This activity is less structured than you might be used to in school lessons. You are encouraged to find your own way through the activity in a way that suits you and your interests.
Making your way through the activity
On any page, there are links that take you to extra content across the Schools Observatory and Faulkes Telescope websites. You can follow as many of these as you like. Links will usually open a separate window in your browser, but you can always use the 'back' button or close any windows that you no longer need.
At the bottom of each page, we suggest some places you might want to go to next, but the choice is up to you. There is no particular order and there is no right or wrong answer here.
Getting Results
There is no time limit for this activity. It can take around 6 - 8 hours to complete all of the material and look at one set of data.
A Rough Guide
You can explore different parts of the activity at your own pace. We suggest starting out in the following order:
- Do some background research into the topics covered.
- Download the software package Makali'i and datasets.
- Have a go at using the software to do photometry and export your data.
- Analyse your data using a spreadsheet package (such as MS Excel) and plot your results.
- Make some conclusions based on your data.