In this lesson, you will have the opportunity to learn a little about the constellation Orion, watch a meteor shower and collect some space dust to analyze under a microscope.  Normally when I post a Saturday School lesson, I post it after the lesson and include pictures.  This one, however, is a little time sensitive.  But who wouldn’t jump up and down at the opportunity to collect some space dust and look at it through a microscope?

The Meteor Shower

The Orionids are an annual meteor shower which appear to originate out of the left shoulder of Orion, the Hunter.  Hence the name.  They are left over bits of dust and other particles from Halley’s Comet.  As the earth passes through the debris, it burns up in the earth’s atmosphere, causing bright streaks across the sky.  The Orionids are known for being rather colorful and producing 20 meteorites an hour for the observer.  They have been exceptionally active in recent years, and are expected to be again this year.

Best Viewing

This year, they peak on the morning of the 21st.  Unfortunately, viewers will also have the waning gibbous moon to contend with, so viewing may actually be better a few days later.  There will not be as many meteors, but the moon will be dimmer each day.

The best viewing hours are typically in the wee hours of the morning.  To contend with the moon, find a spot where natural obstacles block it from sight, or bring a large piece of cardboard to do the same.  Two toilet paper tubes taped together and used like binoculars will darken a small portion of the sky, but will also make it more difficult to catch meteorites from your peripheral vision.

Finding Orion

Orion is one of the most recognizable constellations in the sky, particularly in winter.  It and the Big Dipper (a commonly recognized part of the much larger constellation Ursa Major) are important “guidepost” constellation because you can use them to find many interesting features in the night sky.  Since these meteors appear to orginate from Orion, finding this constellation may be helpful for seeing more meteorites.

Orion should be relatively high in the Eastern sky at about 1AM.  It will look somewhat like he is laying down.  Here is a nice shot of the constellation in January.  Rotate it counterclockwise in your mind and you have more or less what it will look like in the sky.

And a drawing of the constellation:

Project One:  Recognizing Orion

You can begin by learning a bit about Orion and the mythology behind this famous constellation.  Following is a simple craft which will help you and your children more readily recognize Orion in the night sky (and give younger ones a chance to “see” the constellation before bedtime).

Materials:

• Cardboard tube
• Push pin
• Print out of Orion (from drawing above)
• Black construction paper
• Rubber band

Procedure:

• Re-size the above picture so that it will fit over the open end of a cardboard tube and print it out.
• Cut a square of black construction paper (larger than the opening of the tube.)
• Place the picture of Orion on top of the construction paper and gently press holes through each star.
• Remove the picture, turn the construction paper over and place it over the cardboard tube.
• Fold down the edges and hold in place with a rubber band.
• Look through the tube toward a light source and you should see Orion gleaming back.

Just make sure when you look through the tube that Orion’s shield is on the right side.  If it is on the left, just turn the paper over and re-attach.

Project Two:  Collecting Space Dust

As the earth passes through the debris left from Halley’s Comet, large objects will burn up in the atmosphere giving you the normally somewhat spectacular display of the Orionids.  Tons (an estimated 100 tons per day!) of very small dust particles, called micrometeorites, will also enter the atmosphere, however, which are too light to gain the speed necessary to burn up.  Instead, they will gently float down to earth.  This occurs continually, but there is a marked increase in the amount of micrometeorites following a meteor shower, hence this is the best time to collect it.  All you need to do is collect a few materials and wait for the next rain shower to rinse the space dust out of the sky.  Of course, you will get quite a bit of regular earth dust, as well, but that can be separated out.

Materials:

• Dish to collect rainwater (a pie plate works well)
• Plastic wrap
• Plastic bag
• Magnet
• Clean pan
• Distilled water
• Aluminum foil
• Magnetized pin (A pin may be magnetized by rubbing several times over a magnet in the same direction)

Procedure:

• Cover the shallow dish with plastic wrap and rinse.  This will limit the amount of earth dust you start out with.
• Collect the rainwater.
• Place the magnet into the plastic bag.
• Sweep gently several times across the bottom of the dish.  Micrometeorites have a high iron content and thus will be attracted to the magnet.
• Cover a pan with aluminum foil and rinse.  Again, you are trying to minimize the amount of earth dust you introduce.
• Pour in distilled water.
• Place the magnet in its bag in the distilled water and remove the magnet.  Swirl the plastic bag around to rinse the micrometeorites into the distilled water.
• Now you need only to evaporate the water to leave behind a thin layer of “space dust.”  You can boil it away, but be careful not to let your pan burn!
• Run the magnetized needle across the dust to pick up your micrometeorites.  Place them on a slide and observe under a microscope.

And then sit back and wonder at how many miles these little particles have traveled and that they were once in outer space!

If you have any questions about the directions, please don’t hesitate to ask.  Also, if you try this out, please let me know!  I have not done this before and only just discovered the project in one of my old astronomy books I have had since junior high.  I will try to get some pictures and share them after our activity…sometime after the next rain!

Also, if you have shared a lesson plan recently, please leave the link and I’ll add it to the post.

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Cindy Rushton posts about tea time with children.  Mmmm…we sort of fell out of doing this with regularity, but it is back on the schedule.  We host book talks during tea time, which is oh so enjoyable.

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And of course there is my little science giveaway which will close Thursday at midnight so I can announce a winner Friday morning.

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