Has anyone done Science Olympiad?

Question

I am in the Astronomy event, and it would be great if I could get some help. Thanks!

Answer 1

When I attended college as an astronomy major, I had the honor of writing the planetarium test and conducting the astrolabe portions of the science olypics for the state finals in GA.

There is a listing of things you should know in the science olympic manual, but it also states that those are "suggested" stars, constellations etc.

The test we administered was 50 questions long and included 25 constellations and deep sky Messier objects, 4 planets 3 moon phases, 2 motions (including retrograde) and 16 named stars. There were 2 questions about the sun as tiebreakers. The winning team scored 90% and the second place team scored 80%.

The astrolabe competition requires that the device be home made, and all the materials can not total more than a set amount in price. I saw one team get disqualified because the device they presented had was the same device that had been used the previous year by different students, so make your own.

I suggest you can use a cheap compass, a pair of plastic protractors, a sighting tube (look for something like the cardboard spindle from a roll of paper, the narrower the better).
Try mounting the tube along the flat base of a protractor. Attach a string with a small weight to the center point of the protractor. This will be the elevation measureing part of the astrolabe. Next use a thin nail or pin to affix this pritractor (flat side up) to the side of a dowel on one end.
For the azumuth measuring part of the astrolabe, draw a straight line through the diameter of a flat plastic disk (like the tip of a 5 gallon bucket or something). At the very center, pot a pin or nail from the bottom upwards. Mount the second protractor flat so that it lays horizontal. Then mount the butt end of the dowel to the pin so that when the sighting tube is horizontal it is parallel to the bottom protractor. Mount the compass on the base in a location where it will not interfere with the movement of the protractor.

When making a sighting, line the base of the unit with North based on the compass. Then turn the dowel and sighting tube so that the sighting tube is aimed at your target (you might want to use thread to make crosshairs). You can read the elveation from the top protractor and azimuth from the bottom protractor. If done right, you will be very accurate.

Good luck!