Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
THE JOURNAL OF THE MICHIGAN EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
In This Issue Board Directory Page 2 2010 T. T. Fujita Outstanding Earth Science Future Teacher Award Page 2 Outsatnding Earth Science Teacher Award 2010 Page 3 HeART of MESTA Award 2010 Page 4 World’s Largest Erratic Page 6 Digging Grand Rapids... Page 7 MESTA Conference 2010 Page 9 Stoney Grant Deadline Page 9 Exoplanet WebQuest - Classroom Activity Page 10 Calendar of Events Page 12
Volume XLVI Fall 2010 Number 4
The Michigan Earth Scientist
OEST 2010 - Cris DeWolf/HeART of MESTA 2010 - Judy & Bill Ruddock
Page 2 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
MESTA Officers and RepresentativesExecutive CommitteePresidentKevin Dehne (Saginaw MI) w: [email protected]
President-ElectChuck Schepke Roscommon MI) [email protected]
Past President/New Teacher ContactShawn McNamara (Flat Rock MI) v: 313-432-5542 [email protected]
Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award Chair Jay Sinclair (Milan MI) w: 734-269-2220 [email protected]
TreasurerTiffany Dysinger (Flint) [email protected]
Michigan Earth Scientist Editor/Stoney Grant ChairCris DeWolf (Mecosta MI) w: [email protected]
Membership DirectorEric Kennedy (Salem Township) [email protected]
Acquisitions (RockShop) ChairLisa Bouda (Grosse Pointe Woods) [email protected]
Secretary/Kits ChairChristine Webster (Hudsonville, MI) [email protected]
Operations Chair/NESTA LiaisonParker Pennington IV (Ann Arbor MI) [email protected]
Other Governing Board Members
E-Mail MonitorJack Hentz (Ann Arbor MI) w: 734 [email protected]
Field Trip ChairOpen
Free & Inexpensive ChairJudy Ruddock (Flushing MI) h [email protected]
HistorianRod Cranson (Lansing MI) h: [email protected]
MDSTA LiaisonJudy Morlan (Grosse Pointe Park MI) h: [email protected]
Meteorology LiaisonDave Chapman (East Lansing MI) w: [email protected]
New Teacher ContactSue Merrill (retired) [email protected] Mulligan (Retired) [email protected]
MSTA LiasonTim Neason (Middleville, MI) [email protected]
MSU LiaisonKazuya Fujita (East Lansing MI) w: [email protected]
Public Relations/Cranson Award ChairTabby Eldredge (Garden City) [email protected]
Raffle Chair/Volunteer CoordinatorMike Bause (Highland MI) w: [email protected]
Web MasterCarl Wozniak (Marquette MI) w: [email protected]
At Large Governing Board MembersChris Bolhuis (Hudsonville) [email protected] Dicks (Novi) [email protected] Pata (Harper Woods MI) v: 313-432-5441Ardis Herrold (Plymouth MI) [email protected] Sparling (Grand Blanc, MI) [email protected] Thomas (Canton MI) [email protected] Schuchardt (Mona Shores) [email protected]
2010 T. T. Fujita Outstanding Earth Science Future Teacher Award
In 2004 The Michigan Earth Science Teacher’s Association recognized Prof. Kazuya Fujita as the Outstanding Michigan Earth Science Teacher for that year. In conjunction with this recognition and because of the historic relationship between MESTA and the Department of Geological Sciences at Michigan State University, MESTA made a donation to initiate an award to be presented to an outstanding Earth Science major who is completing the teacher education courses at MSU and will be entering the internship year. The Fujita family matched the donation from MESTA. This award is presented at the Department of Geological Sciences awards ceremony in the spring.
The award is named in honor of Prof. Fujita’s late father, tornado expert Dr. Tetsuya T. Fujita, and has become the “T. T. Fujita Outstanding Earth Science Future Teacher Award.” A committee that includes at least one member of the Department of Geological Science’s ad-hoc Earth Science committee and one member of the MESTA Board of Directors make the selection of the recipient of this award.
