Category: Software

Chapter 8 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } We know of one habitable planet in the Universe, habitable meaning suitable for supporting life such as that we are familiar with. That one habitable planet is our own: Earth. For centuries, some people have speculated that there may be many many such planets in other planet-star […]

Investigation AC7.1 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Galileo discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1610, and they are often referred to as the Galilean Moons. He was using a simple telescope and a keen mind. He noticed that Jupiter and these four dimmer lights, which he assumed were stars, were stretched out […]

Chapter 7 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } We wonder “Where did we come from, in the big scheme of things?” That leads to questions of how our planet began, which in turn leads to the question, “Where did our Solar System come from?” and “Where did the Universe come from?” That last question will […]

{ A Changing Cosmos Contents } Many stars in the Universe are multiple star systems. If a binary star system (two stars orbiting each other) is oriented in space in a way so that the orbit plane is in line with us on Earth, then the stars alternately pass in front of and behind one […]

Investigation AC6.1 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Here are a series of exercises on finding supernovae, starting with simple specially prepared images and progressing to real life image analyses. Materials I.  Comparing Images By Subtracting Our first exercise uses two images for which Aligning, Subtracting Sky Background, and Normalizing Brightness are not necessary.  We […]

Chapter 5 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } I. Filters Filters are used on telescopes to determine the brightness of an object in a specific color. One use of this information is to estimate the color of stars. Astronomers generally use a set of standard filters, meaning that the color of light each filter lets […]

Chapter 4 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } I. Distance To Things in Our Solar System  For relatively nearby things, like airplanes, we can use radar waves to measure how far away they are. Radar waves are like the radio waves that  radios, wi-fi, and TVs operate with.  Air traffic controllers at airports use radar […]

{ A Changing Cosmos Contents } { All GSS Books } Originally: The Position of the Sun During the Day (A Partial Explanation for the Seasons)  [see also The Solar Calendar] In this investigation you use the software Stellarium to take data of the Sun’s position over a period of a day.  You’ll take the […]

Investigation 3.2 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Materials One of the image processing (IP) apps listed for A Changing Cosmos on the GSS software page. Steps I. In order to look at “Smartphone” images with SalsaJ or JS9, you need to be able to transfer photos from your smartphone to your computer and know where to […]

Investigation 3.1 { A Changing Cosmos Contents } Materials:  I. How Big is that Prominence? a. Use Image Processing app/software to open the image eclipse1.fts.   This image of the longest total solar eclipse* of the 20th century was taken in Hawaii in 1991 by an HOU team. Look around the rim of the Sun (often called […]