Counting stars using estimation

This resource from the IET Faraday programme, supported by MEI and Tomorrow's Engineers, provides students the opportunity to estimate the numbers of stars in an image from the Hubble telescope.

"The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is a well known research tool for astronomy. With a 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely high-resolution images, with substantially lower background light than ground-based telescopes. Hubble has recorded some of the most detailed visible light images ever, allowing a deep view into space and time. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe."

The resources include a presentation that introduces key concepts and a series of questions for students to explore. The teaching guide includes classroom notes, discussion points, extension activity suggestions, answers and details of the curriculum content covered. The resource also includes a spreadsheet template for calculations and a student handout for students to work from.