Suitable For
Grade 3
Difficulty
2
Time Required
<1 Week
Supervision
Advised
What’s it about?
The North Star, also called ‘Polaris’, has been one of mankind’s most favoured navigational tools in locating the direction of North. The constellations called the ‘Big Dipper’ and the ‘Little Dipper’, located in the northern sky are often used to find the north star.
The stars, including the ‘Big Dipper’ constellation, rotates around ‘Polaris’ daily as the earth turns around its own axis, and yearly as the earth revolves around the sun. Study this rotation of the stars with the following science experiment:
Topics covered
Big dipper, Little dipper, Polaris
What will I need?
- STAR CHARTS
- WHITE CHALK
- BLACK UMBRELLA
Procedure (Method)
Unfortunately, this section is only available in the e-book version of the project.
How does it work?
Unfortunately, this section is only available in the e-book version of the project.
Similar to the chalk drawn ‘stars’ on the umbrella in this science experiment, when we view stars from the northern hemisphere of the earth, they also seem to rotate around the North Star. Observe how, every 6 hours, the Big Dipper rotates to the west another 90 degrees around the polestar. You can tell the approximate time using the Big Dipper once you get used to its location in the sky at different times of the year.
Like the sound of it?
Why not check out the full worksheet in one of our popular e-books?
This particular science project can be found in any of the following Experiland e-books:
Experiland e-books contain detailed steps, including illustrations, to complete the science projects from start to finish.
