Print this sheet and complete by Thursday.

If you are completing honors project work, you need to begin getting work done in your chosen field. Please see the list below and talk to me if you have questions.

Astrophotography

For those of you in the astrophotography group you need to do the following over the next few days and weeks.

• With your astrophotography group (up to three people) complete a photography hit list of objects in the night sky. You must photograph as many objects as there are people in your group.
  • Start by researching the Messier and NCG objects in the night sky. We have the capability of photographing objects brighter than magnitude 8 or 9.
  • Go to the planetarium page at the neave website and use our location (San Diego) and the date (March 10th) to find what constellations will be up. You will be able to cross reference the deep sky objects from the catalogs above by constellation. This will give your group an idea of what objects we can photograph.
  • Have your finalized hit list approved.
• Research the difference between planetary astrophotography, deep field astrophotography and wide field astrophotography. You will have to do the second two at the very least. Learn about techniques for all three types.
• Learn about objects in the night sky. What is a nebula? What is a galaxy? How do we know how far away they are? What objects are in the Milky way? What objects are outside of it? What is a star cluster?
• Research how the Deep Sky Stacker software works.

Forrest Tanaka’s YouTube channel has a plethora of information. Good luck!

Weather Balloon Science

The weather balloon science group needs to the the following soon:

• Test the GPS trackers and make sure they are functioning properly
• Test the GoPro camera batteries and discern which of them are working best
• Research and complete a design for the Weather Balloon itself including the attached package and a recovery/safety system
• Go to the University of Wyoming Weather Balloon Tracking Site to determine a launch window and trajectory
• Design and create an additional experiment for the weather balloon. You have to have at least one high altitude experiment on the package

Rocketry

• Design the rocket for one of several engineering tasks: keeping a payload safe, height, etc
• Test all component parts including a prototype motor
• Get a list of materials necessary for final build
• Build the final rocket

Print this document, complete it and submit by the end of class.

For this week’s assignment, post the following to your blog:

• Problem Set 1 on Waves
• A photo from the week that you took along with a short post on what you learned from the Outside the Lens lessons
• A written piece answering two questions:
  • What gives you purpose in life and why?
  • What did you learn about electromagnetism this week and what questions do you have?

Check the link for information on everything we need to wrap up in the next three weeks.

End of the Semester Checklist

Use the attached project sheet and Engine Design Worksheet to make your design.

Rocket Science Project Sheet

We will use the following graphs for in an in class lesson on integration.

Velocity-time graphs

In order for us to gain a better understanding of what dynamics are in play with the rocket engine, we will have to define some simple terms. Here are your tasks to begin our rocket science project:

1. Find a partner. You get to choose a partner. However, it cannot be someone you have worked with before. If cannot be someone from your solar system project or from the solar system drawing you did. You must choose someone new.
2. Research fuel types. We will be working with two main fuel types. Sugar rockets and black powder rockets. What are the ingredients used in each type? What is the fuel? What do the other components of the rocket engine do? What are the proposed ratios of fuel mix? What is the temperature and time of the burn? Are there any changes to that mix that are recommended to change the characteristics of the burn?
3. Research model rocket engine types. What is a core burner engine? What is an end burner engine? How do these engine designs differ and why would you choose one over the other?

Please write the answers to these questions in your notebook as a section of notes. We will use these for a later blog post.

Good luck!

For our night of astrophotography, each group will get an hour of telescope time to photograph any object of their choice. We have three telescopes that will be set up that night. The 80 mm refractor can capture objects with a magnitude of approximately 7. The 8″ reflector is our most trusted instrument for astrophotography and can capture objects up to approximately magnitude 9. The 14″ reflector can reach magnitude 14 theoretically.

Take some time to cross reference what will be up in the 2015 fall night sky over San Diego. Look at which constellations are prominent. The night sky map is a good place to start. Then cross reference those constellations with the objects that you might be able to see. The Messier Catalog is a good starting point.

The Project Sheet is here.