As part of our astronomy unit, students need to begin familiarizing themselves with the night sky above San Diego and the specifics of how to orient themselves using the stars. By far the most important start to find in the northern hemisphere is Polaris (the North Star) due to its orientation along earth’s axial tilt. Start by going to this article on the SummitPost blog to read more about how to locate Polaris in the northern hemisphere.

When you are finished with the article and feel you have a sense for locating Polaris, research and learn about the following topics: Bortle Scale, light intensity magnitude, and how to calculate magnification of the telescope.

Finally, if you have time, begin to familiarize yourself with the Messier Catalog of objects in the night sky. Write a post in your blog commenting on what you would like to photograph and why.