Tips:
1. Try to find a place that is dark for best viewing. Porch and street lights can fade out the meteors.
2. Remind your children there may be several minutes between sightings. In the wee hours of the morning it can be hard to be patient.
3. Blankets and lawn chairs that allow for viewing in a prone position help prevent neck strain.

Here’s an informative video about last year’s shower:

More tips for watching meteor showers from NASA

Let us know what you see.

Northern Lights, also known as Auroras, occur when ions in the form of solar wind from the sun strike the gases in the upper atmosphere of the earth, causing them to glow. The glow typically occurs around the Arctic Circle, but large flares can cause a glow that can be seen throughout Canada and into the northern United States. Here is a photograph taken in Wisconsin.

Photo from NASA Images

Links to sites with more information and photographs  (As usual, please check the links for suitability before showing to your children, as the content may have changed):

Spaceweather.com has the newest predictions and archives of photographs.

Incredible Flickr photographs

Article with information on sightings

We hear a lot about the Northern Lights. Are there Southern Lights?

Answer here.

Dr. Geoffrey Marcy is an astronomer who hunts for planets around stars other than our sun. He and his team have found about half the planets discovered thus far.

According to the book, Dr. Marcy became interested in outer space when his parents gave him a telescope at 14. He climbed out the window to the patio roof with it. One look into the night sky, and he was hooked on astronomy.

Dr. Marcy pioneered a technique to look for planets that involves the use of a spectrometer, which gathers and measures light from stars. Let’s celebrate the book by taking a look at some of the science behind his techniques.

1. Activity:  Make a rainbow

One of the easiest ways to study how the light we see is made up of a mixture of colors (or light of different wavelengths), is to create a rainbow using water.

Robert Krampf has a video to show us how with a hose. (If you have never tried his Happy Scientist website, it is well worth a visit.)

Another device that can be used to separate light into its component colors is a prism.

This prism is made of glass. You can find them at teaching or science supply stores. When the light passes through it, we can see this on the ground:

For best results I put a piece of white paper on the ground in a shaded area, and held the prism about three or four feet away in the direct sunlight. With practice you can find and direct the resulting rainbows by rotating the prism.

If you don’t have a prism, the grooved side of a CD can separate colors in light as well. CD’s act as what are called “diffraction grids.”

2. Activity:  Make your own spectrometer from a cereal box. (Requires adult assistance)

What is a spectrometer? Is it different from a spectrophotometer?

A spectrometer is a device that gathers light from a source and divides it into a spectrum by passing it through a medium. Those used for astronomy would have a telescope to gather the light, some sort of device to separate the colors – such as a prism or diffraction grid – and a detector to record the results. Sometimes gases or solutions are added for the light to pass through to help gather additional information about the characteristics of the light.

There’s a more detailed explanation at How Does a Spectrometer Work?

A spectrophotometer is simply a specialized spectrometer that works with light near or in the visible spectrum for humans.

To make a spectrometer using a cereal box,

Gather:

• an empty cereal box
• sharp knife (ask an adult to help with this part)
• empty rewritable CD
• masking tape
• scissors

Seal the top of empty cereal box with masking tape, so no light can enter. Lay the cereal box on one of its narrow sides. Ask an adult to cut a slit across the bottom of the box, about 1 inch down from the top side. Some of the instructions suggest reinforcing the slit with masking tape. Ours worked okay without doing that, but if your box tears, you will need to fix it.

Take a look at these websites for additional diagrams and information:

A fresh look at light: build your own spectrometer

How to Make a Color Spectrometer From a Cereal Box & CD
at eHow (site has ads)

Leaving the box on its side, turn it to the other end. Have an adult cut a diagonal slit at about an 60 degree angle from the top, towards the middle of the box. This groove will hold the CD at an angle. Then cut the CD in half with the scissors so it will slip into the groove. Be careful, the CD may shatter. Put 1/2 the CD in the groove, shiny (reflective) side up.

The last step is to cut a viewing window. With the CD in place, cut a square opening at the same end of the box so that you can look down onto the tilted CD to see the colors.

To test your spectrometer with a flashlight, take it into a room that can be made dark. Turn the flashlight on to shine into the light slit and then turn off the room lights. Look into the viewing hole. If you don’t see a rainbow of colors, adjust the flashlight and or the angle of the box until one appears. You may now want to check the color spectrum of other light sources.

3. The Doppler Effect

When Dr. Marcy and his team study the light from stars, they are looking for evidence that the star is wobbling due to the presence of a nearby planet. Evidence of wobble comes from shifts in color due to the Doppler Effect.

Here is a video that explains how the Doppler Effect works.

Wasn’t that fun?

Next time you hear about a new planet being discovered some distant star, think of Dr. Marcy and his team. And if you know a child who is interested in science, particularly astronomy, then you should check out this inspiring book.

Book supplied by author (see disclosure page).

Even if you don’t want to participate, check out the way the constellation Orion appears to us under different “magnitudes.” According to the site, magnitude is how astronomers describe the brightness of an object.

While you are at it, compare what you see to this view of Orion from the Hubble Telescope (Image from NASA Images).

What magnitude is the view in your area?

1. Explore Meteor Showers:

Did you look for the Leonid meteor shower last month?

(Awesome copyright-free images of space-related objects available at Nasa Images.)

Meteor showers happen frequently throughout the year. Although looking for meteor showers requires getting up in the night and standing patiently in the cold and dark, the streaks of light flashing across the sky are well worth it. This month the Geminid Meteor Shower will center on December 14, 2009, radiating from the star Castor. Look for local information about the shower, because in some areas it may start around 9:00 p.m.

2. Build a Telescope:

If you’d like a good look at objects in the night sky, check out The Galileoscope™: An IYA2009 Cornerstone Project. This a kit to build a telescope, developed specifically for the International Year of Astronomy. The price a reasonable $20, but don’t expect it to arrive until 2010. (Note: I have no affiliation with this product).

You might also want to try the International Year of Astronomy Discovery Guides. The first one is all about telescopes. You do have to register to download.

3. The Solar System

The recent changes in the definition of the planets of the solar system, with Pluto no longer considered to be a true planet, is a great example of how science works. As we gather more information, our ideas change.

Here’s a fun video that explains “Why Isn’t Pluto A Planet Any More?”

Where to find more information and things to do:

Space Activity Links

NASA’s Planets and the Solar System has such hands on activities such as build a moon habitat and asteroid potatoes (they do look like potatoes!).

The Solar System at KidsAstronomy.com

Constellations for Kids at Astronomy for Kids Online

Exploring Space Without a Spacesuit at Leaping from the Box

Pick up a great book:

(For information about my affiliation with Amazon, see the Disclosure page.)

Here’s a blurb from space.com

If you and your family are interested in stars right now, it is also time for the Great Worldwide Star Count. This international event encourages everyone to go outside, look skywards after dark, count the stars they see in certain constellations and report what they see online between October 9 and 23, 2009.

Let’s hope for clear nights this week. Let me know what you see.