* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Measuring the diameter of our star teacher notes
Survey
Document related concepts
International Year of Astronomy wikipedia , lookup
Lunar theory wikipedia , lookup
Astrophotography wikipedia , lookup
Astronomical clock wikipedia , lookup
Theoretical astronomy wikipedia , lookup
Archaeoastronomy wikipedia , lookup
Timeline of astronomy wikipedia , lookup
Chinese astronomy wikipedia , lookup
Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world wikipedia , lookup
Observational astronomy wikipedia , lookup
Cosmic distance ladder wikipedia , lookup
History of astronomy wikipedia , lookup
Transcript
Measuring the diameter of our star with a metre stick! Teacher Notes Suggested age range Year 9 KS3, Year 10 and 11 KS4 Aim: carry out an astronomical measurement first hand. Objectives: measure and calculate the size of an astronomical object. Type of learning activity Practical observation, numeracy Materials For each group: Metre stick 6 white cards – 5cm x 5cm 1 5cm x 5cm card with 1mm diameter hole Sharp pencil Two small lumps of ‘Blutak’ or similar adhesive putty Short ruler Sunny day It’s difficult to do practical astronomy at school during the day but this simple exercise can result in surprisingly good results. It is a good idea to run a competition for the closest result. It is probably best to have the procedure as a floating exercise that could be used at some point in a course when it happens to be sunny. Get the students to rub out their pencil marks on the cards so that they can be reused. The distance to the Sun was first calculated by trigonometry. The mathematics for it was first worked out by Aristarchus of Samos c300BC. His maths was great but his measurements were lousy so he got the distance to the Sun wrong by 20 times! However, since it had been thought that the distance was only 3 times greater than the Moon (130 times out) Artistarchus had greatly improved the accuracy of the estimate. Created by M. Cripps, Neatherd High School, Norfolk, UK Created by M. Cripps, Neatherd High School, Norfolk, UK