John Griffiths Astro Pages > GCSE Astronomy > Lesson Summary Sheets

John Griffiths Astro Pages

VC2.9

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Week 1 (19th September 2009)

· Planetarium show – Visions of Saturn

· Introduction to the course

· Introduction to coursework

· Astronomy in the media – latest news stories (BBC pages are good for astronomy/space stories)

· The Apollo missions to the Moon (Nasa pages are a good place to start your research)

Work to do:

· Look at the GCSE syllabus and coursework pages on my web site.

· Look for the Moon in the evening sky and try to make a sketch of it (using eyes only). JG’s Moon pages might be of use here

Week 2 (26th September 2009)

· Planetarium session – ‘Invaders of Mars’ and the ‘Night Sky’ (Jupiter and the Moon)

· Review course

· Review coursework

· Astronomy stories in the news – water on the Moon, Mars rover design, Giga Galaxy project (look this up no the web)

GCSE Astronomy — Lesson Summary Sheets—Year 2009/10—SL&W G&T

· Observing the sky – problems - pollution, weather, buildings

· Recording your observations (see below)

· Where to build observatories – high altitude, above the clouds, large number of clear nights, less pollution…

Weeks work

· Observe and record (draw, photograph) the Moon

· Coursework – pick out two potential projects from the two lists - List A and List B

· Research the origin of the word ‘Galaxy’

· CDs with powerpoint presentations to be handed out in week 3.

· Recording Observations – the following data to be listed for every observation:

Observer – name

Object (target)

Date – DD.MM.YY

Time (GMT – NOT BST)

Instrument used (Naked eye, binoculars, telescope – if an instrument, give as much detail about the specific instrument as possible)

Location of observation – Latitude, Longitude

Weather conditions

Seeing conditions (use the Antoniadi scale

Position of object in sky (approx Altitude and Azimuth)

Observing Notes – record here anything else that you think is relevant

Last updated Mar 29, 2010