Message from CFHT Librarian, Liz Bryson
Recently one of our astronomers was highlighted in a press release by the Space Telescope Science Institute.
CFHT and Hubble Update Here is a story of binary asteroids and what may be learned from studying them. This was a project lead by an astronomer at CFHT, Christian Veillet which was just recently published in Nature.
Binary Asteroids from CFHT and Hubble Press Release
Binary Asteroids with Annimations
Images and Press Releases from STScI
Aloha!
We are grateful for your feedback and support of our venture. email.
Contents:
- CFHT and Hubble Update
- Project Starshine
- HESSI is Go for Launch
- Hands-On Universe
- Understanding the Universe
- Windows to the Universe
- The Planetary Fact Sheets
- Catalog of Spaceborne Imaging
- Earth and Sky Radio Series
- Science in Space
- The Trivia Portal
- Size and Scale
- An Atlas of the Universe
- Environmental Issues and Astronomy
- Celestia
- Upcoming Astronomical Events
Project Starshine
NASA Mission Specialist Dan Tani successfully deployed Starshine 2 from the Space Shuttle Endeavor into its own orbit. What exactly is Project Starshine? Its name stands for Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite, a cooperative project producing an 85 pound sphere-shaped satellite with a surface covered by 845 aluminum mirrors. The mirrors were polished by 30,000 students in 660 schools in 26 countries. A nitrogen gas system will spin Starshine 2 so that, students hope, it will cast solar reflections onto Earth at certain times. At this Website you can read about Starshine 1 and 2, learn how the middle school students polished and assembled the mirrors, and download forms for teachers who want their classes to participate in Starshine 3/4, the next cooperative satellite launch. Visitors to the Starshine site can also link to pa ges giving information on how to catch a glimpse of the gleaming, space disco ball from their backyards.From the Scout Report-December.
HESSI is Go for Launch
From the news section of the Windows to the Universe Web site , NASA's High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI), built to help study solar flares on the sun, is scheduled to launch on January 24th after several failed attempts. Although a short article, the provided links give in-depth descriptions of the satellite, solar flares, the sun and more -- all with very nice illustrations and photographs. One of the most unique aspects of the article is the ability to choose among three varying levels of expertise, which changes the wording of the article to accommodate everyone from beginners to experts.From the Physical Sciences Scout Report.
Hands-On Universe (HOU)
Here, students in grade 6-12 classrooms may enter requests for "observations from professional observatories. Students download telescope images to their classroom computers and use the powerful HOU image processing software to visualize and analyze their data." Requests require an HOU teacher login (obtainable through the site), but there is plenty of material here that doesn't require a password: astronomy activities, information about student discoveries, telescope images, student research papers, and curriculum support. Subjects: Astronomy -- Observations | Science -- Study and teaching | Mathematics -- Study and teaching.
Understanding the Universe
The Understanding the Universe Web site is part of Discovery.com's excellent educational resource DiscoverySchool.com site and is a joint effort with the American Museum of Natural History. This attractive site contains three major sections. The It's Awesome page has a time line of the universe that links to the Universe in One Year page -- a great way of learning the difficult concept of geologic time by showing that, if the history of the universe was compressed into one year, modern humans wouldn't appear until 11:54pm on December 31. The Galaxy Tour section contains descriptions of the Milky Way and other galaxies, and provides questions that are answered via RealPlayer audio files by Frank Summers, an expert from the American Museum of Natural History . Finally, the StarGazers section highlights pioneers in the study of our Universe, such as Copernicus and Einstein. For educators, the Teacher's Tip link gives a suggested grade level of 5-8 and describes how to use the Web site most effectively.From the NSDL Scout Report
Windows to the Universe
Yet another website for help with teaching astronomy. This attractive website is brought to you by University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). It has a bit of everything on offer, from history of astonomy, to biographies, to information about the planets, to myths. Each page is succinct, very attractively illustrated, and interesting, and for each topic there are beginner, intermediate and advanced pages. Well worth a look!From UCAR.
The Planetary Fact Sheets
Offered by the National Space Science Data Center of NASA, the Planetary Fact Sheets Web site contains helpful information for students studying astronomy. The site lists links to all of the planets, their satellites, and their rings, as well as to tables comparing all the planets. The planet pages contain a photograph and a simple list of dozens of facts such as mass, volume, distance to the earth, temperature, and much more. Although not flashy, the information provided by this site can be very useful to anyone wanting to learn more about our solar system.From the NSDL Scout Report for the Physical Sciences, Volume 1, Number 5.
