Published by Australian Academy of Science
Activities | Hunting for dark energy with the WiggleZ

1. Understanding our expanding universe

Other activities

• Imagine the universe (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, USA)
• 2006 CosmicTimes – provides a ‘newsletter’ on dark energy and a series of five related class activities. In Measuring dark energy students simulate the discovery of dark energy using a Hubble diagram. In Century timeline students create a timeline of our understanding of the universe up to the discovery of dark energy.

• Teachers’ Domain (USA)
• Gravity and the expanding universe – provides a short video describing the history of our understanding of the expansion of the universe including the discovery of dark energy. Class discussion questions are included.

• Cosmic questions: our place in space and time (Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, USA)
• Educator’s guide – includes a series of activities including Modelling the expanding universe in which students create one-dimensional and two-dimensional models of the expansion of the universe. In Evidence for the expanding universe students use spectra of galaxies to measure their speed as they move away from us.

• Sky Server (Sloan Digital Sky Survey, USA)
• The universe – students learn how big the universe is, and how scientists know it is expanding. They then make a Hubble Diagram.

• NOVA Online
• Moving targets – students learn through an engaging interactive tutorial how the speed of stellar objects is measured using the Doppler effect.

• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• How fast do galaxies move? – students learn about spectroscopy and use data to measure the movement of galaxies. This activity can be completed online using the ‘virtual spectroscope’ or as a classroom activity.