Star Counts

 

The purpose of this lab is to estimate the total number of visible stars in the sky. The program Distant Suns 4 will be used to count the visible stars in different areas of the sky near the celestial equator.

 

Steps:

1.      Start Distant Suns 4.

2.      Cancel “Do you want whiter teeth”.

3.      Click on Planetarium. Get rid of planets screen.

4.      Go to view >Zoom>degrees> 45.

5.      Go to Preferences>Show>Magnitudes>Click on eye

6.      Go to Stars>Center>Constellations>Pegasus

7.      Count the stars in any two 15 degree by 1 hour (= 15 degrees) grid.

8.      Repeat steps 6 and 7 for Leo, Cetus, and Ophiuchus.

9.      Add up the total number of stars in these 8 grids. Divide that number by the area of the 8 grids (8 x 15x15= 1800 square degrees)

10. Take your answer from step 9 and multiply it by the number of square degrees in the whole sky (41253) (What's this?)

11. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for Monoceros and Aquila. Why are your results so different?