouds?
What temperature is thought to exist in the core of Jupiter?
What is the height of the cliff on Miranda (small moon of Uranus)?
What moon of Saturn is shaped like a walnut (with a giant equatorial ridge)?
How many Earths would span Jupiter’s largest storm (the Great Red Spot)?
Which planet has a mysterious hexagonal pattern of clouds surrounding its north pole?
Which planet has an extreme spin axis tilt (axis lies within 8 degrees of the plane of orbit)?
What planet has an average density less than water?
What planet has the strongest magnetic field in the solar system?
What moon (of what planet) exhibits active geysers of liquid Nitrogen?
Assignment 6: Chapters 11 and 12 // Due 10/18
[1] Short Answer Questions (10 points; 2 points for each lettered subheading):
What is the temperature of the Sun at its surface?
What is the temperature of the Sun at its core?
What type (frequency) of photon is generated at the core of the Sun.
How long between the polarity reversals (pole flips) of the Sun’s magnetic field?
How long does it take the Sun to Rotate once around at the equator?
How long does it take the Sun to Rotate once around at the poles?
The Sun generates energy by fusing what into what?
Approximately, how much longer before the Sun swells and cooks Earth.
How long does it take the radiant energy generated in the Sun’s core to migrate to the surface of the Sun?
How many Earths would line up end to end across the diameter of the Sun? Do not google it!
(Hint: Divide the radius of the Sun by the radius of the Earth in the same units). Voila!
Astronomy in ancient civilizations and concentrating on the accomplishments of The Ancient Greek Civilization in Astronomy
This is for my astronomy class. The assignment details that the Professor gave us was the following:
For this research paper you will write a short two page paper ( 12 pt font, MLA format) talking about the importance of Astronomy in ancient civilizations and concentrating on the accomplishments of any one civilization. You must cite their accomplishment and their astronomical significance and the evidence we have to prove it.
You must include atleast 3 references for your research. Remember Wikipedia is not a trusted source.”
For the second part of that, please focus on Ancient Greece as the civilization. Since it’s only two pages long, please make sure that it’s actually two pages.