physics lab report

PHY 121: The Solar System Name_______________________________

Portland Community College

Grade = _______/20 = _______%

Lab: Introduction to the Night Sky with Stellarium

Purpose :

The purpose of this lab is to become familiar with the night sky and objects such as planets, stars, galaxies, and nebulae by use of Stellarium.

1. Download Stellarium at www.stellarium.org . Open Stellarium and take a look around the program. Make certain you are on earth and your location is Portland, Oregon. This is very important! Set the date and time to tonight at 10:30 pm. By holding down the mouse, move around the sky. Move the mouse to the lower left side of the screen and note the two button bars that appear.

(a) Make a sketch of each of the vertical buttons and give their function: (3 points)

(b) Make a sketch of each of the buttons along the bottom of the screen and give their function: (3 points)

2. Make sure time is not running. Turn on the constellation names and lines using the bottom bar. (1 point each = 5 points possible)

(a) Draw and label one constellation (and one star) on the western horizon.

(b) Draw and label one constellation (and one star) on the eastern horizon.

(c) Draw and label one constellation (and one star) on the southern horizon.

(d) Draw and label one constellation (and one star) on the northern horizon.

(e) Draw and label one constellation (and one star) that is nearly overhead.

3. Turn on exoplanets on the bottom bar menu. Find three exoplanets planets (not in our solar system) of your choice. If they are below the horizon, you can hide the ground with one of the buttons on the bottom bar. Fill-in the table with the required information. (1.5 points)

Planet	Below the Horizon?	Magnitude (Apparent)	Host Constellation	Distance (AU) from Earth

4. Find the three stars in the table below and fill-in the rest of the table with the required information. (1.5 points)

Star	Magnitude (Apparent)	Absolute Magnitude	Host Constellation	Spectral Class	Distance
Betelgeuse
Arcturus
Polaris

4. Turn on the deep-sky objects. On your display, look for and find three celestial objects of interest to you (they will most likely be galaxies or nebulae). Fill-in the table with the required information. (1.5 points)

Name	Magnitude (Apparent)	Host Constellation	Distance	Sketch

5. Trying advancing time in different intervals. Describe what happens in terms of the stars in the night sky (i.e. which directions do they move, etc.). (0.5 point)

6. Try switching to “night sky mode”. What is the advantage of doing so? Hint: It has to do with bright lights and night vision! You can Google this question. (0.5 point)

7. Go back to a view where you can see a large portion of the night sky. Select an object. Use the “/” key and the “\” key. What are their functions? (0.5 point)

8. On the display screen again, find and identify three more celestial objects of interest to you. These can be planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, satellites, asteroids, or comets. Zoom in on them until you see a detailed view of each. Fill-in the table with the required information. (1.5 points)

Name	Magnitude (Apparent)	Host Constellation	Distance	Sketch

9. Thought experiment: Do the constellations viewed from Mars look appreciably different from Earth? Why/why not? Would you come to the same conclusion from Betelguese which is located some 429 ly away from earth? Why/why not? (1.5 points)