K-6 Activities - Dudley Observatory

Materials
• STARLAB Portable Planetarium
• arrow pointers
• Starfield Cylinder
• red flashlights (for reading)
Objectives
K–6 Activities • B–32 •
The Motion of Stars
and Constellations
Students will be able to:
1. Observe that during rotation, Polaris stands still.
2. Explain why seasonal stars rise and set and circumpolar stars do not.
3. Tell which direction circumpolar stars appear to move around Polaris.
Process Skills
Describing • observing • interpreting • communicating • inferring • working cooperatively
Background Information
Share the following information with students.
1. Northern circumpolar stars are located in the northern sky.
a. The North Star is always above the North Pole.
• The North Star does not appear to move in the sky.
• It can be found by using the guardian stars of the Big Dipper.
b. The circumpolar stars do not rise and set, but are always visible and revolve
around the North Star.
2. Stars appear to move rapidly in the night sky due to the rotation of the earth.
a. Circumpolar stars revolve counterclockwise around Polaris.
• The position of the stars changes about 15º each hour.
• They make a complete revolution in a little less than 24 hours.
b. In the southern sky, the stars move from east to west.
• The stars that rise in the eastern part of the sky, set in the western part of
the sky.
• This movement in the sky is similar to that of the sun.
3. The reason the stars do not come back to exactly the same place each night is
due to the earth’s orbit of the sun.
a. This motion is very slow.
• The earth revolves around the sun in 365 and 1/4 days.
• The star’s apparent motion to the west is about 1 degree each day.
b. Constellations move to the west when observed at the same time each night.
• Orion is seen in the southeast sky at 8 p.m. on January 1.
• Orion is in the southern sky at 8 p.m. in the middle of February.
• Late in March, Orion is in the western part of the sky at 8 p.m.
Procedure
Turn on diurnal motion to see how the stars appear to rise and set. Use the information
above to provide astronomy concepts to students. Watch the circumpolar stars to
see how they revolve around the North Star. Use the two “guardian stars” of the Big
Dipper to go to the North Star, Polaris. Watch the stars in the southern sky move from
east to west. Demonstrate night sky with daily motion.