starry night at the museum (educación secundaria - bachillerato - school of stars - pamplonetario)

SCHOOL OF STARSdidactic guide

STARRY NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM3º y 4º de ESO / BachilleratoSTARRY NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

ww

w.e

scue

la.p

ampl

onet

ario

.org

ww

w.p

ampl

onet

ario

.org

www.escuela.pamplonetario.org 2/11

Starry night at the museum is an exclusive show to project in digital planetariums. Its imagescover all the planetarium´s canvas and it gives a spectacular immersive effect: the spectatorfeels like inside of the scene that is projected. Actually the public is inside the scene, becauseStarry Night at the Museum is a full-dome digital planetarium audiovisual. The image projectedon the screen produces a unique immersive effect, which places the viewer into each scene.In this special environment, we invite you to enjoy the starry sky and reflect, from aninterdisciplinary perspective on the invisible connections between science and art.

The program lasts 35 minutes and is made with a combination of techniques including 3Danimation, photography, video and drawing scenes. In addition, several sequences featuringthe projection of the sky with a realism hard to imagine. The soundtrack includes classicalpieces, songs composed especially for the program and a variety of sound effects.

Starry Night at the Museum is a production of the Science Museums of Coruña (A CoruñaCity Council) in collaboration with the Science Museum of Valladolid, Pamplona Planetarium,the Museum of Science and Cosmos in Tenerife, the Elder Museum of Science and Technology,The Astronomical Parc Montsec and Eureka! Zientzia Museoa. Several professionals fromthese institutions as well as digital artists, musicians and sound engineers have worked inthis production for over a year.

This program is partially funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation Spanish Foundationfor Science and Technology in the Call for Grants for the 2010 Program of scientific cultureand innovation..

For more information, visit this links:

Official website: http://www.nocheestrellada.org/index.phpDidactic guide of the website: http://tinyurl.com/cba7wglDidactic guide of the website (PDF format): http://tinyurl.com/bs5364k

In the first sequence of the program Urania shows to her friends some examplesof art works that incorporate elements related to astronomy. The Prado Museumwebsite (http://www.museodelprado.es/) allows to enjoy these paintings ingreat detail. Can you identify all the elements mentioned in the speech andreproduced here?

The seven liberal artsEach one is represented by a woman whoappears accompanied by the most importantfigure in the discipline. Astronomy heads thecomposition carrying a celestial sphere. Sittingat his feet we see Ptolemy, who between thefirst and second centuries collected in 13volumes the history of Greek astronomy.Visit: http://tinyurl.com/c5bexu5

SightThis work belonging to the set of the FiveSenses is the result of the collaborationbetween Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the Elder”.It was painted in 1617 and, to our knowledge,is the second painting of history in whichappears a telescope.Visit: http://tinyurl.com/czv4vcy

Saturn devouring his sonRubens also painted his own version of theclassic myth about the god Saturn. I wouldlike to draw attention to the top of the box,where a triple star represents the planet Saturnas Galileo Galilei had observed 26 yearsearlier.Visit: http://tinyurl.com/dxbkguj

Esta obra perteneciente al conjunto de losCinco Sentidos es fruto de la colaboraciónentre Rubens y Jan Brueghel “el Viejo”. Fuerealizada en 1617 y, que sepamos, es lasegunda pintura de la historia en la queaparece un telescopio.

Rubens painting the Allegory of PeaceTo the right is Mars, dressed as a warrior,harassing Venus, symbolizing peace. And atthe bottom, some of the objects that aredestroyed by war. These include an astrolabeand an armillary sphere, representing scientificknowledge.Visit: http://tinyurl.com/c6nobq7


STARRY NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM - 3º y 4º de ESO / Bachillerato

Activity 1 Stars on the canvas

Just as the literature allows us to understand how people liveda certain time, in works of art is also possible to trace the beliefsand lifestyles of the past. For example, since the days of ancientGreece it was believed that the moon was a perfect sphere whichsurface was highly polished. Hence that our satellite was consideredas a symbol of purity and was frequently represented at the feetof the Virgin. However, early in the 17th century, Galileo firstobserved the moon with the telescope, and found a landscape ofvalleys, craters and mountains that cover our own planet. Hisdrawings show unequivocally the imperfect nature of the Moon.

Do you know any work of art - however popular - regarding the scientific andtechnological advances of the 20th century? Can you find a famous paintingwhere appears an airplane? And a locomotive??

4/11www.escuela.pamplonetario.org

Here are two Madonnas with a moon at her feet, one painted by Murillo andanother by Cigoli. Would you know which one is more »realistic» in theastronomical details?

