Scale Height Lab is a parameter used to describe how something fades away with increasing distance – it is the distance over which a quantity decreases by a factor of 1/e. It is exclusively applied to planetary atmospheres in this lab, but is certainly used in many other contexts.
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This astronomy “Little Big Picture” was programmed by REU student Nick Robe. It is an early effort of the UNL Astronomy Education Group to provide materials for mobile devices. More astronomy teaching materials can be found on the web at astro.unl.edu.
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This simulation is motivated by the Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel Spin written by Robert Charles Wilson. It is designed to provide feedback on a ClassAction Discussion Question also motivated by the book.
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A simple simulator for visualizing the expansion of the universe. Users can see vectors describing the velocities of galaxies and note that all galaxies are moving away from us. They can then change their perspective to another galaxy and note that Hubble's Law is seen from there as well.
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A full-featured simulator for exploring the axes of the HR Diagram and the sizes of stars at various locations.
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The NAAP Habitable Zones Lab introduces the basic conditions thought necessary for life to exist, and explores where in the universe those conditions are most likely to be met.
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The NAAP Variable Star Photometry Lab introduces variable stars – Eclipsing Binaries, Cepheids, and RR Lyrae. Topics include how images of stars are processed, variable stars identified, and the properties of the variable stars determined.
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The NAAP Extrasolar Planets Lab introduces the radial velocities of singular planetary systems and introduces the concept of noise and detection.
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The NAAP Extrasolar Planets Lab introduces the search for planets outside of our solar system using the Doppler and transit methods.
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The NAAP Atmospheric Retention Lab explores some of the elements that go into the retention or loss of an atmosphere by a planet. The Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution and escape velocity are introduced.
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