The point of these observing projects is for you to see some of the sky for yourself in order that you can better appreciate and understand astronomy. The night observing project(s) offer you a chance to peer through a telescope and see some of the objects we are studying this (and, should you go on to Astro 1120, next) term. Our views in Boulder can't match the best images, many of which appear in your textbook. However, experience tells me that pictures are never as convincing (or amazingly cool) as seeing objects for yourself.
The two long-term projects also have a second goal: for you to design and carry out small scientific investigations. I do not intend that you should spend many hours on these and produce a publishable paper in the end. But I do want you to spend some time asking yourselves some questions about the behavior of the Sun and Moon (as seen from our humble planet) and then developing and executing a project to answer your questions.
You can pick your night project from one of the two I'll be handing out. Note that you might not be able to do one or the other on a given night! (Nights with significant appearances of the Moon will be poor for viewing most other objects due to the light from the Moon. Nights without a Moon are poor choices for the lunar observing project.) You are encouraged to pick one project early this term and to plan when you attend accordingly.
The procedure for these projects is that you will need to appear on one of our observing session nights. Sign in when you arrive so we have record of your attendance! (If you do not attend a night session, you cannot turn in a project.)
For the telescope observing project, you'll need to observe 10 objects, listing their names and their object type (planet, globular cluster, galaxy, etc.) Also, tell me roughly where they fit into the cosmos: in our solar system, part of our galaxy, orbiting our galaxy or another galaxy altogether. Pick two of these objects (and make them different kinds of objects) and tell me a little about what you are actually seeing. (i.e.- Remains of a dead star? Place where stars are being born? Another planet like Earth?) Each of these two objects should have about a paragraph of explanation. You might also talk about where the light you're seeing actually came from, why you see a particular color or anything else you find interesting about your view of the object.
For the lunar observing project, you'll need to follow the handout except you don't need to find a crater with terraced walls or a rille. For the last part, pick two different kinds of features and give a reasonably careful sketch of them. While the artwork need not be first-class, they should be recognizable.
Night projects will be due the Monday after the observing session in which you performed the observations.
In addition to the two projects I will hand out, you can do another project for extra credit. However, this project must be one of the other three options available at the SBO website. (The three that you can do for extra credit are Constellation Identification, Small Telescopes and CCD Imaging.)
The long-term projects are a little bit different. In these projects you'll choose your own question and try to answer it. First, the basics:
A good question could be about the motion of the object (over a day, a month or seasonal variations) or the appearance of the object (size, shape, etc.). I encourage you to come up with creative questions or to try to answers questions you may have had before enrolling in this course.
When planning your method, think about when you should observe (for instance, if you want to track the location of the sunset, noon would be a poor choice), where to observe from (for the previous question, should you use the same location or move around from observation to observation?) and what tools you might need. If you want to measure angles on the sky (or around the horizon) I suggest you take a peek at the "handy" guide to measuring sky angles (without any tools at all!).
Your write-ups should be about 3-5 pages. Start with a short abstract (1 paragraph) explaining what you did and your conclusions. As an introduction, pose your question(s) and give any relevant background on the topic you feel is warranted. Next, spend a few paragraphs explaining your methods and why you chose to do things as you did. The data (and any interesting details about the observations) should be the next section. Finally, discuss your results (What do the data mean? Is this what you expected?) including anything you hadn't been looking for but noticed anyway. (A surprising amount of science comes about not from intentionally looking for something but people simply stumbling across something cool.) Of course, you should wind up with a roughly one paragraph conclusion. If you cite any references, list them in a reference section at the end. (I'm not particular on the format, just as long as you give me enough information so I can find the source if I need to.) Consider adding figures (hand-drawn ones attached to the back are just fine) to help explain your methods or your data.
These projects are intended to be independent. You can get help gathering data (don't forget the name your benefactors and tell what they did for you in your methods section!), but everyone should do their own project. These projects are a significant fraction of your grade, so treat them as such. And once again, Aditya and I will not give you a question or a method, but we are both more than happy to try to give you any help you might need at any point during the project. These projects are meant to be fun for you, so if you're struggling, ask us for help!