Catalog of Spaceborne Imaging
The imaging catalog contains a collection of over 500 images of the solar system bodies, including the sun, earth, moon, planets, and other astronomical objects taken by various space flight missions. The images are browsable by the individual missions, Hubble Space Telescope, and earth-based radar, providing information on the image's location, time, and imaging details. Subjects: Space photographyFrom LIIWeek March 28, 2002
Earth and Sky Radio Series
This site features a daily chart of celestial events, tonight's sky, how-to and pronunciation guides, articles on earth science, astronomy, and environmental sciences, a FAQ for space and science questions, and tips for teachers. This companion site to the radio show also has audio and text transcripts of recent shows, which include segments on animals, astronomy, geology, and other science topics. There is also a directory of stations that carry the program.From LIIWeek, April 4, 2002
Science in Space
Offered by the Liberty Science Center, the Science in Space Web site provides a visually pleasing way to explore topics about the sun. Links include Sunspots, Solar Wind, Solar Flares, Fusion, Plasma, Magnetic Fields, Earth's Atmosphere, and the Sun's Layers, all of which include subtopic links. Visitors will enjoy the simple descriptions and mix of multimedia offerings that culminates in a brief but well done site for interested surfers.
The Trivia Portal: Quizzes
Fun Trivia.com, "the World's Largest Trivia Site" includes a section of trivia quizzes devoted to science. Sixteen different quizzes are currently offered, covering topics such as the Fahrenheit Scale, Chemical Elements: Origins of Names, and How to Do Science. The quizzes are graded on a difficulty scale based on scores from the first twenty players. After a free registration, anyone can submit their own quiz, as long as it meets the ground rules and requirements. For this reason, Fun Trivia does not guarantee the accuracy of questions and answers. An appealing feature is that, once all questions are answered and the quiz is submitted, the correct answers are displayed along with the answer submitted by the player. This may be a fun activity to incorporate into science classrooms of a variety of levels.
Size and Scale
Another good lesson plan from DiscoverySchool.com, the Size and Scale Web site gives teachers a well conceived and thorough activity on the physics of size and scale. Objectives of the lesson include: understanding the relative sizes of bodies in our solar system and the problem of making a scale model of the entire solar system (because the distances in space are so great that even a very small scale model would be too large to be practical). The site contains all the information needed to complete the lesson, as well as a printable version and related links.
An Atlas of the Universe
Created by astrophysicist Richard Powell, An Atlas of the Universe is a Web site that allows visitors to see nine main maps of the universe, ranging from 12.5 light years to 15 billion light years from the sun. Each map then contains several other corresponding maps as well as descriptions of what is being shown. The maps give perspective to the vastness that lies beyond earth and explains, clearly and simply, things such as "where is the center of the universe" and "where did the big bang occur." Anyone interested in astronomy will enjoy the well organized and informative content.
Environmental Issues and Astronomy
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific maintains a Web site of the same name, with an interesting section titled Environmental Issues and Astronomy: An Introductory Resource Guide. Most people may not normally think that their would be environmental issues related to astronomy, but this site explores four of them -- one of which is light pollution. Although the descriptions of the issues on this site are fairly short, links are provided to give readers further information about each, making the unique subject of these pages worth a look.Environmental Issues and Astronomy
Celestia
Celestia is a free real-time space simulation that lets you experience our universe in three dimensions.
Upcoming Astronomical Events
- Comets and Meteors - If you want to investigate these, then check out the site Comets and Meteor Showers. It will give you information on those events currently visible. Some of them require a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.
- Planets - On the evening of May 14th, Saturn, Mars and Venus will be found clustered around the moon. Look for the 2 day old moon near the planets in the evening just after sunset.
- Eclipses - There will be a penumbral lunar eclipse during the evening of May 25th/morning of May 26th. It will start at 12:12 am and end at 3:53am. The moon will be at its darkest at 2:03am. This is unfortunately not quite as spectacular as a partial lunar eclipse. Also, on the afternoon of June 10th, there will be an annular solar eclipse. An annular eclipse is where the moon does not completely cover the sun, but the sun is seen as a ring of light at maximum eclipse. The path is N of the islands, so we will see only about a 50% eclipse occur at 1:48pm (maximum).
All times listed above are HST. The link below contains many calendars and includes a nice section on astronomical events. Check it out!!
We gratefully acknowledge the following online sources: Netsurfer Digest, Yahoo's Search Engine, The Scout Report, Blue Web'N, and the Librarian's Index to the Internet.This page is compiled by Liz Bryson, CFHT Librarian
This page was designed by Lisa Wells, CFHT Observing Assistant
We appreciate your comments and questions.