Home Up Activities! Site Map What's New? Upcoming Events

Paper Plate Education
"Serving the Universe on a Paper Plate"

globe09242.JPG (25674 bytes)

Activity: Globe at Night

Globe at Night is a worldwide campaign to observe and record the magnitude of visible stars in a common constellation, such as Orion.  The limiting magnitude suggests the level of light pollution at the observing site, which the observer can compare to global sites.  In this activity, you mark Orion's brightest stars on a plate, then fill in the constellation's outline with the stars you can see.  Compare your plate with the Globe at Night magnitude charts, and draw your picture of Orion. 

globe_orion.jpg (8158 bytes)  Print a chart of Orion with a limiting magnitude of 2.5, which will show the major stars that define Orion--the three "belt stars" plus Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, and Saiph.  If you are using planetarium software to print Orion's outline, set the field of view to about 25 degrees.

Tape the printed outline onto a stack of plates to make multiple copies.  Here, dark plates are used to simulate the night sky.  At a drill press, drill holes through the seven stars, similar to the Platisphere activity. 

globe09241.JPG (14306 bytes)globe09245.JPG (17662 bytes) When you go outside to observe Orion, rotate the plate so that the holes align with the stars you see.  The angle of the constellation will vary with your latitude and the date.   Next, mark all of the additional stars that you see within Orion's boundary in their respective positions on the plate.

Return to the Globe at Night website, compare their magnitude charts with your plate to determine the limiting magnitude of your sky, and send your results to Globe at Night.  It's that simple.

     VS.    

globe09244.JPG (18532 bytes)  globe09243.JPG (21202 bytes)  As an additional activity, you can draw your interpretation of the constellation on the plate.  

Or embark on a digital scavenger hunt from Globe at Night.  Questions are at scavenger.doc

Home Activities! Site Map Light Pollution What's New? Upcoming Events
The contents of this site may be reproduced for non-profit educational purposes only.  Please cite the contributing author  in credits.  
All other uses require the express written permission of the respective contributors.

Copyright ©2012 Chuck Bueter.  All rights reserved.