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You
are to make 10 to 12 observations of a section of the night time sky over the
course of the next 12 weeks or so. The point of this project is to see the changes
in the sky. Therefore, providing some
number of sketches of the same thing is not a successful completion of this
project. Do not wait to get started! You will likely deal with Weather as it is. |
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Please
note this is a concurrent project with
the Moon Observation project. It
is not do the Moon one and then do this one. |
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Choose
a suitable observation site. You would
like this site to be as dark as possible and have as much open sky as
possible. Moreover, you need to make
all observations of the sky from this spot, so it should be readily
accessible. |
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Choose
an observation time. Unlike the moon
observation project all, your observations for this project must be made at
the same time of day (Local Mean Time), therefore after the daylight savings
change in early November, you will have to adjust your observation time to
one hour earlier. |
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Once
a week, go to your observation spot at your observation time and make a
sketch. Make sure you are facing the
same way each time. Note: The day of the
week is unimportant, but the time of day is critical (±15 minutes is
acceptable). If it is raining or
snowing on the day you normally go, go another day. Try to space the days as much as
possible. If the weather is bad five
days in a row, and your day is normally Sunday, after you go Friday, wait
till Tuesday or Wednesday the next week so there are a few days in between
viewings. |
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Please
use standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper
for your sketches. One sheet per
sketch. Try to fill the page. On the lower right corner of your sketch
note the time and date of your sketch. |
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Draw
the sky as best you can. Identify one
constellation, You must always include this constellation on each sketch,
therefore, choose a constellation that is high in the sky overhead or to the
Eastern Horizon on your first sketch. Constellations
that are in the mid to low western sky in September will be below the horizon
or the tree line before the end of the project. Therefore, these constellations are not
useable for this project. Be careful
to keep the orientation of the stars correct.
Remember as the semester goes on the little dipper for example will
rotate about the north star. Draw the
constellation as it appears in the sky, do not always have the little dipper
horizontal. |
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Draw
a generic landmark that you will use for each sketch. (e.g., corner of a
building, a tree top, power wire, etc.)
Again keep in mind if the generic landmark is to the west of the
constellation then as time goes on the landmark will block your view of the
constellation, and this would be unacceptable. If you the constellation can be viewed
around the landmark, that is fine; so if the landmark is a power line the
constellation passes through, that is fine.
If the landmark is a corner of a building, that will not obscure the
constellation, again, that is fine. If
a building is the landmark, and the building will block the view of the
constellation, then choose a different angle to view the constellation |
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Draw
in the moon if it is visible, any planets you can identify and any other
interesting astronomical objects. (e.g.,
meteors, comets, North star, etc.) You
are not to use computer software to enhance your |
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sketch. Including objects that are not visible
with the naked eye is plagiarism.
Neptune, Uranus, are not viewable without a telescope or other optical
aide. Artwork is not the
goal. If you are drawing situations
that cannot exist, the drawing will not count. |
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The
goal is to get 10 to 12 sketches spaced about a week apart. Pay attention to the changes in the star
field. |
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Unlike
the Moon Observation project, you may not include sketches that were
inclement weather. Moreover, the 10 to
12 sketches are an ideal for the whole time frame. 10
sketches over a two-week period is not acceptable. The idea is to document the whole time
frame, not to just get 10 or more sketches. |
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In
addition to your 10 to 12 sketches, a title page with your name and the name
of the constellation you have been following, you must include the following: |
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For
each of these sections provide a clear identification (i.e. a label,
“History”, and a label “Motion of Constellation”). |
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Include
references for your information. Tell
me where you got your myths etc.
Include Book, pages, authors, etc.
URL’s are acceptable if information is from the Internet. |
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