This award continues to be presented each year supported by funds from MESTA and a matching donation from Dr. Fujita.
Page 3 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010The 2010 recipient of this award is Brian Hewitt. Here is a message from Brian.
I would like to thank the Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association for selecting me as the recipient of the T. T. Fujita Outstanding Future Earth Science Teacher award. Growing up in Lake Orion, I had the privilege of attending some phenomenal schools with great faculties. I have always enjoyed science and my interaction with my teachers helped to spark my interest in science and education that led me to attend Michigan State University to pursue a teaching degree in Earth Science. Michigan State has provided me with the opportunity to work with a wide array of students from varied backgrounds. This experience has further confirmed my career decision to teach Earth Science at the secondary level; I want to teach young people about science and also to be a positive influence in their lives, as my teachers were in my life.
Living in Lake Orion all my life has had a great
impact on me and shaped me into the person I am today. That is why my future goal is to start my teaching career in Earth Science at the secondary level in Oakland County so I can ensure that other students receive the same opportunities that I did during my educational career in Michigan.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
my family, professors, and former teachers that have helped me on my journey to becoming a science teacher. Next year I will be continuing on into my internship year through Michigan State University at Mason Middle School in Waterford teaching 6th grade science. I hope to instill my love of science in some of my students, just like my love for science truly blossomed under the guidance of two Michigan State University alums when I was in middle school.
Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award 2010
HEA Workshop 2009 - Anchorage. Portage Glacier is in the background
This year’s Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award went to Cris DeWolf. The award was announced at the MESTA Conference in Sault Ste. Marie in August. Unfortunately, due to professional commitments, Cris was unable to be there to accept the award, so MESTA President Kevin Dehne officially presented it to him in September at the Rock Party – in the pouring rain.
Cris is Science Chair at Chippewa Hills High School in Remus, MI, where he has taught since 1993. According to Principal Michelle Newman, “Cris has a wonderful rapport with people of all ages. His ability to connect with students and his talent at teaching simple concepts, as well as more advanced topics, are both truly superior…Cris has served as a mentor to all the new and less experienced teachers in the department. He encourages all to get involved at the local as well as state level and suggests professional development opportunities for his colleagues that he feels would be beneficial.”
In addition to his work at Chippewa Hills, Cris has been very active in science education at the state and national level. He has served on the Board of the Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association since 1995, including three years as President. He currently serves as editor of the Michigan Earth Scientist. He has also worked with NASA, the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, and other groups too numerous to list, to bring real-world scientific research into the classroom. Michelle Newman says, “He is an individual that is truly determined to making his students, and community as a whole, consciously aware of science and its importance. We are privileged to have Cris on staff a CHHS and are truly proud of all of his accomplishments.”
In addition to all of this, for the last 19 years, Cris has spent his summers at Science Camp Watonka in Pennsylvania, teaching aquatic biology, Earth science, and archery. He lives in Mecosta, MI, with his wife Lisa, and their children Caitlin, Trevor, Mikaela, and Noah.
Page 4 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
The Art Weinle HeART of MESTA Award
MESTA is very excited to announce the first recipients of this award, Bill And Judy Ruddock. Excerpts of nomination letters in their support appear in this issue. Below you will find a brief rationale for the creation of this award, as well as the criteria used to select recipients.
Art Weinle
Art Weinle received a Bachelors Degree in 1968 and a Master Degree in 1973 from Ohio State University. Art retired from Grosse Pointe North High School after teaching Earth Science and Geology for 31 years. For the past few years Art has been an adjunct instructor of Geology at Wayne State University and Macomb Community College. He was an active member of the Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association for many years. Art passed away in the summer of 2008 after a two-month fight with a liver tumor. He is truly missed by all of us who have been touched by his life. For his service to MESTA and his unending passion, HEART, and dedication to helping teachers teach Earth Science he is being honored with the creation of a new MESTA award in his name.
Selection Criteria:1. In honor of Art Weinle:
• In recognition of his many years of dedication to MESTA and teaching of Earth Science.
