<div>Sounds fun ....</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Sharon<br><br>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br><span class="gmail_quote">From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Solar System Ambassador</b> <<a href="mailto:ambassad@mail.jpl.nasa.gov">ambassad@mail.jpl.nasa.gov
</a>><br>Date: Sep 11, 2006 5:36 PM<br>Subject: SSA - Invitation to Participate in School Equinox Activity<br>To: <br><br></span>From SSEP Tim McCollum, FYI...<br><br>*************<br><br>Dear Teachers,<br><br>You and your students are invited to participate in an annual daytime
<br>astronomy project titled - Noon Shadows on the Equinox. The fall<br>(autumnal) equinox will occur this year at 12:03 A.M. EDT (04:03<br>Universal Time) on Saturday, September 23rd. At that moment, the Sun<br>will cross the celestial equator, and it will mark the official start
<br>of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern<br>Hemisphere. The activity should be conducted during the school day on<br>Friday, September 22nd. During this outdoor lesson, your students<br>will be measuring the length of a shadow cast by an upright meter
<br>stick. The time of the shortest shadow length measured all day will<br>mark solar noon - the Sun's exact midday position in the sky. By<br>calculating the angle between the tip of the shadow and the vertical<br>meter stick at solar noon, your students should be able to determine
<br>their own degrees of north or south latitude (but let them discover<br>this neat bit of astronomical geometry). All data submitted will be<br>posted for viewing. Schools from as far away as Puerto Rico and<br>Hawaii have participated in the past.
<br><br>Instructions for the activity and for submitting your school<br>measurements can be found at the link below.<br><br><a href="http://ux1.eiu.edu/~tmccollum/equinox_06/noon_shadows_06.html">http://ux1.eiu.edu/~tmccollum/equinox_06/noon_shadows_06.html
</a><br><br>Please join us as we welcome the changing seasons with this engaging<br>outdoor science activity.<br><br>Tim McCollum, Project Director<br>Noon Shadows on the Equinox<br><br><br> </div>