Congratulations, you've survived the observations and the analysis. It is now time to make some sense of it all. Be sure to make any required corrections to the analysis before writing the last four paragraphs of your report.
Your report for the project must be typed (double spaced) and must be at least two pages in length. Be sure to use only complete sentences. You will be asked to answer specific questions listed below in your report, but be sure to include the answers in the rest of your discussion - do not simply list the answers to the questions.
The report must contain the following:
Paragraph 1:
A) Write a brief introduction to the report.
B) What was the purpose of the project?
C) What quantities were you trying to measure with your observations and
analysis?
Paragraph 2: This section involves the data taking portion of the
project.
A) Describe a typical observation you made.
B) Where did you make the observations?
C) How did you get yourself oriented (find the cardinal directions)
so that you knew where the Moon was in the sky?
D) What method did you use to estimate the rise time of the Moon? Please include an example.
Paragraph 3: This section involves the first half of the analysis.
A) Report the results from this part of the analysis.
B) You were asked to choose a rise time estimate from each week to use
in the preliminary analysis. How did you decide which estimates were
your best ones? Explain fully.
C) Explain how you determined the synodic period using Stellarium.
D) What were your estimates for the synodic period using each of the three methods?
Paragraph 4: This section involves the second half of the analysis
section in which you located the Moon within the constellations and
determined the sidereal period.
A) How many
constellations did the Moon pass through while you kept track of it?
B) How do the constellations in A relate to the constellations of
the Zodiac? Does that answer make sense based on what we know about
the Moon's orbit around Earth?
C) What value did you obtain for the sidereal period?
Paragraph 5: This paragraph will contain the results of your
error analysis and your interpretations of these errors.
A) You calculated percent errors for each synodic period estimate.
What were those percent errors?
B) Getting a small percent error does not necessarily mean that you
were using the best method. In your opinion, rank the three methods
for estimating the synodic period of the Moon based on reliability. Explain
your answer.
C) What was the percent error for your sidereal period? How could
the method be improved?
D) With the errors you've obtained, you could have found that the
synodic period and the sidereal period are in fact the same. However,
physically, these two periods should have different values.
Define synodic period and sidereal period. Explain
why the synodic period and the sidereal period for the Moon cannot
be the same.
Paragraph 6: This paragraph will contain your conclusions and
suggestions for the project. Answer the following questions:
A) How can knowledge of the Moon's phases gained in this project
be useful for navigation? Include an answer to the following scenario:
You are lost around midnight. The sky is too cloudy to make out stars but
the third quarter Moon is near the horizon. How would you determine your
cardinal directions with this information?
B) Was the project successful? Did you get reasonable estimates for both
the synodic period and the sidereal period?
C) If you had to do the project again, what would you do differently?
D) What suggestions do you have to improve the project?
E) Did you enjoy the project? (Note: This question is optional.)