2. Eligibility:• 15 or more years of service to MESTA and the teaching
of Earth/Space science related courses.• Three letters of recommendations. One must be a
nomination by a MESTA member.3. Award:
• The recipient will receive a $500.00 award that they may give to promote Earth Science education or to a student that will promote the teaching and learning of Earth Science.
• They will also receive an Art Weinle scale stick and an engraved rock. The rock will be engraved with the following: The Art Weinle Heart of MESTA Award, recipient’s name, and year award was received.
• This is not an annual award. Given at the discretion of the board on recommendation from the award committee.
Bill and Judy Ruddock – 2010 Recipients of the HeART of MESTA Award
At the Carlise Mine, in New Mexico
Those of us who knew Art Weinle remember well his passion for what we (MESTA) are about. It may be difficult to articulate, but it’s easy to recognize in others who share that same spirit. What made Art stand out from being “just another good teacher”? First, it was his passion (which sometimes got him in trouble). Second, it was his desire to share the wonders of Earth Science with everyone. Art also was enormously and relentlessly industrious about contributing to the cause.So who in MESTA seems to fit this description? Who is passionate, to the point of rising well above the enthusiasm of others? Who works so hard and enjoys so much this cause that they may be described as bordering on obsessive? And who continues to empower this organization in such a way that it would be an irreplaceable loss if they were absent?
Page 5 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
Earlier this summer, I spent a few weeks with people like this. In fact, I have followed them for years whenever I can, and I am never disappointed. Bill and Judy Ruddock run MESTA’s “Free and Inexpensive”. The Ruddocks spend a good portion of the year traveling about the country collecting rocks for MESTA and NESTA in their modified semi-truck/motor home with a rock hoist on the back..
Bill and Judy are amazing rock collectors. They supply about half or more of all the specimens that appear at MESTA and NESTA rock raffles. They visit a variety of places from Alaska to Arkansas, many accessible only by 4WD and hiking. They have a vast collection of rock tools: sledges, shovels, pry bars and chisels- even specialty items for persuading a stubborn rock to come home. At the close of the day, they sort and store rocks in grocery store banana boxes. When their bedroom area in the truck is filled, they move to sleep on an air mattress until no more rocks can be transported…then they head for home.
Bill and Judy’s home is Phase Two of the rock operations. Here everything is power-washed, sometimes chemically cleaned, sized, sorted and labeled. Friends are sometimes recruited to help out, but they do most of the work themselves. Almost everything they collect is for teachers, and never sold for personal profit. They do all of this for free… because it’s fun.
The famous annual Rock Party started out as a small affair among a few friends and has now swelled to several hundred almost rabid rockhounds that descend on their House of Rocks each September to play games for the hope of winning (as Bill would say) a “pretty rock”.
Free and Inexpensive has been a consistently popular main draw to the MESTA area at conventions for decade. In fact, many people only know MESTA as “the group that sells all those rocks”. You will find Bill and Judy working there every conference.”
Digging drusy quartz crystals from a pit on the top of a mountain in Portal AZ
It’s obviously fun to travel around to collect treasures from the Earth. But it’s also hard work. Days are spent hiking, digging
in the dirt, working in all types of weather, prying, sledging and hauling specimens. Vehicles take a bruising along with people and sometimes need repairs. Few teachers appreciate, when they win a prize at a MESTA raffle or buy an amazing specimen for a quarter or a dollar, how much labor of love has gone into procuring and preparing it. The Ruddocks have discovered an even better kind of fun- the joy of unconditional, generous giving, the true volunteer spirit of teachers helping teachers, which is what MESTA is all about.
The Heart of MESTA remains strong because of the strong hearts of MESTA leaders like Bill and Judy Ruddock. I am proud to call them friends, and I hope that we are blessed with their presence for many more years to come.
I have had the pleasure of knowing Bill & Judy Ruddock from very early on in my association with MESTA, nearly 20 years ago. It was immediately obvious that these were very generous and caring people, with a deep commitment to MESTA. From running and supplying Free & Inexpensive, presenting at conferences, leading collecting trips, developing curriculum, etc., the complete list of their contributions to the success of MESTA would be very long indeed. It is no exaggeration to say that MESTA would not be what it is today without the efforts of Bill and Judy.
