Physics 55 Spring 2007
Possible Extra Credit Projects

• Keep an astronomy-related blog. This was done by all students in Fall 04; this semester it will be an extra-credit project. For credit, I would expect at least 12 entries of 150-300 words each, over a period of at least 6 weeks. This is an excellent way to connect astronomy with your particular field of study, interests or area of expertise.
• Attend a local astronomy club, local astronomy event, or tour a local research facility like TUNL, TCO , or the Morehead Planetarium and write a summary of your experience.
• Try your hand at some simple astronomical experiment such as following sunspots over a week with our sunspot telescope, measuring the height of a crater on the Moon, following a Galilean moon to confirm Kepler's law, or studying sunlight spectroscopically.
• Do one of the CLEA astronomy projects, which are software-based astronomy labs using real data.
• Participate in a Duke outreach program to a local middle- or high-school and talk about some aspect of astronomy.
• Prepare a lecture for a Physics 55 class on some topic that is not covered in the syllabus. (You do not have to give the lecture, just prepare a good one.)
• Interview a local researcher doing research related to astronomy (e.g., one of Duke's string theorists, neutrino researchers, nuclear physics scientists, or gravitational lensing theorists, or one of UNC's astronomers) and summarize his or her research interests and goals at a level appropriate for Physics 55 students.
• Write a piece of fiction related to some theme of astronomy: science fiction, some historical event seen through the eyes of a contemporary, a future first-contact scenario, the interaction of an astronomer with a non-scientist, etc.