Manitou skies

I'm planning on doing some astronomy workshops at camp Manitou this summer.  It is a summer camp on the shores of the North Channel just west of Whitefish falls.  


The setting is a basic 'lodge' with some generator/battery/propane power, ten bunk cabins with beds for 8 in each, plus some staff cabins, and an open air chapel.  



The camp gives a near perfect southern view over of the North Channel from the foot of the LaCloche mountain range.



I'm hoping to do a stellarium show summarizing astronomical sights/events for the week of July 22-29 and of Aug 5-12 in the chapel.  I also want to convey the basic fact that we are on a ball in space spinning around, and that this the 'first movement' we see in the 'heavens', followed by the moons revolution about the earth, the planets revolution about the sun, and working up through comets, asteroids, and satellites, to the birth and death of stars.  I'd also like to put together a solar telescope from some old lenses I have, that hopefully will show at least sunspots (too bad that we won't be there for eclipse).

Any help would be appreciated and enjoyed.

This looks like an amazing place for both natural beauty and an amazing place to see the stars!

I don't think there is much I can offer in terms of help but if you need an extra set of hands I might be able to do that.

Ideas:

1) laptop running 'Starry Night' projected onto screen (if power allows). Place it in front of nightsky and adjust Starry Night to show that patch of sky. It might be tricky but this would allow you a patch of 'sky' that you could zoom around time in.

2) props like oranges (planets), circular lights sources (sun) and pencils (drive through orange to represent poles). This would allow families to do hands-on experiments on how the Earth's tilt causes seasons.

3) Make a human orrery. With people set in concentric circles, moving at different periods. Explains the ecliptic planes.

4) Mental orrery: HAve people close their eyes and then start describing the moving parts. Maintain all those moving parts in your imagination is hard work but it gives a strange senestation.

5) Any type of orreys! Orreys at all costs. Orrerys for the masses.

6) I have tracked down some info on the Anishanebee versions of the constellation. The big dipper is seen as a Fisher and other cool facts.



Concepts:

1) Stop the sky! A hard mental change is to stop the sky and start spinning the Earth - but this is what separates modern Helios-centrism from medieval Geo-centrism. I spent week practicing this. Stare at teh sky and imagine it scrreecchhing to a halt. Now start imaging the Earth racing eastwards. Unfortunately the passage of the sun and stars as we race towards, under, then past them, is slow, so vivid metaphors might need to be backed-up by sun-dials or Starry Night simulations.

Explains: East-West

2) The View from Here:  All the action in the sky is in the South - that's where the sun, moon and stars arc across the night. This is because we are up north looking 'down' (at the equator? I'm still unclear on this point). Add in point #1 and we see the East-South portion of the sky is where you generally want to look - but the North has the Pole Star with the Big Dipper whipping around it all year long. The North is the axel where the whole sky spins on. (Use Big Dipper to find Polaris)

Maybe explain the views from the poles and equators to show how the viewing position on the Earth determines what part of the sky things are moving across and how they act (24-hours light/dark at poles)

Explains: North-South

3) Off-kilter: The Earth is tilted at 23 degees. This means that at some points we are tilted toward the sun (summer in the north hemisphere), away from the sun (winter) and sideways to it (equinoxes). Props might help this concept.

Explain: seasons

4) The two Eclipitics: All the planets are in the same plane around the Sun. Bizarrely even the moon is too. When you are watching the Sun, Moon or planets move across the south they are moving in the same acr because of this. If you have any two of those objects in the sky, draw an imginary arc between them and both horizons and you have the Ecliptic. The 'zodiac' constellations are just those star that are always seen behind the ecliptic arc.

The Milky Way is our view of the Galactic Ecliptic. On some nights you can see the axis where the Solar and Galactic ecliptic.

Explains: the two basic planes of our local view.

 
5: Basic Star Orientation: Summer Triangle, Orion in Winter and the Autumn Square

Just brain-storming out loud....

Wow, the view is spectacular! As far as activities, i have tons of space activities I have done over the years with students. Are you looking for just astronomy related? I have a book I can drop off if you want.

Fun ones kids have liked is the toilet paper solar system- basically you draw out where each planet is on an unfurling roll of TP to see just how big the solar system is. Its great if they have a large field to use. At night with glowsticks it could be fun. Another is getting objects that match up the size of the planets to the same scale, using the sun as a yoga ball. There is a website out there that will help calculate the diameters of balls needed.

One thing the kids have always liked is stories- space folklore from around the world, but also exciting tales of the space program. I will see what else hands on i can dig up.