Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My 2nd grade student is conducting the experiment, "Do the phases of the moon affect the number of stars visible?" We live in Western Washington and it is cloudy almost every night. How would she go about counting stars when it is cloudy? Are there apps or website to help her get data for that particular night?

Hello Wood_88,

I assume that you are referring the Science Buddies experiment entitled "The Moon and the Stars" (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... rs#summary).

There are not any apps, websites, or tools available that state how many stars are/were visible in the sky on a given date. This is most likely due to the fact that the number of stars visible at a given time is dependent on the location of the observer.

I recommend simply checking your location's weather forecast in advance and determining which days will be cloudy at the time during which your student will be conducting his experiment. You can then plan to conduct the experiment on the nights that aren't cloudy. If you observe in the forecast that it will continue to be cloudy for several nights in a row, your student may want to consider choosing another project to avoid missing deadlines or not being able to obtain sufficient data.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Yes that was what her project was based on. We had a few good days of data but encouraged her to think of other projects. Now theres no point in a deadline because there wont be a science fair... hopefully she can still do it for herself later on. Thank you

Wood_88 wrote:My 2nd grade student is conducting the experiment, "Do the phases of the moon affect the number of stars visible?" We live in Western Washington and it is cloudy almost every night. How would she go about counting stars when it is cloudy? Are there apps or website to help her get data for that particular night?

Hi, how your project ended?, what decision you made, a very interesting topic