Galilean Nights Observation at Loulé

On the night of October 23rd at Escola Secundária de Loulé, the population can watch Jupiter and the Moon at Escola Secundária de Loulé. The observatio will start at 21h00.

This observation will be included on the International Astronomy Year 2009 (http://www.astronomy2009.org/).

The analematic sundial is finally finished

Today we have finished our sundial at Escola Secundária de Loulé. Students and teachers have tested it all day long and have concluded that it was well built up.

Astronomical Observation at Escola Secundária de S. Lourenço (Portalegre)

On the 28th of May Escola Secundária de Loulé's Astronomy group has promoted an astronomical observation at Escola Secundária de S. Lourenço in Portalegre.

National eTwinning Meeting at Batalha (May 9th)

Escola Secundária de Loulé's students built a sundial at Batalha during the National eTwinning Meeting.

Alexandre Costa, the teacher, did some planetarium sessions for students present with a portable Starlab planetarium.

Astronomical Observation at Ponte de Sor (May 5th, 2009)

Escola Secundária de Loulé's Astronomy club promoted an astronomical observation at Escola EB 2,3 João Pedro de Andrade, at Ponte de Sor, on May 5th, 2009. Ponte de Sor is North of Loulé and about 360 km away.

The Moon in the telescope

The observations were very nice and lots of people from school and local population were there.

Lots of people were at the observation

You can see some more pictures at

http://picasaweb.google.com/alexandrejcosta/ObservacaoPonteDeSor2009#

Astronomical Exhibition at Ponte de Sor

During the exchange work with students and teachers at Ponte de Sor there was an exhibition about celeestaila objects and also about constellations to be presented to the community.

Here are some images of the exhibition.

Pictures about celestial objects with explanations

Some posters about constellations

Some more posters about constellations

A zoom into one of the constellation posters

Sundial is now starting to be painted

Our students partially painted the analematic sundial this morning. The picture above is the present result.

Making the marks for an analematic sundial at Escola Secundária de Loulé

Today students worked on the positions of the hours and the gnomon position scale for an analematic sundial to be built in our school yard at Escola Secundária de Loulé. Here are some images.

Marking the North-South axis

Marking the afternoons' hours positions

Marking the afternoons' hours positions

Marking the morning hours' positions

With all marks concluded

International Year of Astronomy 2009 is here

January 1 of 2009 brings with it the International Year of Astronomy, a worldwide celebration commemorating Galileo Galilei's first astronomical observation through a telescope.


The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) has been launched by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under the theme, "The Universe, yours to discover". Thousands of IYA2009 events are described on the national websites, as well as on astronomy2009.org, and a few of the global projects are listed here.

The official IYA2009 Opening Ceremony will take place in Paris on 15 and 16 January 2009, and the press is invited to attend. It will feature keynote speakers, including Nobel Laureates, and live video feeds to scientists working in remote locations. Many nations are holding their own Opening Ceremonies in January and February, showing their dedication to the Year. But events will begin before then. Don't be surprised to see telescopes on the streets on New Year's Day. The IYA2009 Solar Physics Group have been busy planning a grand worldwide campaign, with over 30 countries involved at more than 150 venues, which will see amateur stargazers set up their telescopes on pavements as well as in science centres, letting passers-by observe the Sun using special safety equipment.

eTwinning Happy New Year from Portugal

Merry Christmas from Loulé

Students from Loulé visit the CosmoCaixa Planetarium (Barcelona, Spain)

Images of the features projected on the Planetarium

As part of a schooltrip to Cordoba, Barcelona, Valencia and Granada, all cities in Spain, the portuguese students from Escola Secundária de Loulé went on the 16 December 2008 to the Planetarium at CosmoCaixa Barcelona.

Our school - Escola Secundária de Loulé

Our Geographic Coordinates (24Set2008)

Today at Escola Secundária de Loulé students made a GPS activity. They have measured our geographic coordinates and obtained our coordinates: Latitude-37°8'33.01" N; Longitude - 8°1'3.56" W.

Studenst also learned the proinciples of the GPS system functioning and how to navigate using a GPS receptor.

The sunset on September 23rd

We took pictures of the Sunset on September 23rd (equinox day) in order to allow us to see the way sunsets change along the year.

Using the ancient way to find latitude (23Set2008)

Students have used the shadow of a pole to measure their local latitude.

Today the Sun is precisely over the Equator and therefore we can use the sahadow produced by a pole a noon to measure the latitude. The angle that the shadow produces at the top of the pole will be exactly the same as the latitude of the place.

Our students have obtained a latitude of 37º N. The fact that it is in the northern hemisphere was deduced by the fact that the shadow was produced in that direction (confirmed by a compass) which means that the Sun is South of the place.

Astronomical observation at Escola Secundária de Loulé (30-05-2008)

Last night students from Escola Secundária de Loulé's Astronomy Club joined to make an astronomical observation. M13, M57, Saturn and it's moon Titan, Jupiter and it's four galilean moons were some of the objects that could be seen in the sky.

This astronomical observation is also part of the project PVI-310 "Por trás do céu azul" of Program Ciência Viva.

Escola Secundária de Loulé's students that made the wind tunnel create website

The Escola Secundária de Loulé's students that made the wind tunnel have created a website to expose part of their work and results at http://aerodinamica.no.sapo.pt. As a task in progress the website already contains the essencial information (website-in Portuguese)

Developing contents from Project's work

Today students from Escola Secundária de Loulé have been working in class making project activities using ICT. Here is a picture of some of them working.

Astronomical Observation in Escola Secundária de Loulé-23/04/2008

Last night there was an astronomical observation at Escola Secundária de Loulé.

The sky was very clear and it was possible to see Saturn, Mars, M13 (Hercules Globular Cluster), M42 (Orion Nebula), M44 (Open Cluster-Praesepe-Latin name for "manger") and several other stars. The Moon was rising when the observation ended.