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astro-lab@home – Bringing Science to the Sofa (page 37)
Spicker, S. J.; Küpper, A.; Bresges, A.

Summary

While public interest in astronomical topics remains high, astronomy education facilities (e.g., school-labs) and outreach initiatives (e.g., observatories) have had to close (and remain closed) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. One of these facilities concerned is the astro-lab of the University of Cologne, where young learners used analogy experiments to explore how exoplanets can be discovered and analysed. Out of the desire to make the original astro-lab experiments accessible to a larger audience (e.g., students, teachers, and the general public) from a distance, the astro-lab@home idea was born. The project is based on the high accuracy of sensors built into modern smartphones, making them the ideal measuring tool for home experimentation. This article describes how everyday materials and smartphones can be used for experiments@home in the context of exoplanets.

Suggested Citation (APA)
Spicker, S. J., Küpper, A. and Bresges, A. (2022). astro-lab@home – Bringing science to the sofa. Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal, 31, 37-41. https://www.capjournal.org/issues/31/31_37.pdf