20110217

Backwards faded scaffolding laboratory/presentation: cycles of the sky

Astronomy 210L, spring semester 2011
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

If you have the chance to stay up at night outside long enough, say, during camping or a star party (or a camping star party!), you'll start to notice how the constellations seem to change their positions in the night sky. Keep watching the night sky long enough, often enough, and you'll definitely start noticing certain things happening.

So don't dismiss astrology out of hand--the early astrologers were in some sense the first scientists, recording data and looking for patterns. How their interpretation of this data holds up today is an entirely different, and for some people, a personal matter, but let's consider a particular pattern these astrologers noticed about the positions and motions of the sun and the constellations.

(This is the fourth Astronomy 210L laboratory at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA. This course is a one-semester, optional adjunct laboratory to the Astronomy 210 introductory astronomy lecture, taken primarily by students to satisfy their general education science transfer requirement.)


Consider the zodiac, which are the (modern) constellations that lie along the ecliptic--the path of the sun (and for the most part, planets as well) across the celestial sphere.

This is a time-lapse of the sun at noon, over the course of a year. You can't see the stars during the day, much less the lines connecting them, unless you've been smoking something--or are very good at astronomy. But if you could, you'd notice that the sun will align with certain zodiac constellations at different times of the year. For astrologers, which zodiac constellation the sun happened to be in the day you were born is a big deal--for that constellation is your "sun-sign." (Also which zodiac constellations each of the planets were in when you were born, and where they are today would also be significant, too.)

If you were born at this time of the year, then presumably you'd be a Virgo.

And if you were born during this time of the year, where the sun is in Ophiuchus (nearly rhymes with "coffee mucus"--what's up with that?), then apparently you'd be an Ophiuchan--just like Taylor Swift (although many astrologers do not consider Ophiuchus a "proper" zodiac constellation).

After your group has finished exploring patterns of sun and star motion using the Heavens-above.com website, then as in last week's laboratory, formulate a specific, answerable research question, and answer it using Heavens-above.com.

Get your research question on your group's whiteboard approved by your instructor first--so you don't wind up doing unproductive work on inappropriate research questions--before starting on the procedure, data, and conclusion.

Starting this week, each of your groups will begin getting into the practice of presenting your completed whiteboard research posters.

Due to the collaborative nature of your research question, this should be done together as a group.

Divide up the presentation into four parts (research question, procedure, data, conclusion)--at least one for each student in your group, who should also be "experts" on their section in order to answer questions and make clarifications as needed. And don't sweat it, this week your presentation will only in front of the instructor; next week's laboratory you will formulate new research questions and make presentations in front of the entire class.

So while astrology is where your destiny is determined by the positions and motions of the sun and planets with respect to the stars...

Hopefully after last week's and this week's laboratory, you'll at least understand these motions, and in a way become masters of your destinies.

References:
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2 comments:

  1. Patrick M. Len2:54 PM

    Astronomy 210L, Spring Semester 2011
    Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

    Online post-lab assignment 3

    Discuss the most interesting aspect of this lab, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.

    The following are a sampling of the student responses to this question, verbatim and unedited.

    "The most interesting aspect of this lab was discovering the method in which to discover your horoscope."

    "It was interesting to see how large of a variance there is in the length of time the sun is closest to each constellation i.e. Aries is the closest for just 13 days, while Taurus is the closest constellation for 46 days."

    "Observing the fact that stars have predictable patterns in the sky, and move through constellations annually"

    "It was interesting to find out that Astrology isn't accurate compared to Astronomy. Not every zodiac sign is the same size."

    "presenting in front of the camera"

    "The most interesting aspect of this lab for me was learning more of a scientific aspect of astrology than I had previously known. It didn't seem too different than the last lab in terms of tracking the sun and constellations, but the bridge from that lab to this one was nice."

    "I thought it was interesting how the constellations are in the same place every year. It interesting to know how the Earth functions."

    "seeing how useful the heavens above site can be."

