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This  session is  to help you learn to
This  session is  to help you learn to use the FLIR camera together with the iPad to image infrared radiation.
identify  bright stars and constellations in the night sky. These resources may be useful in the lab, or for later study.


[https://www.flir.com FLIR.com] - the manufacturer of FLIR cameras.


[http://prancer.physics.louisville.edu/classes/108/star_charts/SFAStarChartsPro.pdf Free star chart for anywhere at any time]


[http://www.skymaps.com/ Sky maps by the month]
[https://in-the-sky.org/ What's in the sky tonight?]
[http://www.heavens-above.com/ Tonight's sky including artificial satellites]
[http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance Weekly sky guide and news]
For your laptop, home computer, cell phone, or tablet there are many choices. 
[http://www.stellarium.org/ Beautiful Stellarium is free planetarium software for Windows, Mac, or Linux operating systems].  It is also available as a [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noctuasoftware.stellarium&hl=en paid application for Android handheld devices].
The free [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid Google Sky Map for Android] works well, and makes use of Android device's navigation  to interact with your real sky. 
iTunes also offers a [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sky-map/id536492883?mt=8 Sky Map for iPhone and iPad] for a fee.
If want to pursue this and learn the night sky well, old technology works great. Consider getting a
[http://prancer.physics.louisville.edu/classes/107/topics/planisphere/index.html planisphere star finder], a rotating
map of the sky that will show you how it appears on any date and time.
This lab will use Stellarium to help you learn to identify some of the prominent constellations and bright stars.  If you have a Planisphere or one of the other applications on your handheld device or laptop, use it too.


== Getting Started ==
== Getting Started ==


First, there are a few things you need to know about using Stellarium. You might look at the  Stellarium [http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Interface_Guide#Tour Tour]  on their website for an overview and reference to these options: 
1. Switch on FLIR camera (top button) and iPad.  
 
 
'''''Screen mode'''''
       
Stellarium starts in  full screen mode  and will cover everything. You can change this by pressing the  F11  key to fit it into a smaller window.               
 
 
 
'''''Menu bars'''''
 
There are two bars of menus, one at the bottom of the screen, and one on the left. They are hidden until you run the mouse down to the bottom or over to the left.             
 
 
 
'''''Quitting'''''       
 
When you or done, you can use the bottom menu bar to exit by selecting the off button.
 
 
 
'''''Setting your location'''''       
 
By default you will be in Paris, France. If you press  F6  the location menu will pop up and you can select your city or put in longitude and latitude. Once you have done this and saved the configuration, Stellarium will come up at your chosen site. The location menu is also in the left menubar under the compass icon at the top left. When you have selected your location the menu will show a map of Earth with an arrow pointing to your site.               
 
 
 
'''''Setting the time'''''       
 
Stellarium starts with the sky over your site at this very moment. The date and time will show at the lower right, based on the computer's clock. This time is the local time at your computer. If you change your location, the time shown will still be the time at your computer, not the time at the new site. For example, if you are in Baltimore, Maryland and you set up Stellarium for that site, then the computer is in the Eastern U.S. time zone. When you run Stellarium at 3 PM it will show the afternoon daytime sky with the Sun. Should you use the location menu to change to Rome, Italy, the sky will go dark because it's nighttime there. The clock will still show 3 PM because that's the time where you are.      You can change the date and time in two ways. One is with the time menu selected from the left menu bar  Clock  icon. The other is with the two arrow icons at the right of the bottom menu bar. These speed forward-reverse, real time rate, and  now  buttons let you speed up the daily motions of the sky, and then slow them down again when you have the events in view you want to see. 
 
 
 
'''''Looking around'''''       
 
Change the direction you are looking by holding down the      left    mouse button and dragging your direction of view, or by using the updown leftright arrow keys on the keyboard.               
 
 
 
'''''Identifying planets, stars, and constellations'''''
 
The lower menu offers options to add labels. By default the planets will be named, and you can turn this off using the  Planets labels  icon that looks like Saturn. You can outline the bright stars of the constellations, add constellation names, and even overlay mythological figures to help you see the patterns by clicking on the various buttons in this menu. There are two celestial grids offered too that show the equatorial celestial coordinates of stars (right ascension and declination), and the local sky coordinates (altitude and azimuth).      A menu on the left for 
 
 
 
'''''Sky and viewing options''''' 
 
allows you to change the constellations, names and associated cultural folklore. Click that option, select 
 
 
 
'''''Starlore  and  Western'''''
 
to see the the typical sky labels of American and European culture, or change to one of the others offered to see the diversity of named patterns in the sky.      The same menu under 
 
 
 
'''''Markings ''''' 
 
lets you select whether you would also like to see the constellation boundaries as red dotted lines. Sometimes it's helpful to see these in order to identify the constellation in which a particular object is located.               
 
