Highlighting things that help campers. Mr. Engelbrecht organizes this session and sets up a meeting place. 706 421-6044
Moonlight If a scout remembers seeing the moon, like a crescent in the evening, seven days ago, how can you predict when the moon will rise tonight and how much light will it give?
Moonlight If your flashlight batteries are dead on a campout, will the full moon give enough light to read a map, and when will the moon be up? How often is the moon full, and for how many days does it appear full?
Direction of North Where is the North Star? What constellation is it in? How does the Big Dipper point to the North Star? How much of a clearing between clouds do you need to identify constellations?
Latitude If you were dropped off by helicopter at a mystery location on Dual Survivor on Discovery Channel, can you tell your latitude by looking at the sun? Can you tell your longitude?
At night, do the stars or planets give you the latitude or longitude?
Can you decide if you are Northern or Southern Hemisphere, during the day or night?
By timing sunrise and sunset with your watch for a full day, can you tell the season?
By looking at the stars, how can you tell if you are at the equator or the Arctic Circle? Do the sun and moon give the same information?
Month and Year If you have a laptop computer with the Stellarium program, how can you use it to decide what month and year it is, based on planets that you can see?
If you also have a telescope, how can you identify Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn? What size telescope is needed? Are binoculars good enough? Hint: color, size, phase
WWV Space Weather What frequencies on a shortwave radio give clues about radio reception and aurora? What time during each hour?
How frequent is a solar Coronal Mass Ejection that destroys power distribution on Earth?
An explosion in the sky
How can you tell whether an explosion in the sky is an atom bomb or a big meteor?
Reference: The Chelyabinsk meteor was a near-Earth asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere over Russia on 15 February 2013, blew down some buildings, and injured some people. The sonic boom was so big that some people were knocked off their feet.
Eclipse With a globe, a balloon for the Moon, and a flashlight for the sun, show when a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse happen. Which one is more common, lunar or solar eclipse? Why don't we see each one every month? Why are some eclipses visible from Japan but not the U.S.?
Space Scouts in the Year 2525 If you become a Space Scout in the year 2525, is there another planet in our solar system that you could live on with just food, water, and a tent?
Hint: no, you would die without equipment. On the various planets and the Moon, what would kill you, and how fast?
If you were taken by helicopter from Kathmandu, Nepal and dropped off with a parka on the Western Cwm on Mr. Everest at 20,000 feet altitude, why would you die in fifteen minutes?
What is the tallest mountain in the 48 states of the U.S., and how many people die on it yearly?
Other activities are in the Astronomy workbook at USScouts.org .
Pictures (WWW or in books) for scouts to bring to group session, like on a laptop or tablet, or on a USB drive:
photo of sunspots
photo of meteor trail
photo of a spiral galaxy
photo of a nebula
photo of a globular cluster
photo of a supernova remnant
photo of the Milky Way in the direction of Sagittarius and Scorpius
photos of multiple mirror telescope & Palomar 200" mirror
color photos of the first six planets
list of brightest stars, at least 15 of them, and their constellations. If you find a list with magnitudes, the badge requirements say to list at least five stars of magnitude -2, -1, 0, and 1.
list of the twelve constellations in the Zodiac
This web page is https://sites.google.com/site/solderandcircuits/home/scouts-astronomy-merit-badge/astronomy-merit-badge-learning-session