Astronomy For Kids Training Tips

Nearly every child has an interest in exploring the stars. Being able to learn astronomy online is something special that a mere ten years ago was not even offered. Let's take a look at the many benefits of having the ability to learn astronomy on the web and at some astronomy for kids instruction suggestions.

Every child desires to stay up late, and astronomy is the ideal justification. Let's be realistic, they want to be outdoors plus they desire to stay up until the early hrs of the morning. Why not utilize that to your great advantage and teach them something that they are keen to learn?

Students studying Astronomy Online.

Kids are clean slates about astronomy. They are hungry to learn and do so with great passion since it is a topic they delight in. It is extremely important to pick appropriate instructional resources that are also interesting to the child if you wish to learn astronomy online. Astronomy for kids is amongst the most enjoyable subjects you can attempt to teach. Teaching about space by simply reading through a textbook is not nearly as exciting as going outside or observing the stars through a computer program.

When buying astronomy software, the very first thing to check is if the program can run on your computer. Be sure that the software not only runs on your variety of computers (PC or Mac) but also that your computer is powerful enough to render 3-dimensional images. The system specs for software programs are commonly boldly shown on their website.

The excellent astronomical software allows you to learn astronomy online by observing the sky not merely from your local position, but often from out in space itself. One huge advantage of astronomy software packages is that your youngster can easily do a search for precisely what they wish to view and instantly observe it. Finding objects in the night sky is a difficult activity, and many brand-new astronomers become discouraged by their lack of ability to find objects like Venus or Mars.

One more enormous benefit of having the capacity to learn astronomy online is that it does not demand clear skies or pleasant weather conditions to enjoy. Nothing can spoil a well-planned astronomy trip quicker than clouds or rain. Teaching astronomy to kids can be done just about anywhere that you can carry a laptop.

As you gain experience instructing astronomy for kids, you will see that there are several important features to look for in astronomy software: The ability to view events in past times (or the future), a simple-to-use interface, and, most of all, a guarantee that the info is provided by a dependable source such as NASA. Make sure that you are providing the information that is correct.

Astronomy for kids is as gratifying a topic for the educator or parent as it is for the little one.

Father, hubby, article author, and recreational astronomer in that order. JohnnyB assists with Learn Astronomy Online and spends as much of his time with his family as possible.

John Beam

Read More

Mars Opposition

If you have never seen the red planet Mars through a telescope and would like to do so, then there is no better time than when the planet reaches opposition. Why is this so important? Simply because Mars will be closer to the Earth, and this means that Mars will appear larger when viewed or imaged through telescopes. A larger planet presents better opportunities for viewing small features that are usually hard to see: polar caps become easily visible, and larger features like Syrtis Major have more clarity and structure is easier to discern.

Mars Imaged by Michael Petrasko on 10-02-2005 with a C11 SCT
 and Celestron NexImage  Planetary Camera

Luckily this spring Mars will reach opposition on April 8, 2014. So now's your chance to take advantage of this opportune moment. Keep in mind, however, that Mars still appears fairly small in scopes (when compared to the likes of Jupiter or Saturn, that is). We have had the opportunity to observe and image Mars ourselves many times in the past from our backyard remote robotic telescopes and it has always been a fascinating object... Viewing the surface of another planet does wonder in stirring up the imagination! Find out for yourself what Percival Lowell and Carl Sagan found so alluring about our red neighbor. 

Read More

April 2014 Lunar Eclipse

A total lunar eclipse will take place on April 15, 2014. It will be the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2014, and the first of four total lunar eclipses this year. the lunar eclipse will be visible in the Pacific Ocean region, including Australia, as well as North and South America. The moon will pass south of the center of the Earth's shadow. As a result, the northern part of the moon will be darker than the southern part.

Simulation of the moon passing through Earth's shadow.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (shadow). As the eclipse begins, the Earth's shadow first darkens the moon slightly. Then, the shadow begins to "cover" part of the moon, turning it a dark red-brown color. The moon appears to be reddish due to the refraction of light through the Earth's atmosphere. This is the same effect that causes sunsets to appear red.

Oftentimes, the full moon appears coppery red during a total lunar eclipse because the dispersed light from all the Earth’s sunrises and sunsets falls on the face of the moon. Thus the term Blood Moon can be and is applied to any and all total lunar eclipses.

The simulation above displays the approximate appearance of the moon passing through the earth's shadow. The moon's brightness is exaggerated within the umbral shadow. The northern portion of the moon will be closest to the center of the shadow, making it the darkest and most red in appearance.

On April 15, 2014, the moon will pass through the southern part of the Earth's umbral shadow. It will be visible over most of the Western Hemisphere including east Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean, and North and South America. In the western Pacific, the first half of the eclipse will occur before the moonrise. In Europe and Africa, the eclipse will begin just before the moonset. In North America, Mars will arguably be the most prominent object in the sky other than the moon, appearing 9.5° northwest of the moon. The bright star Spica will be 2° to the west, while Arcturus will be 32° north. Saturn will be 26° east and Antares 44° southeast.

The moon will enter Earth's penumbral shadow at 4:54 UTC and the umbral shadow at 5:58. Totality will last for 1 hour 18 minutes, from 7:07 to 8:25. The moment of greatest eclipse will occur at 7:47. At that point, the Moon's zenith will be approximately 1,900 miles southwest of the Galapagos Islands. The moon will leave the umbral shadow at 9:33 and the penumbral shadow at 10:38.

The umbral magnitude will peak at 1.2907. At that moment, the northern part of the moon will pass 1.7 arc-minutes south of the center of Earth's shadow, while the southern part will be 40.0 arc-minutes from the center. Thus, the northern part of the moon will be noticeably darker. The moon's appearance will change significantly throughout the eclipse as the depth of the shadow changes.

Read More