Journey North Mystery Class Spring 2003

Mystery Class Update: February 28, 2003

Today's Report Includes:

Four from Four for You
Leading Up to the Longitude Clues
Teacher Tips: Getting Ready for Longitude Clues
Earth from Space! Visualizing Sunrise and Sunset
Try This! Eggstraordinary Equinox Experiment
This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times
Note to Teachers: Plan Ahead and Mark Your Calendars

Four from Four for You

From the four corners of the Earth comes the fourth set of sunrise/sunset data, compliments of your secret Mystery Classes.

Have you figured out which location is the farthest north? The farthest south? The closest to the equator? Can you put them in a north/south order now? Where is your hometown in that order?

Leading Up to the Longitude Clues
In two weeks, you'll start to receive a little help with your global search. On March 14, we'll provide the first set of LONGITUDE clues, which will give you everything you need to estimate the approximate longitude of the Mystery sites.

Teacher Tips: Getting Ready for Longitude Clues
Two Mystery Class veterans suggest that some advance preparation for the Longitude Clues is time well spent.

Teacher Tip #1: Washington, D.C. teacher Kathleen Isaacs recommends two books to get students orientated to longitude before the clues arrive:

Mystery Class/Longitude & Literature

Teacher Tip #2: Texas teacher Jo Leland has her students practice on the Longitude Clues for some of last year's Mystery Classes, and suggests that students mark a "longitude place marker" on their maps:

Longitude Place Marker

Earth from Space! Visualizing Sunrise and Sunset
Have you ever wondered how a sunrise and sunset occur each day? Before we post the Longitude Clues, it is helpful to visualize how this happens. Sunrise and sunset happen because the Earth's rotation brings an area of Earth into the light of the sun in the morning and then out of it in the evening each day. To help you visualize this, take a look at Earth from space:

Does the Sun Really Rise and Set?

Try This! Eggstraordinary Equinox Experiment

When will your egg stand on end?

The upcoming Longitude Clues will coincide with the Vernal Equinox, March 20, a day when Astronomers (and our calendars) tell us it's Spring! On the Equinox, the amounts of day and night are of roughly equal length--approximately 12 hours each. There's a "balance" of light and dark at almost all locations on Earth.

Some people believe that there is another kind of "balance" on the Equinoxes, a special kind of force that will make a raw egg balance on its own end!

Do you think this is true? Is there some sort of cosmic "balance" that makes eggs stand on their own on the Equinoxes, but not on other days? Is there a scientific way for you to test this?

Try this "Eggstraordinary" experiment before, during and after the Equinox!

The "Powers" of the Equinox

This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times
Remember, the secret Mystery sites recorded their times last Monday, the same day you collected your own local sunrise/sunset data.

Journey North Mystery Class

Sunrise/Sunset Data

Data For: Monday, February 24, 2003

MYSTERY CLASS

SUNRISE

SUNSET

#1

06:36

17:29

#2

06:56

18:33

#3

05:46

18:20

#4

06:12

17:53

#5

07:34

18:01

#6

07:26

19:14

#7

00:00*

00:00*

#8

06:32

18:39

#9

07:44

18:21

#10

05:50

17:45

* Journey North Mystery Class #7 reported 00:00 for their times and said "I could wear my sunglasses at night, at least for now."

(Note: Military time is usually expressed without any punctuation. We have used a ":" between the hours and minutes for clarity.)

Note to Teachers: Plan Ahead and Mark Your Calendars
Here's the 2003 Mystery Class Schedule so you know what to expect from Journey North. Please be sure to plan ahead.

Mystery Class Calendar 2003

February 7- April 18:	Each Friday, Sunrise/Sunset Times are posted for the ten Mystery Sites.
March 14:	The "Longitude Clue" is posted.
March 21, 28, April 4, 11 & 18:	Interdisciplinary clues from the Mystery Sites are posted each week. (Please Note--out of fairness to all participants, we will only post the clues on their scheduled dates.)
April 25: Deadline for Your Answers!	No late entries will be accepted (out of fairness to all participants, no exceptions.)
May 2:	Mystery Sites Revealed!
May 9:	Meet Your Mystery Friends!

The Next Mystery Class Update Will Be Posted on March 7, 2003