PART 1

Perhaps the most fundamental question that we can ask is “where did we come from?” By “we,” we can think about the Universe, itself! By looking at how the galaxies move away from each other, we can understand that the Universe had a beginning (and also ask how it will end), and even calculate the age of the Universe! This is a deep and fundamental question about all of existence, and it’s pretty incredible that we can answer it pretty easily!

Here is a link to the Universe (Links to an external site.) assignment on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey page (Links to an external site.). You’ll also need a regular round balloon and a marker, for this lab!

Please read through the webpages and complete all the Exercises, Explore activities, and Questions for the activity. Submit the SkyServer Workbooks to the link below – you can answer all the questions on the same workbook page and submit one page, if you like (if you can combine all the workbooks and questions to one form, that would be best!).

Good luck, and have fun!

PART 2

Mars has long held our imagination as possibly having neighbors. We’ve sent plenty of probes to Mars in the hopes of finding life there, but sadly we haven’t found any, yet. This lab will help you investigate the possibility of finding life on Mars.

For this lab, you’ll need to print out the Introductory reading material the Searching for Life on Mars(attached), which will explain the lab. Then, to do the lab, you need the Searching For Life – Where to Look worksheet (attached), both from the University of Michigan Astronomy Department. In addition, there are a number of useful maps available at this website (Links to an external site.).

To submit your lab, simply type in your answers to the Searching For Life – Where to Look Worksheet Word document.

Good luck, and have fun!