On Monday 10/24 ,the 4th and 5th graders were lucky to have a guest speaker. Dr. JD Armstrong from the Institute of Astronomy (just up the road from us on Kula Hwy.) is super involved in educating the kids in our community and was able to visit our STRETCH class and give a lesson on exoplanets.
Exoplanets are planets that do not orbit the sun and the students helped JD perform an experiment that demonstrates one of the methods used to "find" exoplanets. The method is called the transit method. Sometimes the planets orbiting other stars line up just right so that the planet passes between us and the star. When that happens the planet blocks a small portion of the light. We measure how bright the star is, and when we see the brightness drop down by a bit, we can tell that there is a planet there. To simulate this, JD used a big light bulb for the star, and a foam ball for the planet. The brightness of the bulb is measured using a photometer. The ball is moved a little way, in a circle around the bulb. The brightness of the bulb is measured and we repeat. JD had the students enter the photometer readings into a spreadsheet and help graph it out. The result is that there tends to be a big dip in the line graph (as a result of the change in the brightness of the light) when an exoplanet passes by.
The students were super excited to participate and help the demo. They also asked many questions about dwarf planets as well as the middle/high school astronomy program that JD heads up. Thanks again Dr. JD Armstrong and be sure to catch the next open house at the Institute of Astronomy! You get to use super powerful telescopes to see the moon and planets - don't miss out!
Exoplanets are planets that do not orbit the sun and the students helped JD perform an experiment that demonstrates one of the methods used to "find" exoplanets. The method is called the transit method. Sometimes the planets orbiting other stars line up just right so that the planet passes between us and the star. When that happens the planet blocks a small portion of the light. We measure how bright the star is, and when we see the brightness drop down by a bit, we can tell that there is a planet there. To simulate this, JD used a big light bulb for the star, and a foam ball for the planet. The brightness of the bulb is measured using a photometer. The ball is moved a little way, in a circle around the bulb. The brightness of the bulb is measured and we repeat. JD had the students enter the photometer readings into a spreadsheet and help graph it out. The result is that there tends to be a big dip in the line graph (as a result of the change in the brightness of the light) when an exoplanet passes by.
The students were super excited to participate and help the demo. They also asked many questions about dwarf planets as well as the middle/high school astronomy program that JD heads up. Thanks again Dr. JD Armstrong and be sure to catch the next open house at the Institute of Astronomy! You get to use super powerful telescopes to see the moon and planets - don't miss out!