    "I liked making the research question and answering it ourselves"

    "I thought it was interesting to see how the constellation closest to the sun changed over the year."

    "It was cool to see how the movement of a planet\sun correlates with the movement of the stars."

    "The most interesting aspect of the lab was seeing how the sun changes over the time span of two years."

    "All the weird names of these constellations"

    "Developing a research question with steps and a conclusion."

    "looking at how our horoscope is found"

    "Creating a research question, It was pretty neat to see our group work together to answer it."

    "it was interesting learning how the zodiac constellations actually move in the sky and relate to the sun."

    "The way the sun and stars travel in the same direction and motion but the sun still cycles thru the horoscopes"

    "Figuring out your own question to ask, than answering it,"

    "I really liked collaborating with my group for the reasearch question! It was very interesting sharing and explaining ideas together"

    "It was interesting to see which constellation the sun was closest to at different times of the year."

    "I thought it was very interesting to see how the sun's distance between constellations changes throughout the year."

    "Seeing that some constellations were in the sky for shorter times than others"

    "The most interesting aspect of this lab was question number 2. After two years the sun was still closer to Capricornus."

    "I thought that the most interesting thing was the fact that the sun and the stars basically move in unison."

    "The most interesting part of the lab was using the star chart and seeing the course the stars, planets, and sun makes."

    "It was most interesting to answer the research question we thought of."

    "I liked using Heaven's Above, because I think the constellations are fascinating."

    "Coming up with our research question and presenting was most interesting because I just think it was interesting."

    "Making up our own research question, really forced us to be creative!"

    "The most interesting part of the lab was us three girls working together. It was crazy and fun."

    "The most interesting part for me was conducting the research for the question that we came up with."

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  2. Patrick M. Len2:56 PM

    Astronomy 210L, Spring Semester 2011
    Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

    Online post-lab assignment 2

    Discuss the most confusing aspect of this lab, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.

    The following are a sampling of the student responses to this question, verbatim and unedited.

    "The most confusing aspect of this lab was discovering when the horoscopes where covered in by the sun."

    "Nothing was too confusing, but coming up with a good, precise research question was a little bit difficult."

    "The most confusing aspect of this lab was determining when exactly the sun crosses a constellation"

    "Why does the ecliptic take the path it does across our sky?"

    "Watching the sun move through the constellations slowly was boring."

    "I guess it took me to realize that there is basically one constellation for every month"

    "Trying to come up with a good question was confusing."

    "Nothing was too hard about this lab"

    "Question 3 was sortof confusing because we had to figure out when Orion would be visible."

    "saying the research question in the right format"

    "Making the question and then solving it with our group."

    "The research question was confusing because we all had to agree, not easy to do."

    "Why on my birthday that taurus is more to the right of the sun"

    "The most confusing and somewhat frustrating part of this lab was figuring out a research question that we could use for our presentation, especially after 2 hours of looking at constellations."

    "This lab wasn't confusing at all."

    "figuring out where Orion is located during different times of the year"

    "i was most confused by question 3; curious what an ideal answer would look like"

    "The best time to track constellations"

    "The most confusing part was the lack of direction in certain parts..but I did like the challenge"

    "The most confusing part of the lab was trying to figure out a research question for our group presentation."

    "I did not find this lab very confusing, but every week it is a little difficult to come up with a research question."

    "Thinking of a good research question, and coming up with a step by step answer"

    "I found the question at the end and all the steps we had to complete most confusing at first, but after it was all done, it really worked out well."

    "this lab didn't really have any confusing aspects."

    "Coming up with a research question was the hardest part for me"

    "The most confusing aspect of this lab was listing the steps for someone else."

    "It was confusing to keep track of either the stars or sun moving across the sky while doing this lab."

    "It was really hard to formulate a research question with my group, but we ended up doing fine in the end."

    "Creating a topic question to answer."

    "The most confusing part was thinking of the steps for observing when your horoscope will be covered by the sun."

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