Sledging a piece of zebra marble in Utah Summer 2010
The hard work, generosity, and dedication of Bill and Judy Ruddock exemplify the qualities that make MESTA such a great organization. I can think of no more worthy recipients of the first Art Weinle Heart of MESTA Award than the Ruddocks.
Ardis Maciolek, Grosse Pointe North High School
I have known Judy and Bill since I became associated with MESTA in the early 1990s. It was largely through their efforts that I became involved in the Earth Science teaching field and an advocate for MESTA and Earth Science education in general.
Others can speak more about Judy and Bill’s dedicated long-term support of MESTA programs like “Free and Inexpensive,” helping teachers obtain samples, improving content knowledge, and their annual Rock Party, all selfless donations of time and effort. Bill
Page 6 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
is, of course, an integral part of the Ruddock team; the logistics and operation of MESTA field programs and sample acquisition would be impossible without him. However, I wish to speak on a personal note and how Judy has impacted both pre-service and in-service Earth Science teachers, particularly through MSU.
When I first started attending MESTA board meetings, I had no idea as to the needs, abilities, and expectations of Earth Science teachers. As a research scientist with almost no experience in outreach, my view of how to make presentations for teachers and how to teach to teachers was woefully inadequate. Starting from the first time we started discussing how seismology and teachers could interact, Judy worked patiently to explain why some things I would propose wouldn’t work or not be of relevance. As a result of Judy’s continuing efforts over the past 15 years, I have become much more cognizant of the needs of teachers, and have tried to apply that to the design of my plate tectonics course and the labs associated with it. As a result, pre-service teachers are given something more than a standard geology major’s course. With Judy’s help, I have run a series of workshops on earthquakes and plate tectonics for MESTA and in-service teachers, most of which likely would have been dramatically inappropriate except for Judy’s involvement. The fact that there is an interest in earthquakes and geophysics in MESTA, is largely Judy’s doing.
Judy has also worked as an assistant in the upper level teacher education courses at Michigan State as well, long past her nominal retirement. Through that effort, she has influenced a large number of Earth Science students and helped make the MSU teacher education program one of the best in the country. Together with Art Weinle, Judy convinced me of the need for field experiences for pre-service teachers, the result of which will be the addition of a field trip to the plate tectonics course starting (hopefully) in the fall of 2010.
As noted, my association with MESTA and the Earth Science teaching community would have been impossible without Judy, but I use that as an example, because this mentorship is also the case for many individuals who have made contributions large and small to MESTA and to K-12 Earth Science education in Michigan. Through Judy’s activities both at Michigan State and Mott Community College, she has impacted an extremely large number of potential future Earth Science teachers, including those who were never MESTA members and those who never taught in Michigan, but only went to school here. In addition, she has also significantly impacted the K-12 Earth Science curriculum through her participation in multiple writings of the Michigan Science Standards over the years, including the most recent incarnation.
In summary, Judy and Bill Ruddock represent not only the best of what MESTA is and has been, but also are the inspiration and model for the rest of the Earth Science teaching community.
Kazuya Fujita, MSU
World’s Largest Erratic
Being in the land of Wisconsin Glacial terrain, we are certainly familiar with glacial erratics. They are common in many areas around the Great Lakes and especially on and in Michigan’s surface material. Of course, they have a range of sizes, from relatively small to as large as small buildings. So, when I encountered a sign along a highway in southern Alberta, Canada, I became curious. It said “The World’s Largest Erratic” was located near the small town of Okotoks, a few miles south of Calgary.
The town’s name is derived from “ohkotok,” a Blackfoot First Nation word for “rock,” and is sometimes known as “Rock City.” The “rock,” of course, refers to a huge rock located a few miles west of town claimed to be the world’s largest known glacial erratic. Before the European arrived on Canada’s western prairies, First Nations people used the rock as a marker to find the river crossing situated at Okotoks. They were nomadic and tended to followed large buffalo herds for their livelihood.
