Science Cheerleader

Studying gravestones to track changes in Earth’s chemistry. Call for volunteers! EarthTrek presents a global Gravestone Project.

This project aims to map the location of a graveyards around the globe and then use marble gravestones in those graveyards to measure the weathering rate of marble at that location.The weathering rates of gravestones are an indication of changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

GLOBE at Night wants you to  participate in a global campaign to observe and record visible stars to help researchers measure light pollution.  ”2008 marked a monumental shift in human history when the number of people living in cities exceeded half the people on Earth. Because of the ambient light of urban landscapes, many city dwellers have never seen a sky full of stars.” (Including this urbanite!) 2008’s program inspired 6,838 measurements of night-sky brightness by citizen scientists around the world. 

“While we have just begun to analyze the data, we have strong anecdotal evidence from our citizen-scientist network in North America that they experienced abnormally cloudy skies this year,” says Connie Walker, GLOBE at Night project manager at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ.

GLOBE at Night takes approximately 15-30 minutes. Do it as a family or get a bunch of friends together and do some real star-gazing! Start by finding Orion an hour after sunset between March 16-28th and follow the four, simple steps described on Globe’s site.

 Orion, the Great Hunter, looks like this (left).  ”Look for three bright stars close together in an almost-straight line. These three stars represent Orion’s belt. The two bright stars to the north are his shoulders and the two to the south are his feet.”

 No prior experience is necessary and all the information you need to participate is on the site including activity kits for families, teachers and students.  All observations will be available online via Google Earth.

On a related note, Science Cheerleader subscriber Phil Hoffman sent in this news tip: The Galileoscope is a high-quality, low-cost telescope kit developed for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 by a team of leading astronomers, optical engineers, and science educators. No matter where you live, with this easy-to-assemble refractor, citizen scientists can see the celestial wonders that Galileo first glimpsed 400 years ago and that still delight stargazers today, including lunar craters, the phases of Venus, the moons of Jupiter, and Saturn’s rings!

Globe at Night 

Project Snapshot

> Topics  Astronomy & Space, Climate & Weather, Ecology & Environment, Nature & Outdoor

> Location Close to home, Outdoors

> Duration  15-30 minutes

> Cost  Free

> Gear  Just a computer to log in your observations

> Level of Difficulty Easy

 NASA’s Radio Jove program “helps amateur scientists and students observe and analyze natural radio emissions of Jupiter, the Sun, and our galaxy.”

Build and use your own Decametric Radio Telescope.  Follow Live Observations Online. 

Why study radio waves from Pluto? “Radio waves are generated because the planet has a magnetic field. This magnetic field originates deep in the interior of the planet, and the overall strength of the magnetic field directly affects the type of radio emission emitted by the planet. This helps us with the theory of how the magnetic field is created in the interior, and in determining the composition of the various interior layers.”

Everything you’ll need to get started, make and record observations and draw upon your data can be found on the comprehensive NASA website. There’s even a  Jupiter Radio Emission Prediction Table to help you plan key days and times to capture radio signals. For example, folks like me who live on the East Coast, can use a radio telescope to detect signals from Pluto between February and September several times a month on specific dates, winnowed down to nearest minute. 

One way your data will be used is to see how well the predictions of radio storm probability match the actual occurrence of radio storms. The more observations recorded and shared, the better.

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

 Topics:Cosmology, Geology, Space Science,

 Location: At or close to home; indoors.

Level of Difficulty: Pretty technical

Fee: anywhere from $50 to $250 for Radio Telescope kits and parts

Gear: Needs a computer, software and Radio Telescope

Duration: a couple of  hours to assemble Radio Telescope; observations last 5-15 minutes a pop.

Suitable for students with adult supervision. Site includes an extensive lesson plan.