Catch a Transit |
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Title: Study and observation of Venus transit from school
Participants:
Albert Capell
(teacher),
School:
Institució Pere Vergés
E-mail: albertcapell@wanadoo.es
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Go back to the principal page |
Abstract
The survey parts: I. I nformation about the phenomenon and the reason why it takes place and preceding observations : We visited some webs where information about the transit was provided. We also had the help of the CD -Rom “ VT 2004 ”, which was very useful to understand the phenomenon correctly and to find out the practical applications of the calculation of distances. In this part we must also highlight the previous preparation work, that is, the procedures: telescopes, photographic camera, special glasses, etc, necessary to carry out the observation and to register sequences of the transit. II. Observation and registering of the transit : We went to the school earlier than ever. Although it was cloudy at the beginning, we could watch the transit well and also take images with enough quality. Another important aspect was the parade of the students in the school, from the youngest to the eldest, so that they could watch it. They could do so by means of the telescope (reflector with filter) and also directly by the glasses we had. In addition, they could see the images from the telescope at the computer screen. It was exciting, and they will probably never forget the experience. III. Making of the web page : This part was the hardest, especially when doing the web page with the animations, organizing the pictures and choosing them, selecting some of the many tasks done by the young, writing down everything and registering at this contest. IV. We have profited from the photographs we took to make and original Christmas card, in order to give a sample to all the members of the school-teachers and students-, as well as to make use of it. Such card could be turned into a filoscope. |
Computer
graphics made at the ICT classroom using Flash 5 The following are data of the planet Venus compared to the Earth. VenusVenus is the second planet closer to the Sun, so we could expect it to be colder than Mercury, but that is not so. In fact it is extremely hot with temperatures of 470ºC at day and night. This is due to the fact that Venus atmosphere is the densest of the rocky planets, and because 98 per cent of its gases are carbon dioxide , which causes a greenhouse effect and therefore a very high temperature; besides, it has sulphuric acid, which makes it the most hostile planet for space probes.
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EarthThe Earth is the third planet as regards distance from the Sun. It is the biggest of the rocky planets and the most geologically active planet in the solar system. It is a world in which water can be found in gaseous, solid and liquid state. In liquid state it takes 71 % of the whole Earth surface. The atmosphere is also dense and it is made up of mainly nitrogen (78 %) , oxygen(21 % ) and water vapour (1 % ) and carbon dioxide, all of which is enough to cause a moderate greenhouse effect that helps to keep the heat and to balance the changes in night and day temperatures. The distance from the Sun makes that it is neither very hot, nor very cold and what is more it has a big satellite, the Moon , the diameter of which is 3476 Km. The biodiversity of the Earth is huge. There are all kinds of animals: from microscopic beings -as bacteria- to gigantic animals -as whales and elephants.
Chronology
Previous D day preparation
1. Understanding the transit :
2. Preparing the classroom notice boards:
3. Preparing the observation:
4. The day before, Monday:
The observation day has come. We were about to live a phenomenon that could not be seen in 122 years time. One of us, Ricardo, was there from the very first moment and explained to the others, Lloren ç and Albert, how the had seen it from the beginning and that because of the cirr u stratus that were there at that time the first contact could not be seen. However, that did not prevent us from seeing the rest of the astronomic phenomenon, which lasted for s i x hours. During this time, we watched out for the Venus movement. All the morning was very exciting, specially the time when a ll of school students and their parents came for the observatio n. M ore than 200 counting the youngest and oldest ones, a part from many of the their parents . First, they used the special glasses that we lent them, after that they looked through the telescope and finally on the computer screens, where the y could see the picture just taken whit a digital camera fitted to the telescope.
Sequenc e o f the phenomena :
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Speed: Very fast - Fast - Average (450x450 - 328KB)
Moving picture made with
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Making our webpage
Other similar phenomena. During the school curse 2003-04 we saw two total eclipses of the Moon (9 th November 2003 and 5 th May 2004). The weather and astronomy school teams collected information about these eclipses and published it in the school magazine. Now we are going to reproduce some paragraphs of this article that we can use to compare it with this transit of Venus. During the eclipse evolution we can observe a great variety of tones and colours, as the density of the Earth shadow isn’t homogeneous on the eclipsed lunar disc. And eclipse of the Moon takes place when it is lined with the Sun and passes behind the Earth shadow. Theoretically, there should be an eclipse every time there was a full Moon, but it isn’t like this because the lunar orbit is inclined in relation to the plane of the elliptical orbit of the Earth and this is why, in each full Moon, our satellite is usually a bit above or below the plan of the land orbit. This fact explains that there is only one or two eclipses every year. For similar reasons the transit of Venus can only be seen thirteen times every thousand years.
We have made a diagram of a total Moon eclipse (left) and Sun (right)
Results Neither the three of us and our teacher, nor all the boys and girls , kids , teachers and parents that came to our school to observe the transit will never be able to forget this experience. All the effort that we made ,despite the fact that we were taking final exams has been largely rewarded by the gratitude shown by all our school mates, who have been able to fully satisfy the expectations we had aroused. The subsequent work (task) in the classroom can be seen at the Picture Gallery , where a sample of some of the tasks, which shows the interest raised (aroused ) and the things that we have learnt , can be seen. An interest in Astronomy and astronomic observation has been encouraged. For us –the team- it has been an unforgettable experience and we have been able to use what we learnt in other subjects to carry on this task and we have brought ourselves to future Astronomy observation. We have not been able to state (set down) all we have done due to the ten page limit , but we expect you will be understanding. |
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Picture Gallery
Pictures taken by the school
astronomy team
First selection of 78 best pictures of transit...
And the final selection of the best pictures (Click on them for make it bigger) |
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Bibliography
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