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lenkagamine wrote:

Cheesy Pie wrote:Google Sky fails - you can't zoom in on Polaris (it isn't even correctly placed in the constellation), and they make many mistakes with star colorings (many type A and B stars are kind of ORANGE, and K and M types are sometimes BLUE).

I agree, but it is a good program to get a feel for the constellations. I use it when i want to find where something is.
By the way, i'm having a hard time with the H-R diagram... why does it have scales on all four sides?

Typically on the H-R diagram, the scales on the y-axis are luminosity (in solar luminosities) on one side and absolute magnitude on the other. These both measure the intrinsic brightness of the stars and are just different units (there is a relation for converting absolute magnitude to luminosity and vice versa). For the x-axis, the scales are usually temperature (in K) and spectral class (O, B, A, F, G, K, M). One of the chief determiners of spectral class is temperature, and thus both are used in order to give a more comprehensive view on the object at hand. Overall the H-R diagrams try and show as much information about each object (in this case stars) as possible, so they put two scales on each axis. Hope that helps

To keep the conversation alive...
Does anyone have any good methods that they use to remember all of the constellations? I am kind of struggling with that.

I don't believe they require you to know all of the constellations, but I really found it helpful to learn the stories and mythology behind the constellations (the ones in the Northern Hemisphere, at least - the southern ones are pretty random). This way, you can recite the little stories in your head... Slightly childish? Yes, but it works and it's a heck of a lot better than just memorizing them.

Maybe it's just me, but I looked at the relative positions of all of them. The main constellations (Orion, Cassiopeia, Ursa Major) point to smaller constellations, which in turn point to others. So I learn a few constellations based on how they relate to the major ones, and once I've gotten the hang of those, I can look for more minor ones.

Also, if you live in an area with not that much light pollution, you can use the night sky for practice. If you don't, then see if there's a place nearby that has less light.

Dunno. I might have memorized the constellations by reading an astronomy book a million times (lol i am completely obsessed with astronomy xD)

I just uploaded the test I wrote for the Camas Invitational to the test exchange.
It is in a powerpoint format - each slide has a set of questions about an object and a given time limit. The last side is intended to take 15-25 minutes and is a more "extended response" set of questions.
The high score for the Invitational today was 30/45 points, if I remember correctly.

Infinity Flat: I can't find 12-14 on that test...? Did it get eaten? Or am I just not seeing something?

illusionofconfusion wrote:Infinity Flat: I can't find 12-14 on that test...? Did it get eaten? Or am I just not seeing something?

I took them off, meaning to replace them, but never got around to it.

Infinity Flat wrote:

illusionofconfusion wrote:Infinity Flat: I can't find 12-14 on that test...? Did it get eaten? Or am I just not seeing something?

I took them off, meaning to replace them, but never got around to it.

Ah okay. Thanks anyway for the test.

Infinity Flat wrote:I just uploaded the test I wrote for the Camas Invitational to the test exchange.
It is in a powerpoint format - each slide has a set of questions about an object and a given time limit. The last side is intended to take 15-25 minutes and is a more "extended response" set of questions.
The high score for the Invitational today was 30/45 points, if I remember correctly.

Questions 4 and 5 have dwarf planet Eris as a star. FAILFAILFAIL there is obviously a satellite that is visible SHEESH you know how much I hate astronomical errors!