Research Project #2: Astronomy in Depth
For this report, you will be writing about a real, specific object or phenomenon in space. Your goal is to
discuss it from a scientific standpoint – this is a science report, not a history report, and so be sure to
include recent material and real research. Even if you are discussing an object discovered by Galileo, you
must include modern research as well.
The report should be submitted in Blackboard (‘Projects’ section) in a Word or Pdf format, at any time
before the deadline. It should be no less than 1000 words long, approximately 3 to 4 pages, doublespaced. The late deduction will be 5% per day, up to 1 week after the original due date.
Report Due: _ February 21 st, 11:59pm___
Everything you write must be in your own words – do not copy, and do not quote at all. Your report will
be scanned by TurnItIn to ensure originality, and the percentage match should be as low as possible
(ideally less than 20%). Review your originality report to ensure that no matches are found within your
own written work, while matches in references and titles are not significant.
Topics can be drawn from anything in space, including: planets, asteroids, stars, stellar corpses, nebulae,
galaxies, mysterious signals, even properties of the universe itself. It must be a real object, even if we’re
not sure what it is. Pick as specific an object as possible – you can’t possibly cover “black holes” to any
reasonable extent here, but you could discuss one specific black hole, for example. Do not pick a class of
objects – it must be one singular object, with a specific name (no “comets” or “exoplanets” – but you
can do a specific comet or exoplanet of interest). The more unique an object you select, the more
original your report will be.
Your object of research should be first chosen from a recent publication (see allowed date range below)
in a scientific news story published in any popular science news outlet. Some examples of suitable
science news sources are:
https://phys.org/space-news/
https://scitechdaily.com/news/space/
https://www.sciencenews.org/topic/space
https://physicsworld.com/c/astronomy-space/
Allowed dates of news publication: November 14, 2020 to February 21, 2021