ASTR1105_lab_manual.pdf

Astronomy 1105 Lab Manual Douglas College

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Table of Contents Introduction 5 Essential Skills 7 Scientific Notation 7 Significant Figures 9 Graphing 11 Using Google Sheets 13 The (Virtual) Night Sky 15 Scale of the Solar System 17 Graphing and Kepler’s 3 rd Law 21 Cycles of the Sky 27 Mass of Jupiter 33 Luminosity and the Inverse Square Law 39 Telescopes and Image Formation 45 Sunspots and The Solar Cycle 55 Dark Matter 63 Analysis of Explosions and Hubble’s Law 67 White Light as a Mixture Of Colors 75 Inverse Square Law (Penny Simulation) 77 Spectral Analysis 81 3

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Welcome to the Astronomy Lab! This document contains an introduction to the labs for Astronomy 1105. You should read over this document before the first lab, and use it as a reference during the semester. The lab manual for each lab will be posted on Blackboard the week before the lab is scheduled. The information you need to answer many of your questions about each lab can be found in the lab manual. The tentative lab scheduled can be found in the course outline provided by your instructor and is posted in the “Labs” content area on Blackboard. The labs are intended to be two hours long and be completed during the class time, so you should plan to complete them by the end of the class. However, you must prepare for the labs by reading the lab manual and reviewing the relevant course content (the lab quiz will help with this). The online lab quiz must be completed by 6:30 PM on the day of the lab, and the lab is due at the end of class. You will complete most labs on a “lab report sheet” where you write down your answers (this will be provided during the lab). In some cases, you may need to upload files to Blackboard. Details for each lab will be provided in the folder for the lab. If you need a computer for a lab, they will be provided for you (but you are welcome to use your own). Late lab reports are not accepted, and any missed labs will result in a grade of 0 for that lab. The labs are worth 20% of your overall grade. If you miss a lab, you will receive a grade of zero. If a lab is missed due to circumstances beyond your control (like illness), you will be exempted from that lab or a replacement lab will be assigned. Please contact the course instructor before the lab (if possible) if you will need to miss a lab due to circumstances beyond your control. To determine the grade for the lab part of the course, the lab quizzes will count for 20% and the lab reports will count for 80%. The lowest lab quiz and lab report score will be dropped. There are several essential skills and tools that you will use in the lab. These tools will be discussed in class and during the lab. However, you should read over the Essential Skills chapter to familiarize yourself with these skills, and use this chapter as a reference during the term. These skills include: Scientific Notation Significant Figures Graphing Creating a Plot With Google Sheets 5

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