Astronomy Area

Planetary Astronomy

Topic 15 demos

Close-up of a dark globe with white grid lines. Two small red-and-black magnets stand on a meridian, separated by a white measuring tape. The upper magnet casts a visible shadow.

Measuring the Earth

Recreates Eratosthenes' method for measuring Earth's circumference using a globe, a light source, and two magnets. Students use shadow lengths and proportional reasoning to calculate the globe's circumference, then verify …

Close-up of scale planet models on a clear acrylic surface: a small white marble on a hex nut, two peppercorns, a large decorative marble on a metal ring, and tiny dots barely visible on the surface

Scale Inner Solar System

Creates a 1:10 billion scale model of the solar system using everyday objects, matching the Colorado Scale Model Solar System. Students pace out planetary distances in the lecture hall to …

Desktop globe on gold stand next to an illuminated bare bulb in a wire-cage lamp fixture, on a table against a dark background

Seasons

Demonstrates that Earth's seasons result from its 23.5-degree axial tilt, not distance from the Sun. Students observe how the tilt causes varying solar angle and day length across hemispheres as …

Stellar Astronomy

Topic 10 demos

Coronal Mass Ejection

Uses an air vortex to illustrate the directional nature of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Students learn that only objects directly in a CME's path are affected, explaining why most solar …

Projected image of a clear incandescent bulb on the overhead projector, with the filament and support wires visible as dark lines against the bright projected background

Sunspot Model

Demonstrates why sunspots appear dark despite being at ~4000 K — hot enough to outshine the full moon. A glowing filament appears bright in darkness but dark against a brighter …

Bowling ball on a transparent air gyroscope base with compressed air hose connected; a Mini Maglite is inserted into a finger hole at the top

Pulsar Model

A spinning bowling ball with an embedded flashlight models the lighthouse effect of a pulsar. Students see how a misaligned beam on a rotating object produces periodic flashes, connecting to …

Cosmology

Topic 3 demos

Four flashing LEDs hanging from clips on an orange braided bungee cord at even intervals, positioned above a meter stick on a green lecture bench

Expanding Universe

Flashing LEDs on a stretching bungee cord model cosmic expansion. Students observe that all inter-LED distances increase proportionally when the cord is stretched, directly demonstrating Hubble's Law and showing that …

Three crocheted fabric models in variegated blue and green yarn: a flat disk (zero curvature), a ruffled hyperbolic surface (negative curvature), and a dome-shaped spherical cap (positive curvature)

Curved Space Models

Three crocheted cloth models in CMB-inspired colors represent universes with positive, negative, and zero spatial curvature. Students handle the models to build intuition for non-Euclidean geometry and connect curvature to …

Heavy metal disk with holographic rainbow surface sitting flat on a concave mirrored base with black rim

Euler's Disk: The Sound of Colliding Neutron Stars

A spinning Euler's disk produces a rising-pitch "chirp" as friction dissipates its energy — strikingly similar to the gravitational wave signal from merging neutron stars. Students hear how energy loss …

Miscellaneous

Topic 2 demos

Infrared camera display panel wrapped in clear plastic with blue tape on edges, sitting on a table

Infrared Astronomy

Shows how IR imaging reveals objects invisible to optical cameras and penetrates fog/dust clouds that block visible light. Students learn why IR telescopes are essential for observing cool objects, star-forming …

Heavy metal cylindrical X-ray mirror assembly with two main sections joined by flanges, sitting on a green surface

X-Ray Focusing Mirror

A Wolter Type I grazing-incidence X-ray reflector. Students learn why conventional optics cannot focus X-rays and how paired paraboloidal-hyperboloidal mirrors at grazing incidence achieve X-ray focusing for space telescopes like …