Broken Wine Glasses? Don't Fret; Model Gravitational Lensing, Instead!

Today, I purchased two very expensive crystal wine glasses to replace ones that I have broken.  On the way home, I broke them.  Accidentally.  Not to worry!  Now I can use the bases as very expensive crystal "gravitational lens" modeling tools.

In  this TED Ed video that I saw (amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing), physicist Patricia Burchat explains dark energy and dark matter in such a fascinating and interesting way.  I would love to have her as my physics professor.  In the video, she explains and demonstrates the use of a wine glass bases as a "gravitational lens" that bends space/time and light.
Watch it!  So good. 

Broken Wine Glasses? Don't Fret; Model Gravitational Lensing, Instead!

Modeling the Scale of the Solar System? Try THIS one on for Size--It Covers the Entire Country of Sweden!

Many teachers of astronomy begin with activities or projects that help students to grasp the enormous scale of the solar system--which is a good idea, because all of the diagrams we see in textbook give us the poorest sense of it.  (See this post for more information on that...)

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/10/world-largest-scale-model-of-solar.html

However, here's the biggest one on our planet--in Sweden.  It begins with the Sun (the Ericsson Globe) in Stockholm--modeled at 110 m in diameter and ends at the Terminal Shock.  The Terminal Shock (the edge of the heliosphere) in the Swedish model is 950 km away from Stockholm!

Modeling the Scale of the Solar System? Try THIS one on for Size--It Covers the Entire Country of Sweden!

StarDome: Astronomy.com's Interactive Star Map--Personalized for You!

Fantastic for use on an Interactive Whiteboard, or simply for use as a projection in the classroom.

"StarDome simulates a naked-eye view of the sky from any location on Earth, at any time and on any date. StarDome gives you a graphical overview of the sky and detailed information about stars, deep-sky objects, planets, and selected asteroids and comets. 

You can quickly jump to the next eclipse, transit of Venus, Mars opposition, or Full Moon. View the constellations and explore data on more than 2,500 stars, or zoom in for a closer look at planetary configurations.

The first thing you'll notice when StarDome displays is the large circular, all-sky map. This is an interactive version of the map you'll find every month inAstronomy's pull-out section. The zenith (the point directly above an observer's head) is in the center of the map, and the horizon, complete with compass directions, forms the outer boundary. 

The second thing you'll notice is that the only active tab is the one labeled Explore the Sky. All of the other functions are available in StarDome Plus, an observing tool available only to magazine subscribers."


"Tech talkStarDome is a small program — called an applet — written in the Java language from Sun Microsystems. When you visit Astronomy.com, your web browser downloads the applet and executes it. For StarDome to function, you'll need the Java Runtime Environment version 1.3 or higher, and you'll need to set your web browser to enable Java content."


Click here to go to the Astronomy.com webpage for full instructions on how to use StarDome

StarDome: Astronomy.com's Interactive Star Map--Personalized for You!

Leonid Meteor Shower This Week! They Might Be Giants Explains Meteors in a Song.

Prime Viewing Tomorrow and Friday nights!

For those teachers that are in Astronomy units with their students right now, be aware that the Leonid Meteor Shower is in prime viewing position on Thursday and Friday nights this week:

Though the meteors can be viewed all night long, on both days, just around midnight and at around 3 a.m. local time, those who stay up should be rewarded with the best view of the rain of falling stars if it's not cloudy. 


Though the annual shower will be less spectacular than in some years, "the Leonids are pretty famous for having a good number of bright ones," says Ben Burress, staff astronomer at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland.  


For those who don't want to get up in the middle of the night, just before moonrise is a good time to watch, Burress says. Thursday, that will be around 11:30 p.m. On Friday night/Saturday morning, moonrise will be at 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning.  Though the shower itself lasts for several weeks, the peak comes at around 3 a.m. both Friday and Saturday morning, when the maximum number of meteors should be falling. Because the moon will be in quarter phase, its light will wash some of the shower out, so go out before moonrise.  


Next year, the meteor shower viewing conditions will be better.  It is easier to see the meteors when the moon is in crescent phase or new phase.


If you are wondering how to explain to your students what a meteor (or shooting star) is, this simple and very catchy tune by They Might Be Giants from their grammy winning album "Here Comes Science" will help to clear things up.  The actual song starts at around 2:30 in the video...this is a live performance of it with sock puppets.

Leonid Meteor Shower This Week! They Might Be Giants Explains Meteors in a Song.