Back to Icy Worlds: Mission Planning
Icy Worlds – U1, Lesson 4: Remote Sensing
In this lesson: Students construct moons with different colors and terrain out of clay or paper. These moons are then imaged under different colored lights. Students will analyze the images to learn about the science of light and color. Students will connect what they have learned to NASA science by exploring how color imaging and filters are used to explore the composition of the surfaces of icy moons.
In the high school lesson: Students will build smartphone spectroscopes and use them to image the spectra from a variety of sources. These spectra can be analyzed using a Jupyter notebook, a free web tool for programming, and using Python code. Students will connect what they have learned to NASA science by reading about how spectra of the surfaces and atmospheres of the bodies in our solar system are indicative of composition and temperature.
Lesson Level Question: How do we learn about an object in the solar system from a distance, without being able to land on it or retrieve samples?
Engage
Students will consider a list of parameters that may or may not be able to be measured from space. Then, they will create and label a model showing how they think one parameter is measured from space.
Explore
Students will construct moons with ‘terrain’ made with different textures and color and then image the ‘terrain’ under different filters or colored lights.
Explain
Students will use their experiences from “Engage” to explain why the moon’s surface looks different when viewed with different colors of light using the concepts of reflection and color addition/subtraction.
Elaborate
Students will connect what they have learned from their moon models and the simulator to images of solar system objects, both in real and enhanced color.
Evaluate
Students will identify the remote sensing instruments on a real planetary science mission and compare the data that instrument would collect to their own observations.
Extend (optional)
Option 1: Students learn how the human eye detects color and how that is related to how cameras (both everyday and scientific) image color
Option 2: Students learn about other image analysis techniques used in planetary science.
Engage
Students will consider a list of parameters that may or may not be able to be measured from space. Then, they will create and label a model showing how they think one parameter is measured from space.
Explore
Students will build their own spectroscope and use it to take pictures and study light sources around where they live.
Explain
Students will use a Python program to analyze their phone camera spectra, determine what type of spectra they are observing, and relate the properties of the spectrum to the source of the light.
Elaborate
Students will elaborate on what they have learned about spectroscopy by discussing the properties of real planetary spectral data.
Evaluate
Students will identify the remote sensing instruments on a real planetary science mission and compare the data that instrument would collect to their own observations.
Extend (optional)
Students can extend what they have learned about light, color, and reflection to understand other image analysis techniques used in planetary science.