The rules: All aspects of this project should be completed individually. While everyone is required to make their own notes and write their own report, you may make arrangements with your classmates to meet as a group for the observing sessions. Questions about this policy (and about the lab itself) should be addressed to the AI or to the professor.
The goal: This laboratory exercise will require you to chart the phases of the moon over the next 5 weeks. The goal is to be able to answer the following types of questions: How does the moon change it's phase? When can you see a full moon? A new moon?
(1) [40 pts] Keep a journal of when you see the
moon, where it is located in the sky, and what phase it is in.
Draw the moon as you see it and note the date and time of day;
determine if the moon is in the East or West and whether it is
high or low in the sky. Keep the journal for at least three
weeks (that means you should start TODAY). NOTE: You must
have at least 21 entries in your journal to be considered for
full credit, and you must have at least 14 entries to
receive even partial credit for this lab.
(2) [10 pts] Taking your data from (1), do you notice
any trends? At approximately what time does the full moon
go through upper transit? What about the new moon? Is a waning
gibbous moon up in the morning or the evening?
(3) [15 pts] Based on the data from (1) and your analysis
in (2), what time of day will be optimal for
viewing the moon next Wednesday (Oct 14)?
What phase will it be in?
(4) [20 pts] Draw a schematic diagram of the earth-moon-sun
system illustrating a full moon, new moon, and the
quarter moons. Label each appropriately.
(5) [15 pts] Consider how the moon would look from the Southern hemisphere for 5 of the dates in your journal. Would it have been low or high in the sky if you were located at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO)? Draw the moon as it should have looked as it rose on each of those 5 nights at CTIO (i.e., what will it look like if you are facing due East?).