Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Homework - March 3-8

Homework Summary for this week:
1. God's Undertaker, chapter 3 - I have a worksheet, which is the post following this one, but I will bring a hard copy to art tomorrow.
2. Textbook, chapter 3 - The principles of math and physics that astronomy is grounded in - basically matter and energy, you've already read some of the parts about light.  Kinda long chapter.
3. Documentary : Extreme Astronomy, 56 minutes - amazing "telescopes' like you've never imagined, and great cinematography of the heavens, music nice.
If you would rather not read the textbook chapter, watch this documentary--it's fantastic! 1 hour.

I've been experimenting with using facebook to insert some interesting clips into your schedule.  This helps to spread out the homework and to keep things from being done all in one sitting.  Because frankly, doing too much of this stuff at one time is sometimes counter-productive, like asking a sponge to hold more that it can; pretty soon it runs out the sides.

But since we're not always on FB, I will also post to this page as I go.  So here is what I have accumulated so far:

"My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty,
I do not concern myself with great things or things too wonderful for me;
[me: I do not over-concern myself with science-y things that I can't possibly understand--I just enjoy the wonder...]
But I have stilled and quieted my heart, like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, put your hope in God, both now and forevermore. Psalm 131

Friday, February 22, 2013

Serious Time

One class, one field trip, one short discussion...and then vacation.  Hope it was fun.  I brushed up on the theory of relativity...and it's starting to make sense.  Well, not really.

Exciting news on the planet--a meteor explodes over Russia, and all those dash cams take the scene: Watch This: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130218.html
 
But that wasn't the only thing happening in the skies. Check this out: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/11/asteroid_2012_da14_space_rock_will_miss_the_earth_by_17_000_miles.html?wpisrc=obinsite
Near Earth asteroid art
On Feb. 15, the small asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass the Earth, similar to this artwork (which uses a real image of both Earth and the asteroid Matilde).
Image credits: Earth: ESA/Rosetta; asteroid Mathilde: NASA/NEAR

And since we missed Valentine's day, here is a picture (on the left) of an astro-valentine from space, taken on Feb. 14th, 2000, of the asteroid named 433 Eros. This spud-shaped rock is 34 x 11 x 11 kilometers (21 x 7 x 7 miles) in size, and sometimes approaches near the Earth (though we’re in no danger of it hitting us).eros_mars_mesa176519



Back to our suject, LIGHT- The Whole Spectrum
Bad Astronomer blog http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/22/infrared_time_lapse_video_of_trees_in_the_infrared_is_eerie_and_beautiful.html

Video 56 minutes:

Light Fantastic 3 - The Stuff of Light 

Reading: 

1. Textbook - finish chapter 1: A Brief Introduction to the Universe

2. Handout - Asteroids AND/OR chapter 2 of God's Undertaker

3. I will post some short videos on FB periodically, as well as short thoughts.  Please also post your comments; I have set up an astronomy group, and I would love you to share stuff as well.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Welcome to the Homework.

First of all, acquaint yourselves with the tabs above: Picture of the Day, Universe Today, and Bad Astronomy.
These sites post new pictures and blog about various spacey subjects, so check them out at least once a week. (Bad Astronomy has the most reading, but is also the most interesting, imo, and occassionally the most opinionated, which do not necessarily reflect my views.)  Click here for cool photograph of moon rising.

also see here
Reading from Textbook (binder):
Notice the different way the book is organized into chapter, section and sub-sections.
Chapter 1.1.1 and 1.1.2
 What is astronomy?  & Science, art, religion and other ways of knowing  (pages 1-3)
Chapter 3.5.1  -3.5.2
 The nature of light  & What is light? An unanswered question ( pages 49-51)
 then skip to 3.5.7
 What is light? Light as a wave (pages 59-61)

Video: 58 minutes
Light Fantastic: Let There Be Light
A historical journey through the discovery of the properties of light.  Jot down the names of the scientist and their insights.
[Empedocles, Euclid, Al Hazen, Roger Bacon, Descartes and Isaac Newton]


And one more picture from Bad Astronomy:

Geronimo! Allons-y! Fantastic!

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Majesty and Glory of Your Name

Here's where it all begins, with a Bang. JB High School Science - February, 2013.  Be there.