EVENTS CALENDARApril Wildflowers in Bloom and GLOBAL CITIZEN SCIENCE MONTH April 7 Year's Biggest Supermoon - Full Pink/Grass/ Egg Moon April 9 Daytime Moon Visible after Sunrise April 14-16 Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars together in predawn sky April 22 Earth Day (official date) - celebration postponed until July 10 April 24-26 Crescent Moon and Venus together after Sunset April 28 Venus at its brightest in late April TRY THIS AT HOMETRY ONE OF THESE ONLINE SCIENCE RESOURCES I have compiled a list of online science resources to help you experience science while at home. This list can be viewed here: charterscience.weebly.com/at-home-science.html PLEASE BOOKMARK IT. The list includes podcasts, science news for kids, science videos, at home science activities and more. Let me know if you have any resources to add. SIGN UP FOR A CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT Since April is Global Citizen Science Month I would like to highlight some sites that have citizen science opportunities. scistarter.org and www.zooniverse.org/projects are two great sites. I would particularly like to highlight - Flu Near You: Now Studying COVID-19 "While this crowdsourcing project is focused on tracking the spread of influenza, or flu virus, the developers added COVID-19 related survey questions, to help track that infection as well. The team analyzes and maps thousands of reports of symptoms from people just like you, giving public health officials and researchers real-time information for tracking disease outbreaks." I signed up for this myself and it is very easy. It checks in with you from time to time and you say if you are feeling sick or healthy. Data really matters and this is something you can do while stuck at home to help give scientists information. (Students make sure to get your parent's permission first). SIGN UP NOW. Here is a Science Friday podcast about using citizen science to learn more about COVID-19 : www.sciencefriday.com/segments/citizen-science-covid-19/ GO FOR A NATURE WALK Getting exercise and sunshine boost your immune system. This article tells you how to stay safe while getting outside: www.afar.com/magazine/you-can-still-go-outside-while-social-distancing Spring flowers are blooming. The app SEEK by iNaturalist can help you identify those flowers or this database of Santa Barbara wildflowers can help. The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has posted some online field guides to help you identify birds and animals that you may see on your nature walk. THE NIGHT SKY THIS MONTHBoth Venus and the Moon will be at their brightest this month. On April 7th the year's biggest Supermoon will shine bright because the moon will be full at the same time that its orbit is closest to the earth (perigee). The April full moon has been called a pink, grass or egg moon in North America. Which name do you like best?
You can also see a big bright moon in the mornings starting a few days after the full moon. You can use a moonrise/moonset calendar to find out what time you can see the moon. If you see a great daytime moon send me a picture ([email protected]) and I will publish it next month. Venus will also be at its brightest of the year on April 28. Although you can't see them without a telescope Venus goes through phases just like the moon. "It might be hard to believe, but Venus shines at its brightest in our sky when she’s displaying a crescent phase (approximately 25 percent illuminated)." Venus is closest to Earth when it in its new phase (in other words we can't see it). So it is brightest as a crescent just before and just after the new phase because that is when it is close to us but still lit up. We can never see a full Venus because it is on the other side of the sun at that time.
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Leise Thomason-BA Biology Brown University Categories |