| Description
of Activity |
handouts
& references for students |
files
(images) used |
| A
variety of activities; students learn basic image processing skills: measure angular diameters (in pixels); learn where image information is stored; determine linear diameter of an object from its angular diameter & the distance; learn where objects fit in the context of stellar evolution |
Introduction to
Image Processing Sky on a Chip: the Fabulous CCD from Sky and Telescope, June 1999 Stellar Evolution summary |
ip5.fts ip2. fts ip3.fts ip4.fts ip7.fts fireball.fts |
| Determination
of the distance to an asteroid using the parallax method (students use two images of the same asteroid taken simultaneously from two different places on earth in order to determine the parallax of the asteroid and, thereby, its distance) |
Asteroid Parallax |
asteroid 1 asteroid 2 |
| students
learn: 1) why the size of an image is not an indication of the angular size of the star; 2) how many pixels a star's image should span; 3) how a star's apparent magnitude can be determined from its total counts value |
Photometry: Measuring Magnitudes |
star1.fts star2.fts standard.fts target.fts |
| Using
a series of images of a galaxy taken days apart, students follow the brightness changes of a supernova and make a light curve |
Supernova Light Curve |
supernova 1995d images in BVR colors |
| students
identify emission lines in an x-ray
spectrum of a supernova remnant; determine the temperature of the remnant; make a 3-color image of the remnant |
the spectra of supernova remnants |
Chandra image links included in link to the left |
| Using
two images (generally taken through B and V filters), students determine the distance to and age of a star cluster |
Cluster HR diagrams |
contact me for images |
| students
measure the periodicities of x-ray flux and infer the cause (rotation? orbit? pulsation?) and the size of the system producing the periodicity |
white
dwarf, neutron star, or black hole? |
Chandra
image links included in link to the left |
students determine the mass of Jupiter (or Saturn ) by using the motions of its satellites with time |
the Mass of Jupiter/Saturn |
HOU
Jupiter/Saturn image archive has recently moved |