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Planetarium Activity
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1. Turn off the daylight and horizon displays. Use the "Planet" Palette to center on Jupiter and lock on Jupiter. Use the "Settings" button to set Orientation to Equatorial. Use the "Zoom" button to magnify Jupiter until it is about 2 inches across on your computer monitor and you can see cloud features clearly. Set the time step to 10 minutes. Step forward in time until the Great Red Spot is just about to disappear around Jupiter's limb. Record the time. Continue to step forward until the Great Red Spot has crossed the disk of Jupiter again and is about to disappear around the limb. Record the time. Subtract the two times to find the rotation period of Jupiter. Compare your answer with Table 12.1

2. Turn off the daylight and horizon displays. Use the "Planet" Palette to center on Saturn and lock on Saturn. Use the "Settings" button to set Orientation to Equatorial. Use the "Zoom" button to magnify Saturn until it is about 1 inch across on your computer monitor. Set the time step to 1 sidereal month. Step forward in time until you see Saturn's rings edge on. Record the date. Continue to step forward until you again see the rings edge on. Record the date. How much time has elapsed since the last date you saw the rings edge on? How is that amount of time related to the sidereal period of Saturn?








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