Shaw-IAU Workshops by the OAE

An engaging technique for determining the Earth's size makes use of one’s local horizon and its dependence on one’s height. I have made use of a nearby beach, from which a stone breakwater is visible near my local horizon. Equipped with binoculars, I slowly walk into the water while sighting a piece of the breakwater that appears just above my horizon. As I descend, I watch for the moment when that piece just submerges below my apparent horizon. The measured height from the waterline to my eyes is related to the distance of the breakwater and the Earth’s radius by the Pythagorean theorem, and so I can readily calculate the radius of Earth. Over several years, I have successfully engaged high-school students in conducting this experiment amid a wide variety of ocean conditions.

Biography:

I have worked as an observational astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, astronomy professor at Tufts University, and physical, Earth & space sciences teacher at my hometown high school in Rockport, MA. My research focus concerns the environmental causes and consequences of starburst activity in nearby galaxies. From 2002 to 2007, I served as Co-PI for the New England Space Science Initiative in Education (NESSIE), a NASA education & public outreach program where we brokered and nurtured scientist-educator “partnerships in cosmic discovery.” Since then, I have been mentoring high-school students in authentic research, developing content for The Galactic Inquirer, and more recently, producing video presentations for Doc Waller’s Earth & Space Reports. I am co-author of Galaxies and the Cosmic Frontier (Harvard University Press), author of The Milky Way – An Insider’s Guide (Princeton University Press), and expectant author of Astronomy – A Beginner’s Guide through Space and Time (OneWorld Publishers – in preparation).

Watch a video for this poster (external link)