Constellations+-+MM

Getting Started

 * **Click on the edit button above to put your own content on this page.**

Rubric: [[file:Space Exploration Adventure Rubric.doc]], [[file:Space Exploration Adventure Rubric.pdf]]

 * Written Information **: As you enter text, the area will expand. Make sure to check the required details of the assignment and review the rubric (see document links) to self-assess your work. Your paragraphs will be in block format, enter one return between paragraphs. The tab key, indent feature will not appear when typing directly into the wiki

Visuals Make sure to include the location of your image; add a caption with this information It is also called the "Winged Horse!" :) || [] ||
 * [[image:http://www.amnh.org/ology/features/stufftodo_astro/imgs/stargazing_orion.gif width="267" height="265" align="center" link="http://www.amnh.org/ology/features/stufftodo_astro/stargazing_what.php#"]] || The constellation Orion!(: || [|http://www.amnh.org/ology/index.php#features/stufftodo_astro/stargazing.php?TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=600] ||
 * [[image:http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/peg-fr-t.jpg align="left"]] || This is a Pegasus constellation.
 * [[image:http://galenet.galegroup.com/images/itkids/pct/00230187.jpg caption="Image of "Big Dipper""]] || The Big Dipper is one of the most common constellations in the world. ||  ||

**Works Cited** **Sources** : Include the source information for all of the magazine articles, reference sources (encyclopedias) and web site pages that were used to complete your project. The source information for encyclopedias may be found at the end or beginning of each entry in iCONN. When using periodicals, the publication information will be at the beginning or end of the article. This needs to be formatted for MLA standards. If it is not labeled 'Source Citation' it can be formatted appropriately by using EasyBib.com. You should use EasyBib for the web sites. The final Works Cited should be listed in alphabetical order by the first word of the source citation. "Milky Way." //Kids InfoBits Presents: Astronomy//. Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Kids InfoBits. Detroit: Gale, 2012. "The Milky Way." //WMAP's Universe//. NASA, 28 June 2010. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. . Vergano, Dan. "Galaxy Bracketed by Big Bubbles." //USA Today// 10 Nov. 2010: 05A. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.
 * Sample:**

-[] -[] -[] -[] -[]
 * Your Source List:**

**Topic: Research Focus**
 * What is your topic? __Constellations__**
 * State the focus of your research: //__What they are, how they are formed, how many there are, which are seen in what month.__//**

**Notes** Include notes, statistics and facts that you will use to write your final paper. You may want to label sections of your notes to help you be more organized as you write. As you take notes from a source, you should list the source citation in the Works Cited section above.

--Constellations are named patterns of stars. All societies created them. The classical -- "ancient" -- constellations that populate our sky began in the lands of the middle east thousands of years ago, their origins largely lost to time. They passed through the hands of the ancient Greeks, who overlaid them with their legends and codified them in story and verse. During Roman times they were assigned Latin names.

--The Zodiac Constellations..Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, and Capricornus.

--The Big Dipper still has a few secrets, astronomers reported Wednesday, despite its status as the night's best-known constellation. In a study in the Astrophysical Journal, a team led by Ben Oppenheimer of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, reports that Alcor, the star at the bend in the "handle" of the Big Dipper, has a newly discovered co-star, dubbed Alcor b. "No one had any idea this little star had a companion," says Neil Zimmerman of Columbia University, a study co-author. Alcor and Alcor b, about 80 light-years from Earth, rest very near the star Mizar in the handle of the Big Dipper. (One light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles.) Alcor b's discovery, Zimmerman says, "shows even the closest stars still have mysteries." In fact, Alcor and Mizar, which appear almost as one to the naked eye, have been examined by astronomers for centuries. The Italian astronomer Benedetto Castelli, one of Galileo's students, discovered Mizar's companion, Mizar b, in 1617, according to a translation of his work by University of Nebraska scholar Brian Winter. Mizar may have been the first "double star" seen by astronomers, and now its neighbor, Alcor, can share the distinction nearly four centuries later. Adding to the history, the study team uncovered Alcor b using a technique pioneered by Galileo called "common parallactic motion," which examines stars months apart in time, relying on the Earth's motion around the sun to reveal how much the star's apparent motion has changed. By blocking out the light from Alcor with a device called a coronagraph, the study team confirmed that, unknown for centuries, Alcor b indeed orbits the larger star. Galileo himself attempted to study Alcor this way, Oppenheimer says, but telescopes in his day were too limited to resolve the two stars. (Galileo studied double stars this way to confirm the Earth orbited the sun.) The study team relied on the 200-inch-wide Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in Palomar Mountain, Calif., to make the discovery. Alcor b is a red dwarf, about one-quarter the weight of the sun and one-eighth the weight of Alcor, which it circles on an orbit about 2,300 million miles away. It completes one "year" in roughly 90 years. Because Mizar and Alcor appear very close in the sky, they have served as an impromptu vision test for centuries, because sharp eyes are able to resolve the two stars. Actually, they are about 3 light-years apart. But no pair of eyes on Earth is sharp enough to see Alcor b without the help of a major telescope.

January

 * [|Caelum]
 * [|Dorado]
 * [|Mensa]
 * [|Orion]
 * [|Reticulum]
 * [|Taurus]

February

 * [|Auriga]
 * [|Camelopardalis]
 * [|Canis Major]
 * [|Columba]
 * [|Gemini]
 * [|Lepus]
 * [|Monoceros]
 * [|Pictor]

March

 * [|Cancer]
 * [|Canis Minor]
 * [|Carina]
 * [|Lynx]
 * [|Puppis]
 * [|Pyxis]
 * [|Vela]
 * [|Volans]

April

 * [|Antlia]
 * [|Chamaeleon]
 * [|Crater]
 * [|Hydra]
 * [|Leo]
 * [|Leo Minor]
 * [|Sextans]
 * [|Ursa Major]

May

 * [|Canes Venatici]
 * [|Centaurus]
 * [|Coma Berenices]
 * [|Corvus]
 * [|Crux]
 * [|Musca]
 * [|Virgo]

June

 * [|Boötes]
 * [|Circinus]
 * [|Libra]
 * [|Lupus]
 * [|Ursa Minor]

July

 * [|Apus]
 * [|Ara]
 * [|Corona Borealis]
 * [|Draco]
 * [|Hercules]
 * [|Norma]
 * [|Ophiuchus]
 * [|Scorpius]
 * [|Serpens]
 * [|Triangulum Australe]

August

 * [|Corona Austrina]
 * [|Lyra]
 * [|Sagittarius]
 * [|Scutum]
 * [|Telescopium]

September

 * [|Aquila]
 * [|Capricornus]
 * [|Cygnus]
 * [|Delphinus]
 * [|Equuleus]
 * [|Indus]
 * [|Microscopium]
 * [|Pavo]
 * [|Sagitta]
 * [|Vulpecula]

October

 * [|Aquarius]
 * [|Cepheus]
 * [|Grus]
 * [|Lacerta]
 * [|Octans]
 * [|Pegasus]
 * [|Piscis Austrinus]

November

 * [|Andromeda]
 * [|Cassiopeia]
 * [|Phoenix]
 * [|Pisces]
 * [|Sculptor]
 * [|Tucana]

December

 * [|Aries]
 * [|Cetus]
 * [|Eridanus]
 * [|Fornax]
 * [|Horologium]
 * [|Hydrus]
 * [|Perseus]
 * [|Triangulum]