101 Clearinghouse Labs

Miscellaneous

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
Planetarium Lab	Intro	Browser	West	A lab for the planetarium. Basic plotting and slope-finding. Takes only 5 minutes to gather data. Approximately 1 hour for plotting and answering questions.
Scientific Method	Intro	Browser	Larson	Includes math review and scientific notation	Comments
Telescopes	Intro	None	Larson	Requires our telescopes	Comments
Kepler's Laws	Intro	Browser	Larson		Comments
Data Collecting	Intro	Browser	Wadsley	Students love the piercing aspect, but find it difficult to make the connection to astronomy, so this must be strongly emphasized by the TA. Some math makes this lab take a long time for some students.	Comments

Sky Watch Labs

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
Celestial Navigation 1	Intro	None	Sullivan	All of these Sky Watch Labs are intended to be done outdoors, actually looking at the actual sky! They utilize simple tools and mathematics to figure out some basic motions. For more information, see Sky Watch Tips, or the Observing Tips Article.
Celestial Navigation 2 (a sample backup plan!)	Intro	None	Sullivan
Angles	Intro	None	Sullivan
Constellations and Movement of Stars	Intro	None	Sullivan
Jupiter's Moons	Intro	None	Sullivan
Length of Sidereal Day	Intro	None	Sullivan
Measuring Earth's Circumference	Intro	None	Sullivan
Meteors	Intro	None	Sullivan
Motion of the Moon	Intro	None	Sullivan
Motion of the Sun	Intro	None	Sullivan
Photographing the Sky	Intro	None	Sullivan
Planetary Motions	Intro	None	Sullivan

The Sky

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
Finding Things in the Sky	Intro	None	Palen	Requires the use of a planetarium. This is a first iteration lab, not yet tested in the classroom. Use at your own risk, I'll be testing it in June.
Phases of the Moon	Intro	None	Palen	Requires "Moons"
Using Planispheres	Intro	None	Larson	Requires a planisphere
Sally's Sunshine Schedule	Intro	External Website	Balick/Palen	External website very slow if accessed by a whole class. TAs should save a current version of the calendar for the students to access locally. Takes approximately 1 hour if the site is accessible, or if it's been made local.
Distance Measures	Intro	No computers	Palen		Comments
Observing the Night Sky	Intro	None	Larson	Requires a telescope or binoculars
Distance Measures: Parallax	Intro	None	Larson/Palen	Requires a meter stick Extracted and modified from "Distance Measures", above.
Seasons	Intro	None	Palen	Heavy card with square cut out, bright light source.

Solar System

For more solar system labs, please see the clearinghouse devoted to planets...soon to be moved..

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
Finding the Mass of the Earth	Intro	None	Larson
Lunar Topography	Intro	Netscape	Palen		Comments
Comparative Planetology	Intro	Netscape	?
Formation of Solar System	Intro	None	Palen

Stars

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
Distances to Stars in Leo	Intro	Browser	Larson
Properties of the Sun	Intro	Netscape	Palen
Properties of the Sun 2.0	Intro	None	Palen	A computer-less version of Properties of the Sun. Development of math skills is suppressed. Suitable for larger groups. Approximately 1 hour.
Solar Spectrum	Intro	Netscape	Larson		Comments
Solar Spectrum	Intro	Netscape	Fraser	This is an improved, shorter version of the above.	Comments
Spectral Classification of Stars	Intro	Netscape	Palen	Much different than the prior lab.
Spectra	Intro	No computers	Palen	Uses lab equipment
Spectral Analysis	Intro	None	Larson
51 Pegasi: The Discovery of a New Planet	Intro	None	Larson
Investigating the Crab Nebula	Intro	Browser (for active links)	Larson
Spectroscopic Binaries	Intro	Browser	Larson
Distance to Hyades	Intro	None	Larson

Stellar Evolution and H-R Diagram

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
Properties of Planetary Nebulae	Intro	Netscape	Palen
Properties of Planetary Nebulae 2.0	Intro	None	Palen	The computer-less, shorter version of the above.
Properties of Supernovae	Intro	Netscape	Palen	Requires search charts
Black Holes	Intro	None	Palen	A thought experiment, of course!
Age and Distance of a Stellar Cluster	Intermediate	Camera	Palen	Requires Linux mode, and installation of Camera Notes for Teachers
Cluster Color-Mag. Diagram and the Age of Stars	Intro	None	McCrady	A simplified version of the above. No software is necessary, but the students will need two pieces of graph paper.
Cluster Color-Mag. Diagram and the Age of Stars	Intro	None	Agueros	Another version of above, rewritten to include relationship between spectral class and B-V color, clarify 'color', and remove spectroscopic parallax.
RR Lyrae Stars and the Distance to M4	Intro	None	Larson	Under Construction

Galaxies

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
Finding the Center of the Milky Way	Intro	None	Larson	Shapley's method.
Hubble Galaxy Classification	Intro	Netscape	Palen		Comments
Hubble Galaxy Classification for a large lecture hall	Intro	None	Palen		Use the projector, and give people a few minutes with each galaxy. Comments
Hubble Deep Field	Intro	Netscape	Larson
Dark Matter	Intro	Netscape	Stinson	2nd iteration Background materials: Goals Prior Knowledge Required

Cosmology

Lab	Level	Software	Author	Other	Feedback
The Expanding Universe	Intro	No computers	Palen	Need balloons and rulers	Comments
Curvature of Space	Intro	Netscape	?
Particle Soup: Nucleosynthesis	Intro	None	Wadsley

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