Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica

CARA Outreach / Yerkes Summer Institutes / Schedule from 1993

This document assumes you have read the general information on the YSIs.

Introduction

Theme is the Galaxy. Goal is to perform an interlocking set of activities that build upon the experiences in the five on-campus labs and the three nights at the Adler Planetarium. Besides simply experiencing well-guided, hands-on astrophysics activities, by the end of the week the students should be able to :

describe and discuss the Galaxy,
describe the distance scales and how they were measured,
read and interpret a star chart,
use a small telescope,
describe the relevant properties of light and optics in the above, such as: inverse square law, simple optics, scattering and absorption, plus how a camera works,
explain what a meteor shower is and how comets and meteors are thought to be related to the interstellar medium.

We continue to expect three student teams: Sgr, Sco & Cyg. The numbers, though still a little uncertain, will be no more than ten on each team. Each team will have two leadership students who will assist with the lab in a mentoring role. On Sunday afternoon, starting at 1:00 PM, each instructor will get 15 minutes to describe their activities before these leaders. Be sure to give them written materials at that time so they can help you in your activities.

Dates: Sunday, August 8th through Saturday, August 14th.

Don't forget that all your activities must have their written descriptions in Macintosh readable form. After this year's institute they will be assembled in a binder for future year's reference and use.

Workshop Titles and Teaching Teams

The [...] leader of each activity or workshop [is listed]. You will have the assistance of the leadership students who are in each team. Note that your plan must include a rain/cloud activity. You are also responsible for turning in a Macintosh Word version of the activity at the end of the Institute.

Daytime workshops

Star Charts and Atlases: Instructor: Brass, Kron
Use various atlases, including the Barnard atlas. Concepts to be taught are angular measurements from linear distance on map.
Globular Clusters - Star Counting: Instructor: Takamiya
Using various photographic enlargements, determine the numbers of stars in globulars and also some open clusters.
Scattering, polarization and absorption of light: Instructor: Newberg
Learn the basics of the physics of interstellar dust in the lab. Then, make some observations of Palomar Sky Survey prints.
Camera Obscura: Instructor: Sweitzer, Dreiser
Experiment with a room-sized camera obscura. Take some photos of the Sun with a smaller one and compare brightness with Milky Way images. Estimate density of MW.
Galactic Stories: Instructor: Greer
Examine various myths and legends about the Milky Way. Learn basic, qualitative model of the Galaxy. Then, exercise writing and story telling skills by making up stories and writing a description of the Galaxy.
Proper Motions: Instructor: Smetanka
Compare old photos with new ones to determine the velocity of some stars. Distances too?
Comets and Meteors: Instructor: Whitt, Brown
Make a comet. Build conceptual bridge to interstellar dust and help students get ready for upcoming meteor shower.

Nighttime Workshops

Gauging the Galaxy - Observing: Instructor: Brass, Whitt, Greer, Brown
Using the Milwaukee small telescopes, determine the relative stellar densities in 4 or 5 selected fields. Compare with Herschel and make some conclusions.
Globular Clusters - Observing: Instructor: Smetanka, Takamiya
Using the 24 inch telescope, verify the distribution of globular clusters. Learn about RA and Dec in the process. If possible, discuss why globulars hover about center of MW.
Photometry of stars and globulars - Observing: Instructor: Sweitzer, Briggs
Using CCD mounted on various lenses on Schmidt, do photometry of reference source, double stars and globular clusters. Use data to determine the size of the Galaxy.
Photograph Milky Way - Observing: Instructor: Kron, Newberg
Wide-field photography of Milky Way. Small field photography of high proper-motion star. Relate to obscuration of dust. Also relate to photos of the Sun taken in daytime.

Actual labs from this might be found on our Resources page.

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CARA's research and education programs are supported in part by the National Science Foundation under a cooperative agreement, grant number NSF OPP 89-20223. © Copyright 1998,1999,2000 by Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica. This copyright applies to all web pages and images created by CARA.

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Last modified Friday, 08-Jan-1999 15:37:46 CST
http://astro.uchicago.edu/cara/outreach/se/ysi/93sked.html