You will go to the campus observatory at one of the regularly scheduled sessions and look at the Moon and/or Mars. These sessions will run from 7:00-9:00 PM. There is a blog you can subscribe to for status updates, such as possible cancellations due to weather. The Moon is not always up!! If you don't know how to figure out the times of night at which the Moon is visible, you should learn to do so (that's part of what this course teaches you). There will be several telescopes available. Ask which telescopes are showing the Moon and Mars. A brief report is due 3/5.
Access to the observatory is through the North door and up the winding stairs. If the weather is cold make sure you dress warmly, since the telescope dome is essentially an open air environment. The Observatory dome is not wheelchair accessible. Students with physical handicaps should contact their TA to arrange alternative activities.
You can also download the software by clicking on JupLab.EXE (PC only). If you have trouble or if you have a Mac, you may run the software at any of the Instructional Computing Sites (Dell PC's only). Reports are due 3/19/10.
Technical Issues:
You may have best luck downloading using Microsoft Windows Explorer. If your firewall blocks downloads, you may have to temporarily disable it.
Starting the program:
Double click on the CLEA icon and a window will appear. (If you are at an Instructional Computing Site, you may need to locate the lab inside a class software folder.) Once a CLEA window appears, select File/Login and click OK twice (ignore the warning). Select File/Run, then OK. Select File/Features/Use_ID_Colors, then OK. Optionally, you may also select File/Features/Show_Top_View, but you will have to keep that window out of the way of your main window.
At this point you should be on page 6 of the Student Manual. Proceed from there. Inner satellites orbit faster than outer satellites. I recommend an observation time interval of 3 hours for Io, 6 hours for Europa, 12 hours for Ganymede, and 24 hours for Callisto. Select File/Timing/Observation_Interval_(HRS) of 3.0. Click on each of the 4 satellites (until the satellite name shows), and each time click Record. Repeat until you have all 4 satellites (if all 4 are visible). I recommend you keep a paper copy of your readings in case the data are lost. Now click Next. Record enough data to get at least one full period on Io. Lengthen the interval to 6 hours and continue recording until you have a full period on Europa. Then 12 hours for Ganymede. Then 24 hours for Calisto.
The best option for data analysis is to use the Data Analysis Window in the CLEA lab itself (Excel doesn't give you the option of fitting a sine curve to your data and playing connect-the-dots by hand doesn't work well either). For safety, do File/Data/Save/.CSV. This can be a convenient way to print out the data, and you can read data back into the CLEA Analysis package with File/Data/Load.
I don't recommend it, but if you want to try and combine new data with data saved from a previous session, use File/Data/Save and the same file name but choose NOT to overwrite (in which case the new data are appended to the old data.)
To get to the Data Analysis Window, select File/Data/Analyze . Then Data/Select_Moon/Io (or one of the other moons). Then Data/Plot/Plot_Type/Show_Points. Then Data/Plot/Fit_Sine_Curve/Set_Initial_Parameters. You may need to Data/Plot/Set_Data_Span to see all your points. The vertical axis shows the position of the moon in Jupiter Diameters. The horizontal axis measures time in days. For T-Zero enter the 3 digit number at the left of the horizontal (bottom) axis. Input reasonable estimates of the Period and Amplitude (the amplitude should be about the height of your highest or lowest point).
Now you need to fine tune your parameters, and here things get a bit funky. Set the Slider Sensitivity to Coarse. You have three scroll-bars at the bottom of the window: one for each of the parameters. They behave unlike any sliders you have probably ever encountered. Slide left to decrease or slide right to increase. BUT if/when you reach either end of the range, stop and hit the button with 2 clockwise arrows (looks something like the reset button on some browsers). This puts that slider back in the middle of its range without changing the value. Adjust the sliders until the curve passes through all of your data points. Adjusting the period squeezes or stretches the waves horizontally, adjusting the amplitude stretches or shrinks the waves vertically, and adjusting the T-Zero moves the whole curve left or right. Switch the Slider Sensitivity to Fine if necessary. Once you've got your curve intersecting all of your data points (or as close as you can get), you're done. Record the period and amplitude, which are the orbital period and orbital radius, and print the window using Data/Print/Current_Display. Repeat until you have done all 4 moons. Then follow the instructions in the student lab manual.
In the Flow of Energy lab exercises 1-5 and 7 are required; exercises 6 and 8 are optional (extra credit). Exercise 4 needs to be completed for only one of the gases listed. When you do exercise 5, I recommend setting Parameters/Trails/Yes. Running 60 layers can be tedious - go grab a snack.
Ed Sutton, 1/8/10.