Globe at Night Activity Guide

Safety note

Be sure to wear suitable clothing for the weather and for being outside at night (light coloured and/or reflective clothing). If the engaged participants are children, they should be supervised by parents or teachers.

Observation

Step 1

Select one constellation at http://www.globeatnight.org/finding/ that is visible on the observing night of your location. Then use the webapp on Globe at Night website to help find your constellation in the night sky.

Step 2

Students need to determine the location and longitude of their observation area through one of the following methods;

• use the webapp at http://www.globeatnight.org/webapp/. With a smart phone or tablet, the latitude and longitude are automatically determined as one reports the observation. If a student is reporting it later from the computer, he or she has to input the address of observation or the city. Zoom in/out and pan around until the observation location is found. The latitude and longitude will be displayed.
• entering the location into the webapp at http://eo.ucar.edu/geocode/
• GPS unit for taking a measurement. Students should report as many decimal places as the unit provides.
• topographic map of the observation area.

Step 3

Go outside more than an hour after sunset and be sure that the sky has darkened. The Moon should not be up. Let your eyes become used to the dark for 10 minutes before your first observation.

Step 4

Match your observation to one of 7 magnitude charts at http://www.globeatnight.org/magcharts and note the amount of cloud cover.

Step 5

Report the date, time, location (latitude/longitude), the chart you chose, and the amount of cloud cover at the time of observation at: http://www.globeatnight.org/webapp/