telescope activity(1)

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Sam Houston State University *

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1403

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Astronomy

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by ChiefFlowerMoose41

Exploring Telescopes Before you begin, first watch the “Introduction to Telescopes” video created by astronomers at the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network. The video may be found at this location: https://vimeo.com/129736999 You’ll need a password to access the video. That password is SiblingsTeacherX. While you’re viewing the video, answer the following questions. You might need to pause it along the way so that you can make your calculations. 1) What is meant by a telescope’s “sensitivity?” A measure of the minimum signal that a telescope can distinguish above the random background noise 2) How much more sensitive is the 3.9-metre AAO telescope than the 2-metre Faulkes Telescope? D A 2 D B 2 = 3.9 2 2 2 = 15.21 4 = _________________ 3) How much more sensitive is the 2-metre Faulkes Telescope than the Human Eye (0.002m)? D A 2 D B 2 = ........... ........... = ........... ........... = ______________ 1

To collect the same amount of light as the 3.9-metre AAO, the 2-metre Faulkes telescopes has to ‘watch’ a patch of sky for _________ times as long. Most objects other than the brightest stars and planets cannot be seen by the human eye. 2

Resolution and mirror size. 4) What is meant by a telescope’s “resolution?” 5) How much more resolution does the 3.9-metre AAO telescope have than the 2-metre Faulkes Telescope? D A D B = 3.9 2 = __________________________ 6) How much more resolution does the 2-metre Faulkes Telescope have compared with the Human Eye (0.002m)? D A D B = ....... ....... = ____________________________ 7) The bigger the telescope, the blurrier/clearer the images become. (circle one) Location of Telescopes. 8) Even though the Hubble Space Telescope and the Faulkes Telescopes are approximately the same size, the resolution or blurriness is much improved when using the Hubble. Why is this? 9) Most research telescopes are positioned on high mountaintops. Why? 3

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Discovering Deep Sky Objects So what would you see through a telescope? The Universe is filled with all sorts of really cool looking things that you can see even through a modest-sized telescope like the ones at the SHSU Observatory. Normally you would be making your own observations and sketching what you see through the telescope. Instead, because we can’t do that at the moment, you’ll need some planetarium software called STELLARIUM. Download it from this site: http://www.stellarium.org/ if you have not already. In the list below, I have given you the names of 16 different TYPES of object in the universe. It is not an exhaustive list! These, however, form a good list of objects that are relatively easy to image, quite beautiful to look at and represent a good range of types of objects in the universe. What day of the month were you born? Answer these questions about the type of object based on that number. For example, if your birthday is April 20 , answer questions about Interacting Galaxies . 1) What type of object is this? Give a short description of this type of object. 2) Find one fact that YOU PERSONALLY find interesting about this type of object: 5 1 – 2. Young Open cluster 17 – 18. Lenticular Galaxy 3 – 4. Old Open Cluster 19 – 20. Interacting Galaxies 5 – 6. Globular cluster 21 – 22. Dwarf Galaxy 7 – 8. Spiral Galaxy 23 – 24. Galaxy cluster 9 – 10. Barred Spiral Galaxy 25 – 26. Emission nebula 11 – 12. Elliptical Galaxy 27 – 28. Star forming region 13 – 14. Irregular Galaxy 29 – 30. Planetary nebula 15 – 16. Starburst Galaxy. 31. Reflection nebula

Questions about a single object. Find a specific EXAMPLE of the type of object you have been assigned. And answer the following. 3) What is its actual name (e.g., NGC1234)? 4) What are three interesting facts about this object. 5) Provide a link to an image of this object: 6

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Picking an Observation Object Open Stellarium on your computer. NOTE: Stellarium always works in the local system time even when it is at a different location on earth . Your view can be changed by holding down the left mouse button while moving the mouse. Move your mouse to the left side of the screen. A menu should appear. Click on the top icon to open the “Location Window” to find and set your current location. Click on the “Date/time Window” icon and set the date and time (in your local system time) that you will be observing. This may be a specific given time or it may be any time during the day or night. Check this first! Go to the left hand menu and click on the “Search” icon (magnifying glass). Enter the name of the specific example of the object that you chose above. Stellarium will then “point” at it. It might be in the sky. It might point at the grass below. Once Stellarium has found the object, it will list a bunch of information about it, including its azimuth and altitude (compass direction and height above/below the horizon). These are listed as “Az./Alt.” Open the Date/time window. Advancing on the hour, watch the altitude as it changes, and continue to advance the hour until the altitude reaches its highest value. 1. Can you ever observe your object from your current location (is the altitude ever greater than zero)? 2. If you can, around what time is it highest in the sky, and at what altitude would it be? It might be that your object is above the horizon during the daytime. Set the time to 10pm (22:00:00). Now advance month by month until your object is highest in the sky 3. During what month would it be best to observe your object? At what altitude would it be? WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED WITH THIS ACTIVITY, SUBMIT IT VIA BLACKBOARD. 8