 
 
'''''Identifying an object'''''       
 
Move the mouse over the object and click with the left button to have its identification displayed. Click with the right button to make this go away. Click with the center button (press down on the
mouse wheel) to have the display center on this object after you have selected it.               
 
 
 
'''''Zooming in and out '''''       
 
 
The  Page Up  and Page Down 
keys on the keyboard zoom in and out of the sky. You can move around the zoomed in sky with the arrow keys or dragging with the left mouse button. The status display at the bottom of the view tells you the field of view 
 
 
 
'''''FOV''''' 
 
 
in degrees among other things. For some objects there is a photo that appears when the sky view is zoomed in close. When an object is selected and centered in the view, after zooming in the view will stay centered on it even as the day progresses. Think of it as a telescope that is pointing at your target, and tracking the target as the Earth rotates.               
 
 
 
'''''Finding Planets'''''       
 
The Moon and planets will be labeled by default. You can turn these names off with the  P    or by clicking on the Planet icon on the lower menu bar. If you select a planet with a left mouse click, the sky view will lockto that planet and you can follow it during the night. Planets with satellites like Jupiter will show the satellites as they really would appear  in a telescope, and in motion in their orbits around the planet.   
 
You can find a planet or other objects by using the 
 
 
 
'''''Search  window'''''
 
The left menu has a Magnifying glass icon  that brings up this option. So does  F3.
 
== Finding Stars and Constellations ==
 
Stellarium starts with the sky as it is now, and you may run the clock forward or set the time for about an hour after sunset to see the night sky for the current season.  In this lab study we will go through the seasons in sequence for the northern and the southern hemisphere, and help you find your way around the sky.  The goal is to learn a few bright stars and constellations, seen from any place on Earth, and at any time of year. 
 
It's  daunting task, and the patterns will at first seem confusing.  We'll help you find the brightest stars, and some recognizable patterns.  The key to learning this skill is to become accustomed to the patterns so that your mind's eye will recognize them, even in a sky filled with stars you do not know.At the bottom of this unit there is are lists of constellations and bright stars that are the most among the most recognizable for each each in both southern and northern hemispheres.
 
 
In another lab experiment we will focus on the sky tonight, and on the planets. This one is more general and explores the stars and constellations seen from different locations on Earth.  You should set Stellarium to see the sky tonight in your own locatin to begin with, and we will advise on changing this as we go along.
 
 
 
== Bright Stars ==                   
           
Winter begins in late December for the northern hemisphere, or late June for the southern hemisphere.  You can consult the list of stars and constellations at the bottom of this unit to see what  should be visible then.  Let's set
set the time to 7 P.M. on January 15, when the sky is dark and stars are clear and bright. If you are in the northern hemisphere make sure your location is set properly, turn your attention toward the southeast and look for the brightest stars. (If you are in the southern hemisphere, for the following pick a favorite spot a little north of the equator so that you can see stars you are familiar with, as well as the stars of the northern sky.)   
Sirius, the brightest star in the sky will be rising at this time. Left click on it and you'll see information about it displayed:   
 
*Names: Sirius (alpha Canis Majoris) HIP 32349   
 
Sirius is its common name. Alpha Canis Majoris means that it is the brightest star in Canis Major, the big dog. HIP 32349 means that it is the 32,349th star of the Hipparcos catalog.   
 
*Magnitude: -1.45 (B-V: 0.00)   
 
That's how bright it is on the astronomer's scale. Smaller numbers are brightest, larger ones fainter. Magnitude 6.0 is about as a faint a star as you can see without a telescope.
 
The magnitude scale is logarithmic, and a difference of 5 on this scale corresponds to a factor of 100x in energy received each second from the star. The  B-V  is a measure of color, and the 0.0 for Sirius means that it looks white to the eye. A positive number is red, and a negative number is blue.   
 
*Distance: 8.60 light years   
 
Sirius is 8.6 light years from the Sun. The light you see in the sky from Sirius tonight left it 8.6 years ago, when you were 8.6 years younger. Light leaving the star today will arrive in 8.6 years when you are 8.6 years older.     
 
