SAO Projects
Titan surface Credit: NASA
On this page you'll find information regarding the SAO projects I am supervising this semester.
Project deadline :
First up you'll find the SAO project description as given on the SAO project webpages. Next I list a few references/webplaces (which may or may not be useful to you) to get you started in your chosen project. These are just jumping off points for your own research -please go ahead and find additional material! At the bottom of the page I've also put some links which you might find useful.
Projects reports are normally restricted to being 12 single-spaced A4 (US standard letter sized) pages written in 11 or 12 point font. At least 10 pages should be of text (i.e. excluding tables, diagrams and your reference list). If your project looks like being longer than 12 pages of text, let me know so we can discuss this.
The project report may include web links, diagrams, images and photographs, where appropriate, to a good standard of presentation.
See the SAO Referencing and Citation Style Guide for information on how to reference material correctly.
I'd like to see a outline of your project if at all possible so that I know that everything is going OK. A list of bullet points is fine and please make it less than one page. I will not comment on project drafts!
And, of course, if you have any queries please feel free to email me.
Oh yes, and *** Mike's Wiki warning! *** Wikipedia is a great place to start in your research, however please be aware that it can be freely edited and is sometimes inaccurate or just plain wrong. Always try and go to the original material (journal article, paper etc.)
Project deadline :
First up you'll find the SAO project description as given on the SAO project webpages. Next I list a few references/webplaces (which may or may not be useful to you) to get you started in your chosen project. These are just jumping off points for your own research -please go ahead and find additional material! At the bottom of the page I've also put some links which you might find useful.
Projects reports are normally restricted to being 12 single-spaced A4 (US standard letter sized) pages written in 11 or 12 point font. At least 10 pages should be of text (i.e. excluding tables, diagrams and your reference list). If your project looks like being longer than 12 pages of text, let me know so we can discuss this.
The project report may include web links, diagrams, images and photographs, where appropriate, to a good standard of presentation.
See the SAO Referencing and Citation Style Guide for information on how to reference material correctly.
I'd like to see a outline of your project if at all possible so that I know that everything is going OK. A list of bullet points is fine and please make it less than one page. I will not comment on project drafts!
And, of course, if you have any queries please feel free to email me.
Oh yes, and *** Mike's Wiki warning! *** Wikipedia is a great place to start in your research, however please be aware that it can be freely edited and is sometimes inaccurate or just plain wrong. Always try and go to the original material (journal article, paper etc.)
Project 23 - Is anybody out there?
Use your PC to help analyse SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) data from http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ . Then describe what you find and what that tells us about the number of civilisations out there. To achieve high marks for this project (unless you do find ET!) you will need to explain how the SETI search and data analysis works, how you interpreted your data, and how you attempted to use it to try to fix limits on the number of communicatable extraterrestrial civilisations.
- The Drake Equation (yes I know it's wikipedia!)
- Does the rapid appearance of life on Earth suggest that life is common in the Universe?, arXiv, 2003, Lineweaver, C, Davis, T.
Project 55 - Twinkle, twinkle little star
The phenomenon of "scintillation" is not just restricted to stars: pulsars, quasars and various other celestial sources also show this behaviour. Give a thorough historical review of the different ways in which twinkling and scintillation have been studied and explained throughout the history of astronomy. To get high marks, you must discuss both how scintillation is a hindrance to our studies of the stars, and what we learn from this phenomenon about astronomical objects.
- A guide to astronomical seeing (Institute for Astronomy, Hawaii)
- The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Calgary Centre - Atmospheric Seeing
Project 200 - Own project
For those of you who have chosen your own project topics, you probably already have a good idea of where to start researching. However, feel free to contact me for extra help or information.
I might add some additional links for you P200er folks here. Watch this space.
I might add some additional links for you P200er folks here. Watch this space.
