SG+Week+of+December+3


 * Monday, December 3** - Today DL assigned to us our final exam which will be the center focus of both myself and MM's week. It is to create a Milestone Map and Report of our entire project. I think it will be incredibly helpful for both myself and MM because it will only further our exact understanding of what we're attempting to accomplish. DL also sent an e-mail informing the asteroid group of an asteroid shower on Friday, December 14th. I'm //really// excited about this because I think it will be a great learning experience and overall, really fascinating.


 * Tuesday, December 4** (MY BIRTHDAY WOO) - I have spent the majority of class attempting to figure out how to properly execute my final exam by reviewing the cosmic rays milestone report. Unfortunately for myself and my time, it is inadequate and DL told me to reference his "changing a tire" analogy. I'm not too sure how to fully relate changing a tire to studying asteroids, but I'm sure with the proper level of critical thinking, I can make it work.

Some questions I formulated throughout this process: //What is an asteroid?// //What are some important characteristics one must know when studying asteroids (i.e. its type, location, size, speed, and orbit)?// //What is the importance of studying such asteroids? About what can they teach or inform us?// //What resources are necessary to study asteroids?// //What certain predictions can be made with these necessary resources?// //What measurements should one use in his or her studying of asteroids and their movements, occultations, etc.?//


 * Wednesday, December 5** - Today MM introduced me to the program that will help us know when and where an asteroid occultation will be occurring, Occult Watcher. I'm possibly going to download that program onto my computer if necessary, but as of now we'll just resort to it through MM's computer. I also showed MM the questions I created yesterday, and we decided they're a good foundation to build from and will show DL them this Friday, after answering them.

//What kinds of information can be gathered about asteroids through images?// //Are there other wavelengths available on line--you could use the Aladin applet to compare your images of Ceres to images taken at other wavelengths (IR, UV, even radio if possible)?// MM and myself will be working on answering such questions for the remainder of class and will most likely post our responses either by the end of class or tomorrow.
 * Thursday, December 6** - DL sent MM and myself two questions to consider both in our research and our Milestone reports:


 * Friday, December 7** - Today MM and I sent in some topic questions we're considering for our Milestone Report only to find out that we're probably doing this final exam completely wrong later in class. I'm still a bit confused of what a Milestone Report is actually composed. DL told us to look at the first Milestone Report e-mail and so I did which did help me a bit more with this basic outline:

//Milestones are important, noteworthy stepping stones as you climb the learning curve on your way to conducting scientific research. They consist of performances: they are important things you are able **to do**. Identification of milestones for which you are to complete a milestone progress report may be done by instructors or mentors,// //or// //at your own initiative, on at least a weekly basis. _ __Science Content (These are units of knowledge: e.g., **list** the fundamental particles and forces in the Standard Model; **describe** what is meant by laser interferometry; etc.)__ Science Process (These are procedures: e.g., **identify** the variables involved in the production of a signal from a photomultiplier tube; **design** a study to determine the relationship between PMT voltage and count rate _ __Technical-hardware: (E.g.: **replace** the tip on the STM; **wire up** a NIM crate for an efficiency study of a cosmic ray detector counter.__ _ Technical-software: (E.g.: **import** a root data file from the LIGO tool into Excel; determine the V-band flux from an SED using the GA integration tool. Milestones are important, noteworthy stepping stones as you climb the learning curve on your way to conducting scientific research. They consist of performances: they are important things you are able **to do**. Identification of milestones for which you are to complete a milestone progress report may be done by instructors or mentors,// //or// //at your own initiative, on at least a weekly basis. _ __Science Content (These are units of knowledge: e.g., **list** the fundamental particles and forces in the Standard Model; **describe** what is meant by laser interferometry; etc.)__ Science Process (These are procedures: e.g., **identify** the variables involved in the production of a signal from a photomultiplier tube; **design** a study to determine the relationship between PMT voltage and count rate _ __Technical-hardware: (E.g.: **replace** the tip on the STM; **wire up** a NIM crate for an efficiency study of a cosmic ray detector counter.__ _ Technical-software: (E.g.: **import** a root data file from the LIGO tool into Excel; determine the V-band flux from an SED using the GA integration tool.//
 * Milestone Type** (check one):
 * Milestone Type** (check one):

After reading this I have a much better understanding of elaborating on what is to be //done// rather than simply what to learn or what MM and myself //have learned.// However, I still wish DL could send us a //specific// example (i.e. the previous Milestone report of really //anyone//) so that I can get a more detailed, more elaborate, and better understanding of what a Milestone Report actually is.

Today I also answered the question DL posed to MM and myself yesterday with this resource: [|IMAGES OF ASTEROIDS IDA & DACTYL]. I just deduced from the information and data that NASA's near Near Earth Object Program gathered what one can and should learn from images of asteroids:
 * One can determine the shape of an asteroid; whether or not is irregular (which poses another question: //why is it irregular?)//, the asteroid's "family," its type (S-type?), etc.
 * Surface topography; this determines the age of an asteroid, and this age indicates whether or not the asteroid has suffered numerous collisions from small solar system debris during its history; the wavelengths of the photo also are important when determining the topography because the wavelengths can help indicate the available minerals or materials that compose the asteroid
 * Differences in the physical state and composition of the soil
 * Length and width
 * Distance from the Sun/other planets/stars/moon, etc.