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NASA Headquarters – August 29, 2006 — If you’ve ever looked to the night sky and wondered how many stars there are, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency are looking to you.
A new activity, called the Star Count Project, hopes to get people like you interested in astronomy. Launched on Sunday, students are being asked to help NASA and the CSA determine the extent of atmospheric light pollution and how that impacts the visual quality of the night sky.
The project was initiated by CSA astronaut Steve MacLean, a crewmember of the Space Shuttle Atlantis who will perform the Star Count experiment during the mission. Originally set to launch today, the mission has been delayed because of Tropical Storm Ernesto.
While in space, MacLean will upload star observation information into a database via the Star Count website. As part of the project, you can learn how to estimate the number of stars observed based on random samples of sections of the sky. You can add to the database by entering your location, number of stars observed and information about viewing conditions.
To participate you’ll need to complete four easy steps:
1.) Create a Star Count viewing tube, a hollow cylinder about 25-35 cm (10-14 inches) in length and with a diameter of 4-6 cm (1.6-2.4 inches). You can use a cardboard tube from an empty roll of paper towels, or you can make your own viewing tube.
2.) “Count” the stars using your viewing tube, recording the numbers in the star count data sheet. Don’t worry … you don’t have to count all the stars in the sky. Just a sampling will do.
3.) Submit your data online. This entry makes your data available to other students involved in Star Count in other parts of the world.
4.) View other data and compare it to yours.
For complete instructions, click here.
Star Count is a project of the NASA Student Observation Network. The network is a collection of online inquiry-based activities that challenge students to find answers to research questions by making their own observations and interpreting them with NASA data.
The activity promotes the two agencies' major goal — to attract and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.
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