Course: GCSE Astronomy Class Exercises

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	Introduction The following exercises and links are aimed at helping explain specific topics in the GCSE Astronomy syllabus. Full exercises using the NAAP applets given here can be found at: http://astro.unl.edu/naap/ News forum

1	Earth, Moon and Sun Topics 1.3 (l), 1.4 (p,q) : Solar wind - BBC video on the solar wind http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/solar_system_highlights/solar_wind#p005xg9b

2	Planetary Systems Topic 2.2 (g,i) - Video footage of the Chelyabinsk meteor in Russia, 15th Feb 2013 (Guardian website) http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/15/meteorite-explodes-over-russian-urals-live-updates Topic 2.3 (d) - The discoveries of Galileo related to the Solar System - BBC resource http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/scientists/galileo_galilei Sky at Night magazine article written by Patrick Moore about Galileo's achievments: http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/column-excerpts/galileo-true-giant-astronomy Topic 2.3 (a,b,c) - Kepler's contribution to our understanding of the Solar System - BBC resources http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/scientists/johannes_kepler Topic 2.3 (f) - Newton's law of gravity - BBC Resources http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/scientists/isaac_newton Topic 2.4 - Exoplanets - BBC Resource: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/extrasolar_planets Radial velocity animation: http://library.thinkquest.org/C003763/flash/extrasolar1.htm NAAP Applet - transit simulator: http://astro.unl.edu/naap/esp/animations/transitSimulator.html Transit animation and info: http://lasp.colorado.edu/education/outerplanets/exoplanets.php Illustration of the size of exoplanets: http://xkcd.com/1071/ Topic 2.4 (g) - Habitable zones - BBC Resource http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/habitable_zones Asteroids Factsheet PDF document Dwarf planets factsheet PDF document Simulating impacts on Earth - Impact Calculator PDF document Finding impact craters on Earth - Google Earth PDF document Finding impact craters on Earth - Google Maps PDF document Showing retrograde motion with Stellarium Word document Rotating Sky - Coordinates file

3	Stars Excellent site for lifecycle of stars and HR diagrams with interactive animations and quizzes: http://sunshine.chpc.utah.edu/labs/star_life/starlife_main.html Temperature, Colour and Spectral Class For this exercise you will be using the 'Hertzsprung-Russell diagram lab' on the NAAP website. 1. Click on the link here to access the NAAP webpage 2. Read through the background material on 'Spectral Classification' and 'Luminosity' 3. Answer question 1 on your worksheet Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams and the lifecycle of stars For this exercise you will be using the 'Hertzsprung-Russell diagram lab' on the NAAP website. 1. Click on the link here to access the HR-diagram lab 2. Read through the background material section on the 'Hertzsprung-Russell diagram' 3. Open the 'HR Diagram Explorer' simulator 4. Answer questions 2 and 3 on your worksheet Observing the night sky Understanding star co-ordinates and star charts - BBC Sky at Night magazine - article explaining right acsension, declination, star magnitudes and how stars within a constellation are labelled with Greek letters according to their brightness: http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/general-guide/understand-star-co-ordinates-and-star-charts

4	Galaxies and Cosmology Dark Matter Interactive (from McGraw Hill education) Short powerpoint presentation on the Big Bang and Cosmology NSO Guide to Galaxies Powerpoint presentation

5	Unit 2 - Controlled Assessment Aided Observations Below are some exercises and information which may help you with your controlled assessment using the 2m Faulkes Telescopes. File Formats from the Faulkes Telescopes Resource Colour Mixing Resource Colour in Astronomical Images Resource How Light Enters the Telescope file How a CCD Works file Colours & Filters file Making a Colour Imaging - Interactive Demo file Planning your aided observations with the Faulkes Telescopes - STEPS Word document FT Planning Sheet Word document FT Observing Log Word document Using Stellarium to plan an observing session PDF document How to check if the object is visible in the next few months file Aided observations Think Sheet PDF document Planning coursework with the NSO Powerpoint presentation Unaided Observations Below are some resources which may help with the unaided observations for your controlled assessment. Sky at Night magazine guide to seeing and atmospheric transparency, together with some information on magnitudes: http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/general-guide/guide-seeing-and-atmospheric-transparency Observing constellations Word document Sample unaided task write-up PDF document Constellations powerpoint Powerpoint presentation Download SalsaJ from here file An introduction to SalsaJ PDF document Making Colour Images with SalsaJ PDF document Making colour images with SalsaJ PDF document