This is a one-semester course combining the best activities of Conceptual Astronomy 1 & 2. This is intended for one-semester astronomy classes. Activity titles are the same so this book is compatible with the complete course and teacher’s guides for Conceptual Astronomy 1 & 2. Here is the table of contents for the combined one-semester course:
Introduction to Student Workbook 6
CA1 1.0: About Science Objectives 8
CA1 1.1 Cake Baking Activity 9
CA1 1.3 About the Nature of Science Handout 13
CA1 1.4 Experimental Design Puzzle 17
CA1 1.6: Experimental Design Handout 27
CA1 2.3: Observing Sun Altitude Lab 35
CA1 2.4: Observing Altitude for a Day Lab 37
CA1 2.7: Investigating Azimuth Changes for a Year Lab 43
CA1 2.8: Design a Stonehenge Activity 47
CA1 2.11: Designing an Equatorial Sundial Activity 51
CA1 2.12: Converting Sundial Time to Standard Time Handout 61
CA1 2.13: The Reason for the Seasons Lab 65
CA1 2.14: Sun Motion Handout 73
CA1 2.15: Structure of the Sun Handout 75
CA1 2.21: Age of the Sun Handout 79
CA1 3.0: The Moon Objectives 83
CA1 3.1: Observing Phases of the Moon Lab 84
CA1 3.3: Simulating Moon Phases and Eclipses Activity 89
CA1 3.5: Moonrise and Moonset Activity 103
CA1 3.6: Moon Phase and Eclipse Homework Handout 109
CA1 3.14: The Height of Lunar Mountains Lab 115
CA1 3.16: Who Owns the Moon? 121
Unit 4: The Constellations 173
CA1 4.0: The Constellations Objectives 174
CA1 4.2: Constellation Reports Activity 175
CA1 4.6: Basic Constellation Observations Lab 185
CA1 4.7: Common Asterisms Handout 191
CA1 4.9: Estimating Magnitudes Lab 199
CA1 4.14: The Night Sky Puzzle 201
Unit 5: Observing The Solar System 241
CA1 5.0: Observing the Solar System Objectives 242
CA1 5.2: Is Pluto a Planet? 243
CA1 5.3: Much Ado About Pluto Handout 247
CA1 5.7: Planet Reports Activity 251
CA1 5.8: The Solar System Puzzle 253
CA1 5.10: Observing Jupiter’s Moons Lab 255
Unit 6: Models of The Solar System 273
CA1 6.0: Models of the Solar System Objectives 274
CA1 6.4: Timeline of Astronomy Activity 275
CA1 6.5: Models of the Universe Puzzle 277
CA1 6.9: Ellipse Practice Handout 281
CA1 6.11: Kepler’s Laws Problems Handout 283
CA1 6.14: The Size of Venus’ Orbit Lab 285
CA1 6.15: Design a Space Probe Mission Activity 289
Conceptual Astronomy 2 Unit 2: Starlight 295
Conceptual Astronomy 2 Unit 2A: Brightness 295
CA2 2.0: Starlight Objectives 296
CA2 2A.1: Brightness vs. Distance: Lab 297
CA2 2A.2: Brightness vs. Distance: Worksheet 303
CA2 2A.3: The Magnitude Scale: Worksheet 307
CA2 2A.6: Light Curves: Activity 311
CA2 2A.7: Magnitudes and Distance: Activity 313
CA2 2A.9: Detecting Exoplanets: Lab 316
CA2 2A.10: Brightness Puzzle 319
Conceptual Astronomy 2 Unit 2B: Color 321
CA2 2B.1 The Electromagnetic Spectrum: Activity 323
CA2 2B.2: Observing Spectra: Lab 327
CA2 2B.4: Identification of Elements: Lab 331
CA2 2B.6: Analyzing Stellar Spectra: Lab 335
CA2 2B.7: The Doppler Effect: Activity 343
Conceptual Astronomy 2 Unit 2C: Position 351
CA2 2C.2: Parallax of a Flagpole: Lab 353
CA2 2C.3: Parallax of Stars: Activity 359
Conceptual Astronomy 2 Unit 3: Lives & Deaths of Stars 363
CA2 3.0: Lives and Deaths of Stars Objectives 364
CA2 3.1: The Jewel Box: Lab 365
CA2 3.2: Near vs. Bright Stars: Lab 371
CA2 3.4: Are Stars Alive? Activity 375
CA2 3.5: Star Death: Activity 377
CA2 3.7: Stellar Evolution Flowchart: Activity 381
CA2 3.11: Stellar Evolution Puzzle 383
CA2 3.12 Stellar Evolution Questions 385
Conceptual Astronomy 2 Unit 4: Galaxies & Cosmology 389
CA2 4.0: Objectives: Galaxies and Cosmology 389
CA2 4.1: Our Position in the Milky Way: Activity 391
CA2 4.5: The Hubble Deep Field: Lab 397
CA2 4.8: The Hubble Expansion Law: Lab 403
CA2 4.9 Active Galactic Nuclei 417
CA2 4.10 Galaxies and Cosmology Puzzle 421
Conceptual Astronomy 2 Unit 5: The Edge of What We Know 423
CA2 5.0: The Edge of What We Know Study Guide 425
CA2 5.2: Decoding an Alien Signal: Activity 427
CA2 5.7: The Edge of What We Know Puzzle 430
Conceptual Astronomy 1 & 2: Glossary 431
Appendix CA2 A.4: The Nearest Stars 449
Appendix CA1 A.5: The Brightest Stars 451
Appendix CA2 A.7: Spectral Classes 452
Appendix CA1 A-1: Physical Constants 454
Appendix CA1 A-2. Planetary Orbits 455
Appendix CA1 A-3.Planetary Physical Characteristics 456
Appendix CA1 A-5 Some Conversion Factors 457
Appendix CA1 A-7: Using Stellarium for Simulated Observations 458
