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Home » Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy » Astronomy » Observations Reports

Observations Reports

After you have attended a Dark Sky Night or completed the Virtual Observations and attended a 1st Quarter night you must do an Observations Report. It should be typed with double line spacing. The report is due Tuesday November 26 and is to be submitted to the Assignment in the class D2. Once the Assignment box closes reports will not be accepted (it closes at 11:59pm Tuesday November 26).

    The report should consist of two major parts. Part 1 should consist of information about the various telescopes, equipment and observing aids shown and used on the 1st Quarter Night. This must include: types, sizes and manufacturers of the telescopes; types of mounting systems; drawings of the optical systems of the telescopes (see Figures 6.4 & 6.5 on page 146 and 6.8 & 6.9 on page 148 of your text for the kinds of drawings) and, finally, observing aids and devices (i.e., cameras, CCD’s, filters, star maps, planespheres, etc.). A PowerPoint presentation with the much of the information presented at the 1st Quarter Night can be found in the Observing Nights link on www.apsu.edu/physics/astronomy/1st-quarter-observing-nights.

Part 2 should consist of information about the celestial objects you saw on the 1st Quarter Night and the Dark Sky Night or your Virtual Observations table. This must include (but is not limited to): what were they (i.e., planet, star, nebula, cluster, etc.); their name or catalog number; other objects associated with them (i.e., moons, nebulosity, satellite galaxies, etc.); their location (constellation they are in); a brief description of the object (what it looked like) and, finally, which telescope you saw them through. For additional information on the objects, check out the Interactive NGC/IC Catalog on the Astronomy Links page of www.apsu.edu/physics/astronomy/links.

Format for the Observations Report

  1. The cover page should include a title, your name, date of 1st Quarter Night, date of Dark Sky Night.

  2. A brief summary of what the report is about. Probably one or two paragraphs in length.

  3. Part 1: Telescopes, mounts, cameras, astronomical equipment, star maps, planespheres and observing aids.

  4. Part 2: Celestial objects viewed at the observing nights or your Virtual Observations table and images of your five favorites.

  5. What did you learn? Was it worthwhile? Would you recommend that this be repeated every semester in the astronomy class? What can be done to improve it?

  6. List of references: the format for your references is not important but all references should be cited including those for the Virtual Observations.

 

Grading:

The Observations count for 10% of your course grade.