Two unknown objects were found and tracked for several days. Our project and two students were featured at the Tech 2000 exhibit at the state capitol, on a Chicago talk radio show, and on the evening news of a Chicago television station. The objects were compared to an asteroid database and were later found to be known asteroids. This project builds many skills in astronomy. The size of the images and speed of the motion of the objects are measured.
Retrograde motion is shown on some of the images.
Students also get the opportunity to explore the creation of digital images of the night sky with CCD cameras. The project also builds computer skills. Students practice visiting Internet sites by typing in the web addresses. They learn to download images and convert them from one format to another. Other skills include saving and opening files and digital image processing, animation and aligning, measuring, and enhancing the images.