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In-class physics / astronomy projects:
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1.  Understanding eclipsing binary stars.

    Can loan Casti the necessary tabletop apparatus.  Involves
    experimental measurements.  Followed by interactive web
    interface developed/used by college instructors.  Can be
    extended to include math and physics calculation of details of
    eclipse depth and shape.
  
2.  Tidal effects.

    Start with a set of calculations of gravitational forces and
    differential gravitational (i.e. tidal) forces.  Plot up the
    results and look for trends.  Draw inferences from these
    trends - specifically, the fact that the Sun and Moon appear
    to be the same size from Earth and the fact that they exert
    comparable tidal forces on the Earth can be used to deduce
    that the average interior densities of the Sun and Moon are
    about the same!

3.  Motion of stars in a disk.

    Use trigonometry to calculate the line-of-sight component of
    the velocity of stars in a spinning disk as a function of
    position.  Make a 2D map of line-of-sight velocity.  Try two
    extreme cases: solid body rotation (map in Cartesian
    coordinates) or differentially-rotating disk with a flat
    rotation curve (i.e., constant rotation speed; map in polar
    coordinates).  It would be ideal is the students used the IDL
    sofware for this project.

4.  Maximum likelihood method.

    A powerful mathematical procedure used to fit a function to
    data points.  Will be used to study the details of how stars
    move within a galaxy.  It would be ideal if the students used
    the IDL sofware for this project.
    

[Students are also welcome to use IDL for the calculations in
projects #1 and #2 - it would be an excellent way to gear up for
the summer research internships.]