APOD PROJECT: The goal of this project is to have you tour around the Astronomy Picture of the Day website and report back on one of the APODs in depth.  

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Your presentation should address the following:

1. How was the picture taken?  What were the conditions, equipment used, filters, timeframe..etc.

2. What, precisely, does the picture illustrate - what are we looking at?

3. What underlying science (Astronomy, Physics, Engineering...) relates to this image?  How does this image help to understand fundamental Astronomical principles and practices?

4. What are other related images that help to place this APOD in a larger scientific context (these can span a variety of directions, from similar object images to technical diagrams of imaging instrumentation to images that help explain related phenomena)?

5. How does this image related to current research being done in Astronomy - why is it relevant?

Your presentation should be in Power Point form, and should contain at least 5 slides in addition to your cover slide and APOD slide.  The number of slides is less important than the quality of your presentation, your knowledge of the topic, and your ability to explain the science that underlies the APOD.  In a Power Point presentation, there should be VERY LITTLE TEXT.  Try to include diagrams, photos, illustrations...etc. and only brief bulleted text to help organize the discussion.  DO NOT SIMPLY READ PARAGRAPHS OFF OF YOUR SLIDE. 

Your presentation should be about 10 minutes long, and you can balance it however you wish between descriptions, related stories, history, science...etc. provided you fulfill the objectives above.  Choose an APOD you really like, and the research will be enjoyable and the presentation will be more interesting and authentic.  After your presentation, you should post the PowerPoint presentation on your webpage - I will show you how to do this.

APOD GALLERY: In addition to your presentation, I would like you to choose 10 APODs and make a gallery for your webpage.  This should be a thumbnail gallery (with links directly to the APOD webpages) - I will show you how to do this.  Under each thumbnail should be a sentence or two of description, describing what the APOD shows and how it was taken.