TECHNOLOGY
FEB 12, 2021
sfcc.marisa.west@gmail.com
ASTRONOMY IN SPOKANE LOCATIONS AND TIPS FOR STARGAZING DARIEN QUINN COMMUNICATOR When the sun sets and the night sky rises, a show starts where the celebrities are stars and planets. Any clear night is a perfect time to look up in the sky and be fascinated by the night sky. With just a naked eye the International Space Station can be seen orbiting Earth at 17,000 MPH with its distinct shape and speed. Neighboring planets in our solar system are seen with ease thanks to the red and yellow hues they produce. On some nights a shooting star or a comet traveling by Earth is captured by the Space Station. Astronomy is easy to get into with a lot of information posted online by
amatuer astronomers and professional astonomers that work at NASA. NASA discuses when and where certain planets can be seen. “I would suggest using a computer program like Starry Night or a phone app like Google Sky to begin the process of learning the sky,” said Astronomy professor, John Whitmer. “Then progress to a good pair of binoculars for viewing fainter objects.” A phone will allow anyone to get a good direction DEREK TRESNER | COMMUNICATOR on where to look when looking for planets or a certain Science observatory building teaches the stars. star. “The telescope I use has very powerful optics and the sky, but to get the best visibility easily see the Milky Way from this requires a pickup to transyou want to go to a place with little location, which is difficult to see port because of its size,” light pollution. In the Spokane area, from the Spokane area.” said Ravin Iron, an astronoJohn Whitmer, Astronomy Instructor SFCC offers Astronomy courses mer based in Colorado. “It’s at SFCC, recommended Fishtrap Lake that utilize the planetarium for compowerful enough to capture just 30 minutes southwest of Spokane. puter generated demonstrations. In moons transferring across “This is far enough out of town pre-COVID-19 times the planetarJupiter.” to eliminate most light pollution, ium hosted educational shows that Just looking up in an area and there is a large public parking talked about black holes, the history with good visibility of the area at the lake with low horizons of our solar system, and stars of all night sky will allow anyone all around,” said Whitmer. “You can sizes. to see most bright objects in
STEM APPS TO HELP LEARN MANY APPS AND WEBSITES ARE POPPING UP TO HELP STUDNETS. DARIEN QUINN COMMUNICATOR With the current COVID-19 pandemic, learning has been difficult for many teachers and students. Learning in an online environment has brought a lot of students out of their comfort zones and it can be difficult to learn in these conditions. Students in STEM fields might find it even more difficult since a lot of science and math classes rely heavily on in person learning. The COVID-19 pandemic means students can’t be taught with www.communicatoronline.org
a teacher in front and stay after class for questions. Exposure possibilities have meant students can’t form the study groups that a lot of students rely on for help and guidance from fellow students. There are many educational websites and apps students can use that will be able to provide assistance in online learning environments. Khan academy is great for math and science subjects. They go over important sections of each subject like a class textbook would. Instructors show visual concepts on the screen and walk through a step by
CORBIN WILLMORTH | COMMUNICATOR
KAHN academy offers resources to struggling students.
step process. “Khan academy has been helpful since I only see my teacher twice a day,” said high school student Ryan Quinn. “ I like how they break down the problem and give quizzes to make sure you understand how to solve the problems.” Symbolab is an equation solver that shows step by step solutions to algebra and calculus problems
Symbolab provides names of steps that the student can learn about or review that can make solving problems easier. It alsohas a free website, but requires a membership for the mobile version. COVID-19’s type of learning may be difficult, but there are resources that can help in this difficult learning environment.
COMMUNICATOR 7