The “Big Rock” is an enormous block of quartzite estimated to weigh about 16,500 tons and measures 9 meters high, 41 meters long and 18 meters wide. It has split into two pieces along a large fracture. The Okotoks Erratic, is the largest rock in the Foothills Erratics Train, a series of rocks deposited by ice along the Rocky Mountain front and dropped as the glacier melted and retreated. These erratics lie in a narrow band extending from Jasper National Park to northern Montana. The valley glacier that carried the Big Rock flowed eastwards onto the plains where it collided with a continental glacier, part of the great Laurentide ice sheet. At that point, it was redirected to the southeast, parallel to the mountain front.
A close inspection reveals hardened layers of sand, silt and small pebbles. It is a piece of the Gog Formation, a sedimentary layer deposited during the early Cambrian in a shallow sea long before the Rocky Mountains were uplifted. The sediment was buried layer upon layer building to thousands of feet thick before weight, heat, and pressure metamorphosed the sediment to quartzite.
One interesting feature of Big Rock is the large split down the middle. A Blackfoot story describes how they think it may have
Page 7 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
happened:
“One hot summer day, Napi, the supernatural trickster of the Blackfoot peoples, rested on the rock because the day was warm and he was tired. He spread his robe on the rock, telling the rock to keep the robe in return for letting Napi rest there. Suddenly, the weather changed and Napi became cold as the wind whistled and the rain fell. Napi asked the rock to return his robe, but the rock refused. Napi got mad and just took the clothing. As he strolled away, he heard a loud noise and turning, he saw the rock was rolling after him. Napi ran for his life. The deer, the bison and the pronghorn were Napi’s friends, and they tried to stop the rock by running in front of it. The rock rolled over them. Napi’s last chance was to call on the bats for help. Fortunately, they did better than their hoofed neighbours, and by diving at the rock and colliding with it, one of them finally hit the rock just right and it broke into two pieces.” Not only does this story explain why the rock is in two pieces, but also why bats have squashed-looking faces. The tale provides helpful caution against taking back what you have given away.
In 1970s the Okotoks Erratic was the first natural feature to be designated as an official Provincial Historic Site. There are aboriginal pictographs on the rock.
Rod Cranson
Note: Images are courtesy of the Alberta Provincial Government web site.
Digging Grand Rapids......
The weekend of October 2nd ushered in the colder, overcast weather that is often associated with autumn here in Michigan. My family decided to beat the cold and head downstate to enjoy the relatively “balmy” fifties in the old gypsum mine tunnels un-derneath the downtown area. We are members of the Big Rapids, Rock, Mineral, and Gem Club. The Grand Rapids based Indian Mounds Club had some openings in a trip into the mine and in-vited members of our club to come down and join them.
The mine tunnels we explored belong to Michigan Natural Stor-age, a company that offers short-term stoarge of food products - including the frozen turkeys that appear in area stores around Thansgiving time. Microfiche and other data products are stored in this temperature and humidity controlled facility.
We joined enthusiasts from as the Grand Rapids Club, our club, and some folks from the Lansing area Saturday morning in the parking lot to sign in and go through the safety and cleanliness rules and regs one more time before entering the mine.
Everyone dropped the 85 feet down to the tunnels in a large freight elevator with plenty of room for all our gear - all the buck-ets, carts, and sacks that would carry our treasures back up to the surface after we crawled through the dark, muddy piles to find them.
After mining in the Grand Rapids area ended back in the 1990s,
Page 8 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
some of the tunnels were cleaned out, and a few had cement floors put in. This is where space is leased out for storage. The other tunnels still have rock - and mud! - floors. This is where we went to look for pencil selenite, selenite sheets (small pieces), fossil shark coprolites (poop) and, of course, a variety of colors of rock gypsum.
My youngest son, Noah, became very good at finding coprolites, and was able to show others in the group how to find them up in the interface between the gypsum seam and a layer of muddy shale. A few people in the group also found some shark teeth.
