Workshop – Investigating our place in the Universe

Could your students investigate what the Solar System is like and our place in it just from their own observations? Well, the answer is yes, and it’s not as difficult as you might think.

In this session we will learn how to investigate planets and other objects in the Solar System from observations with robotic telescopes.

Author: Nayra Rodríguez Eugenio

Astrophysicist, science communicator and educator at the Outreach and Communication Unit of the IAC. Coordinator of the Educational Project with Robotic Telescopes (PETeR)

Learning Scenario: VENUS AND MARS

Imagine that you are an astronomer from the beginning of the XVII century as Galileo was.

There are two types of models that explain, with more complications or less, the observations of the planets’ movements.

How could you find out which one is right?

Let’s investigate it like Galileo did!

Preparing for our research

1. Download and install in your computer one the following image analysis softwares:

PeterSoft
SalsaJ

2. Download the images of Venus and Mars obtained with the Liverpool Telescope:

Download Venus images from VENUS folder
Download Mars images from MARS folder

Materials

Didactic Unit “Inner and outer planets“
Teaching guide “Inner and outer planets”

Collaborative spreadsheets


IMAGES	LINK
VENUS	https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19S3HpiHlwC_wxY50EST46MktcNLted2F2wvj2A2BarM/edit?usp=sharing
MARS	https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ny6BCOA1Kv3hjNcKunBjttRi2RNICCE1gcxNZGTSPPI/edit?usp=sharing

Diagram of Venus phases

Let’s create our own diagram of Venus phases collaborately:

Access this padlet: https://padlet.com/nre5/ned8tdgjt347f5s6
Include the image of Venus you have analysed (all images zoomed to 200%, so that they all have the same scale). The title should be the date the image was obtained in the format YYYYY/MM.
Sort images from oldest to most recent.

Diagram of Mars apparent sizes

Let’s also create our own diagram of Mars apparent sizes collaborately:

Access this padlet: https://padlet.com/nre5/ned8tdgjt347f5s6
Include the image of Mars you have analysed (all images zoomed to 200%, so that they all have the same scale). The title should be the date the image was obtained in the format YYYYY/MM.
Sort images from oldest to most recent.