Ideas for a young learner's science project

the100thmonkey

the100thmonkey
Hello!

My eldest son is into space science - astronomy, space engineering, etc.

He's on summer holidays at the moment, and has been given a free project to explore (自由研究 - jiyuu kenkyuu - in Japanese, if you're interested). He has to make a presentation in the first weeks back after the holidays. He's 11 years old.

I bought him a copy of Elite as he's simply fascinated watching me play, and we're waiting on a GPU to arrive tomorrow so that we can multibox and play the game together. Would any of you kindly (and possibly slightly strange; I know I get cabin fever when out in the deep black) gentlemen care to suggest ideas for things to do in-game related to astronomy and astrophysics?

We have plenty of time - three or so weeks - so any ideas will be great!

I already have:

  1. Visit a black hole
  2. Visit a blue hypergiant
  3. Visit the nearest Earthlike to Sol
  4. Get some pictures of planetary rings
  5. Get close to a nebula to see it in all its glory
  6. Flying flight assist off to demonstrate Newtonian mechanics

I'm sure you have more fascinating stuff to add!

Thanks in advance,

the100thmonkey
 
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tafkabb

T
I've always been fascinated by the composition of planetary rings. In-game, they're made of millions of individual asteroids, every single one of which can be mined. He has to visit those
 
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tafkabb

T
Ah, one thing: When approaching a station at close to light speed, it appears to be moving along its orbit a lot faster than would appear normal.
Is this time dilation in effect?
 

Whiterose

Whiterose
Binary systems
Neutron stars
Black holes
Scan planets to show your son the sweet spot where terraformable candidates are located
 

Mysturji

Mysturji
the100thmonkey said:
Hello!

My eldest son is into space science - astronomy, space engineering, etc.

He's on summer holidays at the moment, and has been given a free project to explore (自由研究 - jiyuu kenkyuu - in Japanese, if you're interested). He has to make a presentation in the first weeks back after the holidays. He's 11 years old.

I bought him a copy of Elite as he's simply fascinated watching me play, and we're waiting on a GPU to arrive tomorrow so that we can multibox and play the game together. Would any of you kindly (and possibly slightly strange; I know I get cabin fever when out in the deep black) gentlemen care to suggest ideas for things to do in-game related to astronomy and astrophysics?

We have plenty of time - three or so weeks - so any ideas will be great!

I already have:

  1. Visit a black hole
  2. Visit a blue hypergiant
  3. Visit the nearest Earthlike to Sol
  4. Get some pictures of planetary rings
  5. Get close to a nebula to see it in all its glory
  6. Flying flight assist off to demonstrate Newtonian mechanics

I'm sure you have more fascinating stuff to add!

Thanks in advance,

the100thmonkey
Click to expand...

The maths may be too tricky for an 11 year old, but how about doing a study to find the relationship between object mass, object density, and the SC dropout distance?
e.g. You can get a lot closer to a stellar mass black hole than you can to a stellar mass neutron star or a stellar mass white dwarf or a stellar mass star before you get the "Dropping out: too close!" message.
Compare/contrast with BH, NS, WD & planets of various sizes/masses.

Besides brain-hurting mathematics, the other risk is exploding ships, so buy plenty of sidewinders ;)
 

ArkSeaJumper

ArkSeaJumper
Have you got a permit for earth?

Show him the view of the sun from different distances and the temperature of the planets further out.
 

Kancro Vantas

Kancro Vantas
I would suggest:

1-Like ArkSeaJumper, start in the Solar System. Go to the different planets and distances. Also, go and find the Voyager probe. It is really a nice thing to find it and see the distance that would have traveled by 3,301.

2-Visit the big stars: VY CANIS MAJORIS, BETELGUEUSE, etc. You want to also go to Proxima Centauri in Alpha Centauri and its infamous Hutton Orbital.

3-Visit a Planetary Nebula and compare it to a full blown Nebula.

4-Time permitting, you guys want to check the Center of the Galaxy, SAGITTARIUS A*. It is the Supermassive Blackhole that keeps the Galaxy together. And on your way there, you will be inspecting thousands of systems. The trip to Sag A* illustrates in a very dramatic way, how far we are from the Core, how big the Galaxy really, and how the starry background changes so much. You will never knew how used we are to our skies near the bubble until you find yourself +20k ly away!

5-Neutron Stars. As suggested by someone else.

6-Going above and/or below the Galactic plane as far as possible. The vantage point from there is usually breathtaking and you get a clear picture of the Galaxy.
 

Pulchrit Ataraxis

P
Carbon star!


This shot was taken from a planet, which is approximately the same 500Ls distance that Earth is from Sol
pZI2HHt.png

System name
kQB9FJy.png

If you head to the planet which is actually nearest to this star, you will be within the star's corona. You'll be able to hear the stellar wind, that you hear when you're scooping stars (which are scoopable, because this one is definitely not).
 

drkaii

drkaii
the100thmonkey said:
Hello!

My eldest son is into space science - astronomy, space engineering, etc.

He's on summer holidays at the moment, and has been given a free project to explore (自由研究 - jiyuu kenkyuu - in Japanese, if you're interested). He has to make a presentation in the first weeks back after the holidays. He's 11 years old.

I bought him a copy of Elite as he's simply fascinated watching me play, and we're waiting on a GPU to arrive tomorrow so that we can multibox and play the game together. Would any of you kindly (and possibly slightly strange; I know I get cabin fever when out in the deep black) gentlemen care to suggest ideas for things to do in-game related to astronomy and astrophysics?

We have plenty of time - three or so weeks - so any ideas will be great!

I already have:

  1. Visit a black hole
  2. Visit a blue hypergiant
  3. Visit the nearest Earthlike to Sol
  4. Get some pictures of planetary rings
  5. Get close to a nebula to see it in all its glory
  6. Flying flight assist off to demonstrate Newtonian mechanics

I'm sure you have more fascinating stuff to add!

Thanks in advance,

the100thmonkey
Click to expand...

Get some video recording software (like OBS), some video editing software (like Windows media player) and record footage of all the major star classes, edit it into a video with captions containing scientific information about each type, like how they form, they die, etc.

So glad that there is such a fun science project for him and I wish him the best of luck. Pm me if you want help with the idea such as how to record and edit.

Ja osakini!
 
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