A List of Suitable Astronomical Topics

Clicking each topic will bring a topic-specific page similar to a “Design Document” in a typical multi-member software development project. In this topic-specific page, we try to include:

  • Identification of the purpose, audience, and goals of the specific simulation
  • Identification of the necessary development steps
  • A timeline with specific deliverables and due dates
  • Consistent tracking of the milestones
  • Communication strategy/plan (weekly or biweekly update among team members)

For each topic, we also need to create a storyboard to describe the content in an animatic format that can also describe how the simulation can be used in a classroom.

Here is the template of the sub-wiki pages for each topic.

No. Priority Progress Topic Note
High priority
1 1 70%   Virtual Night Sky see Dr. Hall's stellarium-based intro video: here
2 1 40%   Diurnal Motion of Celestial bodies Can utilize the “Virtual Night Sky” simulation. Need to develop a controlling python script.
3 1 40%   Origin of Seasonal Constellations Can utilize the “Virtual Night Sky” simulation. Need to develop a controlling python script.
4 1 10%   Time & Calendar Can utilize the “Virtual Night Sky” simulation. Need to develop a controlling python script.
5 1 60%   Eclipses Accurately reproduce/predict/simulate solar or lunar eclipse
6 1 99%   Solar cycle Simulating a rotating Sun using real solar images. Can show solar differential rotation and activity cycle.
7 1 10%   Model of the Sun 3-D Animated view of the Sun including details such as sunspots, granules, plages, prominence, mass ejection evens, solar winds, etc.
Lower Priority
8 2 40%   Retrograde motion of Mars Split screen view (co-moving camera on Earth + fixated camera location such as polar view)
9 2 10%   Precession and change of zodiacs
10 2 10%   Asteroids, NEA, PHA. Near Earth Asteroids, Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Good E/PO possibility.
11 2 50%   Solar System Overview Regularities of Solar System
12 2 50%   Solar System Scale Demonstrate the size scale: (1) start with the real scale, (2) incrementall increase the size factor.
13 2 10%   Stellar evolution on the HRD different speed for each mass
14 2 10%   Telescope (diffraction), atmosphere effect, etc.
15 2 10%   Motions at the Galactic Center
16 3 10%   Meteor Shower What is it? Why they happen past midnight?
17 3* 10%   star_formation or Simulation of Turbulent Gas (too challenging?)
18 3* 10%   Latitude-dependent Shape change of the Moon may be better for upper level (3000 or 4000) astro courses
19 3 10%   Doppler Effect can use the audio capability of a VR headset
20 3? 20%   Light pollution weather-free public outreach events
21 3 10%   Parallax and proper motions
22 3 10%   Blackbody radiation: color and temp BB, type of spectrum = emission, absorption
23 3 10%   Gravity and Orbits Various shapes of orbits: dependency on the central mass and velocity. Kepler's laws.
24 3 10%   Binary orbit: Orbital motion (and reflex motions) Effect of the secondary to the central star (reflex motion). How to measure.
25 3 90%   Ortibal elements How to pinpoint the location of a plane at a specific time? ← orbital elements.
26 4 10%   Cosmic scale
27 4 10%   Hubble Expansion
28 4 10%   Landing on Surfaces of SS planets different landscape of each planet

This document describes our attempt to implement a VR platform in astronomy labs (this document may only be accessible among UGA OneDrive shared collaborators).