The picture above doesn’t really do it justice. Some areas of the mine had rocks on which had formed a carpet of tiny thread-like crystals. These fibrous crystals are a hydrated form of epsomite, a magnesium sulfate mineral. This is very difficult to collect due to its fragile nature, so we left with just the picture.
We also spent a fair amount of time just wandering the tunnels - exploring. There were areas with a little water seepage, and there was a small pool at the end of one of the tunnels we checked out. Cracks in the ceiling rock of some areas kept us from exploring further. There was a study done several years ago about the pos-sible effects of the mines on a portion of I-196 near downtown. There had been some sinkhole formation on some property ad-jacent to the highway, but the study concluded that I-196 should be okay, that there was enough load-bearing rock beneath it to arrest the development of sinkholes. We still stayed out of those tunnels!
There were signs of the old mining operation to be seen in many places. Beams, portions of old track, railroad ties with spikes, and lots of piles of gypsum. My kids even brought out a couple of souvenirs - boards from a crate marked “Danger - High Ex-plosives”.
We spent over three hours in the tunnels crawling around, crack-ing apart, and carrying out lots of rocks. We carried out 2 5-gallon pails of “treasures”, plus 2 more good sized pieces of rock gyp-sum that will likely wind up in a future rock raffle. While a little tired out by the end of the day, everyone had a great time down in the mine.
The Indian Mounds Rock and Mineral Club coordinates these trips with Grand Valley State University, offering them at differ-ent times during the year. You have to be a member of a club that is affiliated with the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies to attend, but most of our local clubs are. We had an ex-cellent time, and learned a lot from the other people in our group. For a low $2 per person fee, plenty of good clean fun was had by all.
I would recommend seeing if you could join them on a future trip. If you belong to a local club in your area, check with your officers to see if you ever get these invitations. And who knows? Maybe we (MESTA) could sponsor a trip down into the tunnels to collect some gypsum and coprolites sometime in the future.
Page 9 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
MESTA members and their families did with great enthusiasm. Dr. Kelso answered individual questions at each stop as well. He was pretty amazing. Many of the vehicles in which we were traveling were well laden with igneous matter on the return trip. One even blew a tire! Thank you Dr. Kelso for a fantastic field experience!
STONEY GRANTS 2011
Do you have an idea for a cool activity you would like to try with your students? A creative and inovative way to teach one of the GLCEs or HSCEs? If so, you should consider applying for some $$$ to help fund it and actually make it happen! Stoney Grants are limited to $500, and are intended to be used for a repeatable, shareable activity that is done in your classroom.
Our goal is to help you get materials to use with your students from year to year AND to get you to share your expertise with the rest of us by either presenting at our annual conference or submit-ting an article about how you used your award for publication in this journal. A poster session will be offered at our conference next fall where you just share what you did informally with other members as they wander from poster to poster during a sched-uled session time. Article submission guidelines are posted on the back page of this issue of the MES.
The deadline for submission of an application for a Stoney Grant is November 19th, 2010. Applications and additional information may be found at our website: www.mestarocks.org.
Help us help you teach your students. Apply for a grant today.
MESTA Conference 2010 - Sault Ste. MarieFriday Field Conference - Geology of the NE U.P and Canada
On Friday, 8/13, at the MESTA conference in the Sault Ste. Marie region, a field trip into Canada was offered to participants.
Numerous stops to explore outcroppings and road cuts along Canada Highway 17 north of Sault Ste. Marie were made. At each stop Dr. Paul Kelso, the Lake Superior State University Department of Geology and Physics chair, delivered a short, lively description of the rocks in that area, along with the geologic history.
At most sites, we were allowed to collect specimens, which many
Page 10 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
CHHS Science TESS-Astronomy
Name: Date: Class Period
����������Webquest
What are exoplanets? You may know something about these objects already. Do you? If so, let me know by
writing a short paragraph about them here:
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
In this webquest you will be finding out a lot more about exoplanets by visiting a variety of informative
sites online from groups who are working to find out more about these objects, including whether or not
there are any like Earth.
