Project 1:  Sun Journal

Observe the location on the horizon of the rising or setting sun everyday for two weeks. To do this, make a sketch of your eastern or western horizon and show on the sketch where the sun is rising and setting. Make sure to indicate the dates and times of your observations. (To make it more accurate, you could take a picture of the horizon with a digital camera, blow it up, and print it off. Then you can make the observations on the picture)?

Write up a summary of your findings, and discuss what they have to do with the length of the day, and what season we are in.

Project 2:  Moon Journal?

?Mark the location of the moon in the sky every night for a week. Your observations MUST be done at the same time each night. The purpose of this is to find out how much the moon’s position has changed relative to the background stars in a 24 hour period. You can do this by either making a sketch of the horizon and sky and showing where the moon is and the phase it’s in or by using a camera to take pictures to record the moon’s progression (if you use a camera do your best to include as much of the surrounding sky/horizon as possible).

Once all of your observations are done, put all the data together and write a ½ page single-spaced summary of what you learned.

?Project 3: Light pollution and diurnal motion

For this project you are going to have to do a little traveling.

Part 1: From the city, choose three stars you can easily identify. Using a cardboard tube, center it on each of the stars you chose and count how many stars you can see within the area of the tube.

Part 2: From a location well away from civilization and on the same night as part 1, use the same three stars you chose before and count how many stars you can see through the tube in the new location.

Part 3: On a clear night, track the location of the big dipper relative to the north star. Starting well after sun down, make a sketch or take a picture of the where the big dipper is relative to the horizon and the north star. Wait an hour, then go out and add to your original sketch the new location of the big dipper or take another picture. Repeat the process twice more.

Along with your data, write up a half page summary of what you learned.
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