Introduction

When you look up at night, away from bright lights, you can see seemingly countless points of light in the sky. The darker the sky you can find, the more of these points of light seem there seems to be. These are stars. Although scientists have discovered many properties of stars through the application of physics to observations of the stars, we will focus on learning the properties of stars you can determine without special instruments or knowledge of physics. We will learn the proper names of the brightest stars and the names given to several of the groups of bright stars. We will look at how ancient astronomers discovered the shape of the Earth using the apparent motion of stars. We will learn how to map the night sky using defined sections that are named and then focus on a group of these defined sections that the Sun appears to travel through over the course of the year. 

Module Objectives

1. You will be able to identify four guidepost and five other important asterisms in the sky.
2. You will be able to find the brightest 20 stars visible in our sky and name them.
3. You will be able to relay the astronomical evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Earth is round
4. You will be able to delineate the sky using constellations and name the zodiac constellations in order.

Module Structure

• Readings
  • Textbook Section
    • 4.3 Keeping Time 
  • Online Resources
    • On the Heavens
    • Orion
    • Cassiopeia
• Reading Check
  • Check Your Stars Reading
• Activities
  • Build Stars Pages in Your Star Group
  • Discuss Your Star with the Class
  • Discuss Stars with Your Greek Letter Group
  • Make Observations of the Sky for the Stars Module
• Learning Check
  • Check Your Stars Module Learning
• Reflection
  • Reflect on Stars Module Time