Transcript Document

• Space Physics appears in the curriculum at the
end of S2 where a short topic allows pupils to see
their place in the Universe.
• At the end of the Standard Grade Physics course
there is a short section on Space Physics.
• Space Physics appears lastly in the mechanics
section of the Advanced higher. An awareness of
Space physics can also be a stimulus for the
Advanced Higher project.
Four pupils were chosen to use the Faulkes Telescope and to
share their results with their fellow pupils.
Katy Dickinson fromS2 used her observation to introduce the space
physics topic to her class last week.
Cieran Roche is ready to add his presentation on Galaxies to his S4 class.
Lizzie Hynd is an S5 physics pupil who hopes to continue to Advanced
Higher and possibly to Astrophysics at University. She has been
inspired already to study Asteroids as her project.
Thomas Fraser studying physics in S5 is the person currently responsible
for publicity and website information for the school Engineering club
An extra pupil from S6, Lynda Cameron, has been overseer as she was
lucky enough to win a week at NASA last session.
S2 space physics by Katy Dickinson
Now we are able to see into space because
there is a new telescope called the Faulkes
Telescope which we can control from our
classroom.
The objectives of the Faulkes Telescope project are:
• To provide schools with access to a research class
telescope
• To allow students to see how science is actually carried out
• To provide a real-time experience of astronomy, through
live use of a telescope via the Web
• Targets
The (ambitious) target of the FT programme is to reach 500,000
school children and other users per year. Materials required
for teachers and students to use the telescope will be
developed, in association with the Royal Observatory
Greenwich, Liverpool John Moores University and the
National Space Science Centre.
Taken from the observatory website
The Faulkes Telescopes are large telescopes that can
see far into space. There are two of them – one in
Hawaii and one in Australia. These telescopes are
named after a man called Bill Faulkes, who paid
for these telescopes to be built. The telescopes are
like robots, which can be controlled by people
from the U.K. as well as Hawaii and Australia on
the internet.
The telescope is controlled through the Royal
Observatory website. Usually it costs a lot
of money to have a turn. You book a slot of
half an hour and then in that time, you can
tell the telescope what you want it to look
for. You can also get a guide that will give
you a list of things you can look at and
when you click on them the telescope looks
at it.
Below are some pictures that we took through the
telescope
Jupiter
Saturn
Galaxy NGC 2403
Star Pollux
• Sixth planet from the sun
• Second largest planet in the solar system
• Rings are possibly composed of icebergs
and snowballs
• Three main rings – A,B and C
• 33 known moons
• Fifth planet from the sun
• Largest of the planets
• Very faint rings that cannot be seen from
earth
• 28 moons, 12 of which have only recently
been discovered
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•
•
•
17th brightest star in the sky
In mythology it is the twin of Castor
Marks one of the heads of the Gemini twins
It is 36 light years away from the Sun
• A Galaxy
11 or 12 million light years away
• Discovered by William Herschel in 1788
• The best time to see it is on the 15th January
Reasons this will help for standard grade
• In standard grade you are expected to know what galaxies
are, with the telescope you can see exactly what they are.
• The faulkes telescope lets you use a telescope without the
troubles of high altitude.
• Even the website itself tells you how the telescope works
and you should know that at the end of standard grade
Reasons this will help in 5/6 year.
• This will help pupils who want to get a career in
astronomy as it will give them experience of using a
telescope.
• They will also know exactly what the planets, galaxies,
nebulae, etc. look like instead of looking at a drawing in a
textbook.
<-M64
(Black hole
Galaxy)
Jupiter-->
Pal 4
NGC 3242
Globular cluster
Ghost of Jupiter
NGC 3115
Spindle Galaxy
M 96
M97
M 95
Owl
Nebula