 
Find these other stars: Procyon, Rigel, Betelgeuse and Aldebaran. For each one, identify what constellation is it in, and how bright it is.     
 
 
''1.  What constellation are Rigel and Betelgeuse in?''
 
 
''2.  What colors are these two stars?''
 
 
Let time go by and watch the stars move across the sky. 
 
 
''3.  Which of the stars Sirius, Procyon, Rigel, or Belegeuse is the one that gets highest in your sky during the night?''
 
 
Notice the pattern of bright stars. These are the one's you'll see first in an urban sky.     
 
 
Advance the date to March 5 and set the time again to about 2 hours after sunset.     
 
''4. Where are Sirius, Procyon, Rigel, Betelgeuse and Aldebaran in the sky now, compared to where they were at the same
time in January?''
 
Advance the date again to June 15 and now you'll see Deneb, Vega, and Altair rising in the east. Arcturus will be nearly overhead if you are in a northern latitude.    During the night the stars will move across the sky 
 
''5. About what time on June 15 will Vega be overhead?''
 
 
''6. What is the name of another bright star in the same constellation that Deneb is in?''
 
 
''7. Which one of these stars, Arcturus, Deneb, Vega, or Altair,  is  orange?  That is, which one is  a cool star of type K or M?''   
 
Go forward again to the fall, and set the date to September 15. Look directly overhead if you are at northern latitude. If you are elsewhere, to answer this question set your location to a northern latitude of around 40 degrees.    Three of the stars that you have identified form a distinctive  pattern overhead called the Summer Triangle.
 
 
''8.  What are the three stars that define the "Summer Triangle" that is overhead in northern latitudes in late summer?
 
 
== Constellations ==
         
         
Turn off the equatorial grid if you still have it on, and turn on the constellation names and outlines (use the lower menu or press C and V). Let's find some of the easily identified constellations in the northern sky for each season.   
 
*Set the date for January 15 at 10 P.M.     
 
*Orion with very bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel are in the sky at this time.   
 
*Set the date for March 15 at 10 P.M.     
 
*Gemini, the  twins , with the pair of similar stars Castor and Pollux comes in to view.
 
*Set the date for June 15 at 10 P.M.   
 
*Leo, the  lion, with the bright star Regulus is visible.   
 
*Set the date for September 15 at 10 P.M.   
 
*You will see Sagittarius, the  archer, that looks like a teapot.   
 
*Set the date for November 15 at 10 P.M.     
 
 
''9. Where is Pegasus, the  horse, at this time?''
 


Stellarium lets  you look at fainter stars, clusters of stars, nebulae, and galaxies too. See if you can find [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_15 Messier 15] (M15) in Pegasus. It is a globular star cluster about 12 billion years old  containing more than 100,000 stars.  M15 is about 33,000 light years away, much farther than the nearby stars that define the constellations in the night sky.
2. navigate to the FLIR app.  


3. test connection by looking around the room.


''10. 
== Questions ==


What color is warm? What color corresponds to cold temperatures?
''1.  What color is warm? What color corresponds to cold temperatures? ''


What part of your face is warmest?
''2.  What part of your face is warmest?


What part of you looks colder than your face?
''3.  What part of you looks colder than your face?


Why do you think that part is colder?
''4. Why do you think that part is colder?


What is the hottest thing in the room?
''5. What is the hottest thing in the room?


Is there anything changing temperature in the room? What is it? Heating up or cooling down?
Is there anything changing temperature in the room? What is it? Heating up or cooling down?

Revision as of 19:43, 23 August 2019

This session is to help you learn to use the FLIR camera together with the iPad to image infrared radiation.

FLIR.com - the manufacturer of FLIR cameras.


Getting Started

1. Switch on FLIR camera (top button) and iPad.

2. navigate to the FLIR app.

3. test connection by looking around the room.

Questions

1. What color is warm? What color corresponds to cold temperatures?

2. What part of your face is warmest?

3. What part of you looks colder than your face?

4. Why do you think that part is colder?

5. What is the hottest thing in the room?

Is there anything changing temperature in the room? What is it? Heating up or cooling down?

Can you see hot or cold air come into the room from outside (look around the windows)?

Hold your hand onto a metal object for a minute. Can you see an effect on the FLIR image? Hold your hand on a wooden desk for a minute. Can you see something on the FLIR camera after you take your hand away? Can you explain why?

What kind of thing could you see if the FLIR camera was mounted on a telescope?


Point the FLIR camera at the sky and describe what you see.

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