Start here: ������������ ��������� ����������� http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/
1. What definition do they give on this page of the site for exoplanets?
2. What is the current exoplanet count?
3. How many other stars are currently known to have planets?
4. Why are these two numbers different?
Click on the �������� button on this page. It is in the left pane.
��������� ��� ��������� ������
5. Describe the differences and similarities of the three missions (Kepler is already launched and
discovering stuff!!) NASA has proposed to look for Earthlike planets.
Now go to the ����� ������ Website:
http://www.alienearths.org/online/interactives/planet_families/index.php
This site has an interactive simulation that allows you to place a planet in orbit around a star, and observe
the effects that gravitation has on the motion of both objects. Click and drag on the smallest planet and
place it a short distance away from the star.
6. What does the planet do when you set it in place? Why is it doing this?
7. Is the star doing anything that you can tell?
Now reset the animation and place the largest planet the same distance from the star as you did the small
planet.
8. Does the planet still orbit the star? Can you tell if it is going faster or slower than the small one
did? If you can, why do you think it is behaving differently? It is okay to reset the animation and
look again at the small planet!
9. When the large planet is orbiting the star, what is the star doing? Why do you think it is doing
this?
Page 11 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
CHHS Science TESS-Astronomy
This gravitational “wobble” is one of the methods used by astronomers to discover exoplanets. The largest,
closest planets have the greatest influence on their stars; so these “hot Jupiters” are what are typically
found.
Let’s find out more about detecting exoplanets at:
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/science/finding_planets.cfm
10. How does the Doppler Effect help astronomers find exoplanets?
11. Describe the astrometric method of detecting exoplanets.
12. How does the transit method of detecting exoplanets work? What is a major limitation of this
method?
13. What is gravitational microlensing and how could it be used to detect exoplanets?
The Kepler mission is currently underway, already having found a number of new exoplanets. It uses the
transit method to detect planets around other stars, in a small patch of our galaxy near the constellation
Cygnus. To learn more about how this method of planet detection works, go to this URL:
http://kepler.nasa.gov/multimedia/Interactives/keplerFlashAdvDiscovery/#
������ ��������� ������� ����
Click on the image to begin the interactive animation. Work through the process for at least two stars.
Report the mass, radius, and distance from the star for the exoplanets orbiting these stars.
Now what do you know about exoplanets? Write a several paragraphs in your science notebook
summarizing what you have learned today.
Page 12 Michigan Earth Scientist Fall 2010
The Michigan Earth Scientist is the official journal of the Michigan Earth Science
Teachers Association, published quarterly.
Items to be considered for publication should be sent to the editor at [email protected].
Microsoft Word documents in Times 10 are the preferred format. Any images should be sent as a separate jpeg file
in grayscale – not color.
Deadlines for submissions are:Winter – November 28th
Spring – February 28th
Summer – May 28th
Fall – September 15th
MESTA Calendar of Events
Nov. 5th - 7th, 2010 Fish Lake (EMU Astronomy Club) Lapeer, MINovember 6th, 2010 Telescopes 4 Teachers II - CMU GEMS Center, 9 Am - 1 PM, Mt. PleasantNovember 13th, 2010 MDSTA 2010 Fall Conference,
Lamphere High SchoolNovember 20th, 2010 Twelve years ago, today, the first
module of the International Space Station was launched into orbit on a Russian Proton rocket.
December 4th, 2010 MESTA Board Meeting - Eric Kennedy’s
January 16th, 2010 The first non-stop jet flight around the world was done by 3 B-52s in 1957
February 5th, 2011 MESTA Board Meeting - Tiffany Dysinger’s
February 24-26, 2011 MSTA Conference, Grand Rapids, MI
March 10th-13th 2011 NSTA National Conference on Science Education, San Francisco
May 14th, 2011 MESTA Board Meeting - Sue Merrill’s
Endeavor Fellow Physics for Real Beginners
The Exoplanet WebQuest activity included in this issue was produced to use with my students as an assignment in one of the classes I took last summer towards my certification as a STEM Education Leader. Feel free to use it with your students, and you may e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Thanks, and I hope you find it useful!
Cris DeWolf
