What Makes the Rings of Saturn?
Saturn is a unique planet because of the many beautiful rings surrounding it. How are all of those rings made? Why is each ring unique?
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Craters and Meteorites
Have you ever heard that the moon is made of cheese? Even though the craters on the surface of the moon resemble holes in Swiss cheese, we know that this common myth is not true. Find out how craters are formed and why they are different sizes by doing this simple science project.
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Where Did All the Stars Go?
One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was to go outside and look at the stars. As an adult, I moved to a major city and the stars seemed to vanish from the sky. Where did they go?
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A Puzzling Parallax
Did you know that ancient astronomers could measure the distance to other stars? They could also distinguish between stars and planets. How could they do that without modern technology of telescopes? See if you can discover the link between distance and perspective used to measure stars.
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The Moon and the Stars
Everyone loves looking at the full moon, but are these nights the best time to go stargazing? Can the moon interfere with certain astonomical observations?
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A Matter of Time
Do you wake up at the crack of dawn, or do you need an alarm clock to wake you up each morning? It may surprise you that the two are not always in synch. Nowdays, we use Standard Time to set our watches instead of Solar Time. Which method of timekeeping is the most accurate? Get ready to synchronize your watches!
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Which Stars Can You Use for Navigation in Different Parts of the World?
Do you ever wonder how pirates sailed the seven seas? The two most important things a pirate could have (besides a parrot and big hat) were a compass and an accurate watch. Ancient navigators didn't know about compasses, so how did they know where they were going? Could they have used the stars to know which way to go?
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Catching Stardust
How do astronomers collect stardust? They design and build satellites that are launched into space to collect particles on specially designed panels. Satellites can be sent to orbit around an object of interest: a planet, moon, or comet. In this experiment, you can build your own mini satellite and use it to collect some pretend stellar debris. If you simulate an asteroid impact, how much stellar dust will your satellite collect? Will placing your satellite at different "orbital" distances from the impact change the amount of debris collected?
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Measuring the Moon
Sometimes a full moon can be so bright, you can walk around in the dark without a flashlight. How much brighter is a full moon than the other phases of the moon? How is the brightness of the moon measured?
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Changing Constellations
Do you like to look up into the night sky? There are so many stars, it can be mind boggling! Some ancient people marked time by the changes in star patterns. We still use changes in constellation patterns to mark astronomical time. Do constellations change more in one hour, one day, one month, or one year?
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Index of Astronomy Project Ideas |
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