Reading the Sky Activity

Objective

The objective of this activity is that students will be able to provide coordinate locations for different objects in the sky. 

Pre-Work

Before the activity, students will need to understand what coordinates are on Earth. They will need to have a firm grasp on plotting latitude and longitude. 

Students will need to know what the celestial sphere is and what the different coordinates are on the celestial sphere. I watch the "Celestial Sphere" YouTube video clip with my students to help them understand the different coordinate system.  

Activity Time

Before doing this activity, make sure that your administration is fine with you drawing on the ground. I tend to conduct this in the student parking lot where there are empty spaces. If that is not an option, look for the teacher parking lot or any other surface that sidewalk chalk can be used on.

Prior to having the students gather their supplies, I demonstrate what the students will be doing once we get outside. I choose to do this in the classroom for two main reasons. First, I know that they will all be able to hear me and ask questions. Secondly, I do this to make sure that students who need a demonstration have one to copy from.

After my demonstration, students gather their supplies and head out to the designated area. Students are then to create their circle, label their circle, and begin taking measurements. 

Each student will need a copy of Alt/Az Reading the Sky Activity. You will need to save it to your Google Docs to do any edits. 

Helpful Information

For measuring altitude

1 degree = Width of pinky finger

5 degrees = Width of three (index, middle, and ring) fingers

10 degrees = Width of your fist (with the knuckles facing you)

15 degrees = Width of your index and pinky fingers (spread wide)

20 degrees = Width of your hand open (with the knuckles facing you)

25 degrees = Width of your thumb and pinky (spread as far as you can)

This video Stargazing Basics 3: How to measure distance in sky to find other stars is a great video to show students to help them understand this material. Eyes on the Sky YouTube channel is an amazing resource to use.

For Measuring azimuth

Have the students create a labeled circle from 0-360 degrees. The 0 degrees should be your North. The easiest way is to have them create a circle on the ground.

Extension

To allow your students more practice, have them complete the same worksheet but change number four. Have students use a sky map, found at skymaps.com, to find particular stars. Choose the stars that you want them to find. Make sure you go over how to use a star map prior to assigning this for homework. These maps are great tools for students to have to learn the night sky.