Name _______________________________ Lab Night



Name _______________________________ Lab Night _________________

COMBINED OBERSERVING LAB (Rev 2/10)

PART I OUTSIDE (3 pts each)

This will be done as a class. The instructor will point out the stars and give the answers to be put in blanks below.

If you could get away from city light on a moonless night you could see about 2500 stars. Due to the lights and things blocking part of the sky you will see a much smaller number of stars here. See how many stars listed below you can see. Put one of the choices in blank beside star name.

Choices are: Visible, Sky Too Bright (not dark enough yet, too many campus lights), Clouds (in that part of sky), Blocked (by buildings, hills, trees, etc), or Below Horizon.

Fall List Spring List Summer List

Vega _________ Sirius _________ Vega __________

Deneb _________ Castor _________ Spica __________

Antares _________ Betelgeuse _________ Regulus __________

Altair _________ Rigel _________ Arcturus __________

Alberio _________ Aldebaran _________ Antares __________

Polaris _________ Polaris __________ Polaris ___________

Part II Using The C8 Telescope

This will be done in small groups. Maximum of 4 per telescope.

Telescope Setup: Check off steps as completed (3 pts each).

1. Put telescope together. _______

2. Orient to North (Polaris or compass) and turn on motor. _______

3. Center object on ground in finder & main scope _______

4. Refocus on a star _______

Draw the object ____________________ as it appears through telescope. The circles below represent the part of sky seen through scope. Draw the object (10 pts) and put name of object (2 pts) and eyepiece used (2 pts).

PART III

Return telescope to stock room. Everyone has to get a tube and go back outside and make their own measurements. No copying.

Look through the tube at 10 different parts of the sky and count number of stars. Record counts below. Keep tube until you have made tube measurements inside in Part B.

A) OUTSIDE Circle answer for these questions (3pts each):

Describe the weather conditions

Crystal Clear Clear with some haziness Few small clouds Mostly Cloudy

Describe the lighting conditions

Dark, city lights off in the distance Somewhat dark, some street lights around

Usual lousy conditions in front of physics building

Describe the Moon tonight

Not visible during lab period Thin crescent Quarter Moon Gibbous Full

| Record your count results for your 10 trials (cannot be zero). 2 pts ea |

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B) INSIDE See background pages on web site for formulae. 3 points each

length of tube, L = _________ (in cm)

diameter of tube, d = __________ (in cm)

Calculate field of view of tube (angle) = __________

Calculate area of end of tube = __________

Calculate area of hemisphere = ___________

Calculate percentage (P) = __________ %

Average star count, n = ____________ .

Approximate number of stars in the sky, N = ____________.

Percent of all stars in galaxy observed= Your N value x 100 / # of stars in galaxy from

handout = _______________

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OBJECT: ___________________ OBJECT: Spare Circle

Eyepiece: _______________mm Eyepiece: _______________mm

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