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Experiment in Astronomy Science Projects (37 results)

Measuring the Moon's Brightness
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
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? Read more
What Makes the Rings of Saturn?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
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? Read more
Catching Stardust
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
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… Read more
Which Stars Can You Use for Navigation in Different Parts of the World?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
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? Read more
Changing Constellations
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
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? Read more
A Puzzling Parallax
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Do you enjoy going stargazing? In a good location on a clear night, you can see a huge number of stars twinkling in the night's sky. Have you ever wondered how far those stars are from us? Ancient astronomers actually discovered a way figure this out, measuring the distance from Earth to faraway stars. How did they do it without modern technologies? In this astronomy science project you will find out by exploring the link between the distance of an object and perspective (also known as… Read more
The Moon and the Stars
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Everyone loves looking at the full moon, but are these nights the best time to go stargazing? Can the moon interfere with certain astronomical observations? Read more
How Far Away Is the Moon?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Let's suppose you can take advantage of the Internet and get a 'pen pal' located a 1000 miles away in another city. On the same night, and at EXACTLY the same time 'Universal Time', make a CAREFUL observation of where the Moon is located with respect to the background stars. You should be able to discern a slight (about 1/2 the Moon's diameter) shift in position due to parallax. Then, with a little geometry, you could estimate the distance of the Moon during the full lunar cycle (Odenwald,… Read more
Similar Triangles: Using Parallax to Measure Distance
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Want to stretch your imagination? One good way is to try to imagine how far it is to a distant star. How much farther away is it than the moon is from the earth? How much farther away than the earth is from the sun? How long would it take to get there? In this project, you'll learn one way of measuring the distance without leaving Earth. Read more
A Matter of Time
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
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. Nowadays, 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! Timekeeping is the science of how to keep time with precision and accuracy. People have been finding ways of measuring time for thousands of years, usually based on the movements… Read more
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