Meteorite Lessons
By Al Washburn
On Tuesday, June 6th, I brought the club’s meteorite collection to the Ferrara Elementary School, in East Haven, CT, to present to all three, 3rd grade classes, one at a time. (My grandson, Aden, is in one of the classes.) Each session was about 35/40 minutes long, starting with a green laser presentation leading to what is a meteor, meteorite and asteroid. Next was the meteor drop box to simulate an asteroid impact event, which is always a “great hit”! They used a croquet ball, which makes a nice, round crater!
Next, was the magnet test and data sheet for 10 samples, to determine if they were made of iron or not. Prior to, we determined that not all metals attract a magnet. We tried: aluminum, lead, silver and gold! After all data was collected, I showed them the “light box” with our Esquel sample, from Argentina, to complete the three major types as shown on the back of their data sheets. All students went home with having held 10 rocks from outer space!
Astronomy Links
From Ray Kaville
A good article on the future of space telescopes:
After James Webb, We’re Sending a Telescope Beyond Saturn And It Will Change Everything.
Scientists discover what’s in Mars core:
An amazing image of Formalhaut from the Webb telescope:
A little history of Yale astronomical studies and instruments:
Features
If you have not looked at the newsletter before, check out some of the regular features. There are four useful links in the menu at the top of this page:
Calendar This is a monthly calendar that includes all the scheduled events of ASNH, other regional events of interest, plus the dates and times of noteworthy events in the night sky.
SkyMap This page has a chart of the sky as it appears over the New Haven area at the present date and time. It is constantly updated, so you can go to this page on any clear night to see what is overhead.
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