CigoliMurillo


Activity 1 Stars on the canvas

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences, even though because deciphering the movementsof the stars helped the first civilizations to oriented on trips, and develop schedules thatallowed them to organize their activities. Moreover, almost all cultures turned their mythologyand beliefs in the sky, and many of them left a sediment that can still be tracked, for example,names of stars, planets and constellations.The planetarium program talks of a virtual reality machine that allows you to visit some historicplaces in which it is still possible to feel the weight of astronomical knowledge.

The Stonehenge cromlech and theAlmendros cromeleque

On the summer solstice, the sun rose acrossthe central axis of the building. It’s... let’s say,amazing that 5000 years ago they had suchprecise astronomical knowledge.Video (spanish): Stonehenge (el misterio de las piedras)

- http://tinyurl.com/cw67v7e

wikipedia: Cromlechhttp://tinyurl.com/qcfgg

The antas or dolmens of AlentejoThe study of more than a hundred of thesedolmens has revealed that are oriented atsunrise - or perhaps at the moonrise -sometime in the annual cycle. Plates withnumeric patterns have also been found andsuggest that the builders relied on astronomicalobservations to measure time.

The cave paintings of LascauxWe are in the cave of Lascaux in France. Asyou can see, is decorated with magnificentprehistoric paintings. Some researchers arguethat in this veritable Sistine Chapel ofPaleolithic Art is the first representation of thePleiades.Visit: www.lascaux.culture.fr



Activity 2 Stars in memory

The pyramids of GizaAt the plateau in Giza, near Cairo, we cansee the famous pyramids of Cheops,Chephren and Mycerinus, which are perfectlyoriented to the four cardinal points.

The petroglyphs on the Northwest IberianPeninsula

The Great Deer at Laxe dos Carballos andother petroglyphs found in Pontevedra,northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, seem toconfirm this lunisolar calendar.

www.escuela.pamplonetario.org

Internet and some applications such as Google Earth or Google Maps allow you to makea virtual trip to some of these places and check, for example, its orientation with respect tothe cardinal points. Find some pyramids in Egypt, and also in Central America. Are theyoriented in any special way? Is that orientation perfect or just approximate?

As Saturn reminds us at a certain point of the program, Christian churches also tended tobe oriented with respect to the cardinal points. Find with Google Earth the main Spanishcathedrals (Santiago, Leon, Burgos, etc..) and check their orientation. What about otherrecently built cathedrals, like the Almudena in Madrid?Apart from the religious monuments, many civilian buildings are oriented to the cardinalpoints.Does it happen as well with the city council of your town? What about the footballstadium or hospitals?The orientation of the axes of the Plaza de María Pita, which houses A Coruña City council,matches up with the cardinal points. The names of many stars and constellations, revealtheir Babylonic, Greek, Roman, or Arabic source. Would you know the origin of stars likeSadalmelik, Capella, Kornephoros, Polaris, Ukdah, Bellatrix, Mirfak or Tsze Tseang?The constellations are arbitrary groupings of stars that throughout history have been associatedwith the figure of an animal, object or mythological being. In general, each culture hasimagined its own, but some are repeated suspiciously as far as ancient Greece or the Amazonjungle.The sky map currently consists of 88 constellations that cover the entire sky like a mosaic.Some are easy to recognize, as the Big Dipper, Orion and Scorpio. Others, however, havelittle shining stars to help us locate them. The best tool to learn to know the sky is a planisphere.There are several computer programs that allow you to identify what you´re watching. Oneof the best is called Stellarium (www.stellarium.org) and is free.If you have a smartphone, for very little money you can download an application of augmentedreality as StarWalk. Placing the phone as a window frame the application will tell you whatyou are watching.

6/11


Activity 2 Stars in memory


Starry Night at the Museum contains several sequences in which we can observe themovements in the sky at night. Although the presence of so many stars can lead to confusion,the fact is that the motion of the sky is very similar to the sun during the day. And both havetheir origin in the rotation of the Earth, that completes one turn on its axis within 24 hours.

Today we take for granted that the earth turns endlessly, but if you think about it, we don´thave ample evidence that the movements of the stars are the result of Earth´s rotation. Doyou notice a steady wind blowing from the east? In fact, until a few centuries ago everyonebelieved that the Earth - as it seems - was motionless, and the planets and stars turnedaround it. Can you think of any observation or experiment that demonstrates indisputablythat the earth rotates on itself? If you do not have evidence, why do you think we´re soconfident that the Earth rotates on itself and around the sun?

Given that our planet is roughly spherical and has a radius of about 6350 km, calculate thedistance covered during a day by an earthling who is on the Ecuator. How fast does thismovement mean? And if we calculate the speed at which we move because of the (hypothetical)annual movement of translation of the Earth around the Sun? Is it possible that we are movingthrough space at more than 1000 km / h? And if so, why don´t we perceive it?

If these questions have made you uncomfortable, don´t worry. The first experiment thatshowed unequivocally the Earth´s rotation was made by Leon Foucault, who swung apendulum similar to that now hang in many planetariums and science museums. If you haveone nearby, you can see how it works and what it shows on the website of the ScienceMuseum of Valladolid.

