{"id":23195,"date":"2021-09-01T09:10:02","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T09:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=99641"},"modified":"2021-09-01T09:21:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T09:21:11","slug":"make-a-3d-model-of-our-nearest-stars","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/make-a-3d-model-of-our-nearest-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Make a 3D model of our nearest stars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By Mary McIntyre\n                \t\t<\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Wednesday, 01 September 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\"><span class=\"&quot;s2&quot;\">F<\/span>or this fun science project we create a three-dimensional model that shows where the nearest 20 stars to our Solar System are located.\u00a0It places the Sun at its centre and gives you a unique perspective of our nearby stellar neighbourhood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">It doesn\u2019t just consider the distances of the stars, but gives their real coordinates relative to the orbital plane of the Solar System, which allows you to see exactly where the nearby stars lie relative to our Sun.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>More astronomy projects:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/diy\/make-scale-solar-system-model\/&quot;\"><em><strong>Make a model of the Solar System<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/diy\/make-model-milky-way-galaxy\/&quot;\"><em><strong>Make a model of the Milky Way<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/diy\/how-to-make-a-comet-model\/&quot;\"><em><strong>Make a model of a comet<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><p><span style=\"font-size:\">We achieve all this by using basic materials and the project is packed with learning opportunities for your family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p3&quot;\">The stars are colour-coded depending on their spectral class, so you can discuss the differences between the classes and explain that although 76% of stars in our stellar neighbourhood are \u2018M class\u2019 (with a temperature up to 3,420\u02daC), most are too faint to be seen with the naked eye.<\/p>\n<p>For more info on this, read our guide to <a href=\"\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/a-guide-to-stellar-spectral-classifications\/&quot;\">stellar spectral classifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Where to place your stars<\/strong><\/h1>\n<div class=\"&quot;image-handler__container\" style=\"padding-bottom:\"> <img class=\"&quot;wp-image-99650\" align=\"\" data-src=\"&quot;https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2021\/09\/alpha-centauri-a8a6f76-e1630486719769.jpeg?quality=90&amp;resize=620%2C473&quot;\" width=\"&quot;1278&quot;\" height=\"&quot;974&quot;\" alt=\"&quot;A\" title=\"&quot;A\" \/><\/div><div class=\"&quot;caption-hold&quot;\"><figcaption class=\"&quot;wp-caption-text&quot;\"><span class=\"&quot;caption-copy&quot;\"><i class=\"&quot;icon-arrow\" \/> A view of the sky around Alpha Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. Credit: ESO\/Digitized Sky Survey 2 \/ Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin<\/span><\/figcaption><span class=\"&quot;im-image-caption&quot;\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">To work out the placement for the stars, we first downloaded the <a href=\"\/\/www.astronexus.com\/hyg&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">Astronomy Nexus star database<\/a>. We imported it into Excel and sorted the stars by distance and then selected the nearest 20.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">For the stars that are double or triple star systems, we represented the brightest star of that system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">The database gives you <i>x<\/i>, <i>y<\/i> and <i>z<\/i> coordinates for each star as seen from Earth \u2013 the <i>x<\/i>-axis is horizontal and the <i>y<\/i>-axis is vertical, with the Sun\u2019s location represented by the point at which the two axes intersect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">The <i>z<\/i> value represents each star\u2019s <span class=\"&quot;s4&quot;\">distance above or below the plane of the Solar System.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">These values are in parsecs, with 1 parsec = 3.26 lightyears. We multiplied each value by our scaling factor, 1 parsec = 3cm applied in all directions, so the model\u2019s diameter covers 30 parsecs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">Don\u2019t worry if this sounds complex; we\u2019ve done the maths in a spreadsheet that you can <a href=\"\/\/cdn.immediatecontent.com\/skyatnight\/bonuscontent\/September%202021\/DIY%20Stellar%20Neighbourhood%20Measurements%20Spreadsheet.xlsx&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">download here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p2&quot;\">The stars are numbererd 1 to 20 for ease of reference and the <i>z<\/i> values have had 4mm added to allow for the thickness of the cardboard disc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p3&quot;\">We mapped the <i>x<\/i> and <i>y<\/i> coordinates onto <span class=\"&quot;s4&quot;\">the flat disc <\/span>first <span class=\"&quot;s4&quot;\">and then used barbecue skewers (painted <\/span>black) trimmed to the correct length to represent the <i>z<\/i> coordinates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p3&quot;\">The stars, represented by coloured beads (also painted beforehand), were attached to the skewer ends. Our stars in this project are not to <span class=\"&quot;s4&quot;\">scale \u2013 if they were, they would be microscopic!<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p3&quot;\">We displayed the model on a simple stand so it is aligned with the plane of our Solar System, but you could easily adapt it to be a hanging model.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Tools and materials<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">A piece of sturdy cardboard, measuring 30cm x 30cm, plus a piece of graph paper the same size \u2013 we stuck two pieces of A4 graph paper together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">Use 21 wooden barbecue skewers; 20 of 3mm diameter for the stars and a thicker one of 4mm diameter for the stand and the Sun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">You\u2019ll also need 20 small black buttons, which will be glued to the ends of the skewers to act as stops for each star (excluding the Sun).<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">Find 21 beads that fit onto the pointed ends of the skewers; you\u2019ll need 12 red, four orange, three yellow (including one for the Sun), one pale yellow and one white.<\/p>\n<p class=\"&quot;p1&quot;\">A small, sturdy box to use as a base for the stand; ours measured 7cm x 8.5cm x 4cm.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Make a model of our nearest stars, step-by-step<\/strong><\/h1>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\" \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mary McIntyre Published: Wednesday, 01 September 2021 at 12:00 am For this fun science project we create a three-dimensional model that shows where the nearest 20 stars to our Solar System are located.\u00a0It places the Sun at its centre and gives you a unique perspective of our nearby stellar neighbourhood. It doesn\u2019t just consider [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Mary McIntyre Published: Wednesday, 01 September 2021 at 12:00 am For this fun science project we create a three-dimensional model that shows where the nearest 20 stars to our Solar System are located.\u00a0It places the Sun at its centre and gives you a unique perspective of our nearby stellar neighbourhood. It doesn\u2019t just consider&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/23195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}