Cyber Science Camp

Open To Public  –  June 1st thru July 15th at 9:00 AM
Engage you child while on summer vacation – free for all.
This is an online event.

· Hosted by Cyber Science Camp and Collins Academy

QUESTIONS – Email – ask@collinsacademy.com
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LESSON ONE
How To Find the North Star?

This is a family learning activity that can be adapted for all ages, K-12. This quick and fun learning module is focused on the North Star. We encourage Teachers & Parent Educators to follow the links to use these helpful tools to teach your kids with interactive and hands-on activities that include arts+crafts.

Inside this lesson, you will learn:

What is the North Star?
How do you find the North Star?
Why is it called Polaris?
What is celestial north pole?
What are constellations?
How to make glow-in-the-dark* constellations

To complete this lesson you will need:

Read this link: https://www.science-sparks.com/how-to-find-the-north-star/

Constellation Maps/Pictures: https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/

Optional: Glow-In-the-Dark Constellations – glow in the dark paint, black card, sticky stars

*don’t have glow-in-the-dark paint? No problem!  These can easily be made with standard paints, you just can’t see them in the dark.

After you make your constellation pictures, we hope you will share them below in the comments!

The North Star is also known as Polaris. Why? This is the star that is closest to the celestial north pole, or the imaginary points in the sky where the Earth’s axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects in space. This makes it appear directly overhead in a fixed position. While all the constellations and planets rise and set, the North Star stays nearly fixed in the Northern Hemisphere sky. This makes it easier to find.

 

Polaris, or the North Star, sits almost directly above the North Pole. Stars that sit directly above the Earth’s North or South Pole are called Pole Stars. Polaris hasn’t always been, nor will it always be the Pole Star because the Earth’s axis changes slightly over time, and stars move in relation to each other over time. The Earth wobbles on it’s axis as it rotates which means over time it points to different stars.

 

Is the North Star the brightest star in the night sky? No! But it is the brightest star in the Constellation Ursa Minor, or The Little Dipper. This makes it easy to find, once you know what the Little Dipper looks like, you just need to find the brightest of the 7 stars (HINT: it’s located at the tip of the handle!)

 

TEKS Alignments: Objects in the sky, K.8-8.8

 

 

 

 

Photographs courtesy Wikipedia.org