7/11

Video of Foucault´s pendulum (in spanish): http://tinyurl.com/cdegchp

Didactic files: Foucault pendulum (in spanish): http://tinyurl.com/d9jur38


Activity 3 Stars in the sky


He also noticed that the line separating the illuminated area of the dark regions of the Moonis not a perfect curve -as would be expected if the moon was a sphere- but a broken linethat demonstrates the existence of ground features.

The relationship between science and technology is complex. Sometimes a scientific discoveryis an unexpected application on a new technology. But sometimes we need a technologicalbreakthrough to open the door to new scientific discoveries. This is what happened, forexample, with the construction of the first telescopes in the early seventeenth century. Galileoproduced some of the first, and although their quality was far below cheap binoculars, theyallowed him to see things that nobody had seen before. And best of all is that anyone cansee his main observations in a clear night.

Just as the telescope allowed him to see stars too faint to the eye, it also put within reachthe four brightest satellites of Jupiter. These bodies are not distinguished from the starsabove, except that they seem to follow the planet as a slow stroll through the constellationsof the zodiac. Galileo knew that Jupiter was much closer than the stars, which meant wecould see those stars that change position during a single night, were actually the satellitesof Jupiter.

For example, he realized that the Milky Wayand some nebulae that patched the sky arenothing but a multitude of small stars, tooweak for our eye to distinguish themindividually.

8/11


Activity 4 Urania´s tools


The first telescopes were made up of sets of lenses, but imperfections degraded the imageas the light passed through. In addition, the search for magnifiers resulted in increasinglylong tubes, so that came to be unmanageable.

Another of the great names of science, Isaac Newton revolutionized the construction oftelescopes using curved mirrors instead of lenses. As the light reflects off them withoutcrossing the image degradation is lower. In addition, the scheme with mirrors allows thebuilding of compact telescopes.

The poor quality of Galileo´s telescopes isevident in these pictures of what he saw whenfocusing on Saturn. Today we know that theplanet is surrounded by a ring system, butGalileo could only distinguish a sort of "ears"flanking it.

In order to obtain the best images, the large telescopes are now being built in places wherethe sky quality is exceptional. The most important are grouped in the Canary Islands, on thepeaks of Hawaii and in the desert of Chile. What do these places have in common? How dothey look in photographs showing the city lights at night?

Reflector (mirrors) Refractor (lenses)

Primarymirror

Secondary mirror

Objetivo Ocular

9/11

LIGHT


Activity 4 Urania´s tools


One of the most exciting sequences in theprogram is the night observation starring agroup of amateur astronomers. In Spain thereare many astronomical groups who enjoy thishobby and work with professional scientistsgathering and analyzing data. They also tendto be the ones who discover the comets andmaintain a constant activity to bring astronomyto the general public. The website of theInternational Year of Astronomy(http://t inyurl.com/ckvbcov) maintains a list ofastronomical groups in our country. Locatethe nearest and contact them to try to arrangea chat or better an astronomical observationfor beginners.

The program cites the Declaration in Defense of the Quality of the Night Sky and the Rightto Observe the Stars. You can find more information about this initiative at the Starlight projectwebsite (http://tinyurl.com/cf87o38).

What other statements on intangibles do you know? Do you agree on the preservation ofsuch cultural heritage?

The greatest enemy for amateur astronomers, is not cold or sleep, but light pollution. Thelights of cities and roads minimize darkness, and prevent to see less bright objects. In theprogram you can see how the situation annoys Saturn:

10/11


Activity 5 The pleasure of watching stars


Light pollution is not only a problem for astronomers. Many species of animals -includinghumans- are altered in their behavior by the disappearance of nocturnal cycles. But also, ifwe consider that the light projected upward is wasted light, and that most of the electricitywe use comes from power plants that burn fossil fuels, we can imagine the magnitude of theenvironmental problem. In light of these considerations, some have even said that theseimages of nighttime light sources are more than a map of the distribution of human populationand wealth, a map of the human stupidity and waste. What do you think?After observing a dramatic sky crossed by the Milky Way, the naked Maja sighs and remembersa poem that Jose Asuncion Silva devoted to the stars. Here´s the full version:

The beauty of the sky has inspired musicians, poets and painters. Can you find at least threeworks in which the night, the planets or the stars play a special role?

10/11


Activity 5 The pleasure of watching stars

www.escuela.pamplonetario.orgwww.pamplonetario.org

Las actividades de divulgación y educación científica del Planetario de Pamplonacuentan con el impulso de laObra Social "la Caixa" y la Fundación Caja Navarra

Este obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0http://creativecommons.org/choose/?lang=es_ES

starry night at the museum (educación secundaria - bachillerato - school of stars - pamplonetario)

Documents