Related papers: Santa and the moon
In this chapter, we present some reflections about the learning process -and its implications in the teaching- of notions related to the phases of the Moon.
The uniform image of the full moon is well known from the beginning of history. In the last decades, there are photos with a similar configuration of the earth observed from the moon and from space, as well as of all the planets and their…
The moon illusion, in which the moon appears larger at the horizon than at higher altitudes, has been investigated since antiquity, yet it remains not fully explained. Our method of investigating the phenomenon is based on that attributed…
In many schools throughout the United States, it is customary to hold a yearly "Secret Santa" event. With the approach of Christmas, all the students place their names in a hat; each student, in turn, draws a name out of the hat, thus…
The science-shop model was initiated in the Netherlands in the 1970s. During the 1980s, the model spread throughout Europe, but without much coordination. The crucial idea behind the science shops involves a working relationship between…
In the context of the European Erasmus+ project Teaching ASTronomy at the Educational level (TASTE), we investigated the extent to which a learning module at school and a set of activities during a planetarium visit help students to gain…
This is a historian's view of how modern astronomy data can be used to discuss the shifting historical worldview of Late Antiquity. In this article an attemp is made to construct an approximate model of how the cycles of astronomical…
It is shown that fine structure of distributions of fluctuations in different processes depends on position of the Earth with respect of the Moon. The same form of histogram was observed at New Moon moment independently of geographic…
Cosmology differs in some respects significantly from other sciences, primarily because of its intimate association with issues of a conceptual and philosophical nature. Because cosmology in the broader sense relates to the world views held…
This paper presents a novel idea on incorporating the Moon phases to the classic Gregorian (Solar) calendar time sampling methods for finding meaningful patterns in the stock markets. The four main Moon phases (New Moon, First quarter, Full…
We perform a situational diagnosis in topics of astronomy of pre-service elementary teachers in order to try and develop didactic tools that better collaborate with their formal education. In this work we present the instrument we designed…
The lunar geological record has much to tell us about the earliest history of the Solar System, the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, the geological evolution of rocky planets, and the near-Earth cosmic environment throughout…
This article presents the results of the first survey conducted in Belgium about the interest and knowledge in astronomy. Two samples were studied, the public at large (667 questionnaires) and students (2589 questionnaires), but the results…
When visiting the Museum of Modern Art's special exhibit ''van Gogh and the Colors of the Night (New York, USA, 2008)'' I was impressed by the artist's effort to paint and write about landscapes and life scenes at night. At the same time a…
The leading theory for the origin of the Moon is the giant impact hypothesis, in which the Moon was formed out of the debris left over from the collision of a Mars-sized body with the Earth. Soon after its formation, the orbit of the Moon…
The next generation of space-based experiments will go hunting for answers to cosmology's key open questions which revolve around inflation, dark matter and dark energy. Low earth orbit and lunar missions within the European Space Agency's…
We present another explanation for the moon illusion, the phenomenon in which the moon looks larger near the horizon than near the zenith. In our model of the moon illusion, the sky is considered a spatially-contiguous and…
In July 5th 2014 an occultation of Mars by the Moon was visible in South America. Citizen scientists and professional astronomers in Colombia, Venezuela and Chile performed a set of simple observations of the phenomenon aimed to measure the…
The scientific method is often presented, e.g. to children, as a linear process, starting by a question and ending by the elaboration of a theory, with a few experiments in-between. The reality of the building of science is much more…
Using the SNPP-VIIRS/DNB and the DMSP-OLS it is possible to have an idea of the evolution of the light pollution until the LEDs started to appear massively. Another of the issues of dealing with these two datasets is the different time of…