Undergraduate Academics
Astronomy Activities
The list of all activities currently or recently in use is in the table below. You can also view older or less often used activites, or new activities.
You might also want the Astronomy Projects Page with all the observing projects as well as planetarium and Starry Night (or other computer planetarium software) projects, meant to be done outside of class time.
Some other useful information:
- Documentation and help for the lab computers
- copyright policy
- To report problems, email astro-labs
- More activities
Activity Title
|
Downloads |
| The Age of the Universe | |
| Brightness and Surface Brightness (Planetarium) |
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| Cepheid Variables You will need the introduction and the appropriate worksheet and graphs. |
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| Characterizing the diversity of galaxies with Galaxy Zoo | |
| Comets -- Make Your Own | |
| Constellation Activities (planetarium or outdoors) |
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| Coordinate Systems (planetarium, observatory, classroom or computer) You will need the introduction no matter which version you are doing. Check with your GSI for which other parts you will need. |
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| Craters |
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| Daytime Observing at Angell Hall | |
| Discovery of Extrasolar Planets | |
| Drake Equation | |
| Geologic Age
You will need the intro. Check with your GSI for the other parts. The 6 images for the relative dating part are easier to view online and are linked within the activity |
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| The Milky Way Disk (planetarium) | |
| Motion (Newton's laws) | |
| Motions of the planets (planetarium) | |
| Parallax You will need the map for both versions. |
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| Phases of the Moon in the Planetarium (planetarium) |
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| Precession (planetarium) | |
| Rotation of Spiral Galaxies (Tully-Fisher Relation) | |
| Seasons (planetarium, computer)
You will need one of the introductions, and one of the worksheets. |
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| Size of the Solar System
If you are doing an outside version, you also need to get the Map |
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| Searching for Life | |
| Solar Observing (observatory) | |
| Spectral Classification and The Pleiades Note there are 3 versions: one using Luminosity and flux, one using magnitudes and one for discussion sections. Ask your instructor for clarification if needed. |
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| Spectroscopy Note: There are two versions of this lab, a long one for lab sections and a shorter one for discussion sections. Be sure to download the correct version. Ask your instructor for clarification if needed. |
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| Stellar Structure | |
| Structure of the Milky Way Galaxy (planetarium) | |
| Timekeeping and Telescopes at the Detroit Observatory (observatory) | |
| Radio Telescope Observations Note: This is a users manual with observing exercises in PDF format. |
