The astronomy objectives of CSEC Integrated Science, each with a free lesson, video and tool, and four class sheets to print with real dates for Guyana.
Mapped to objectives, not endorsed: this page follows the objective numbers of the CSEC Integrated Science syllabus so a teacher can find material for each one. It is not produced, endorsed, approved or accredited by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), by CSEC or by Guyana’s Ministry of Education, and it does not reproduce the syllabus. Read the syllabus itself on cxc.org.
The objectives are those of the CSEC Integrated Science syllabus (CXC 23/G/SYLL 23, effective for examinations from May-June 2025), Module 3, Topic 1, The Universe and Our Solar System. Read the syllabus on cxc.org.
Every date on the sheets is worked out for Georgetown, 6.8013° N 58.1553° W. All times are Guyana time (America/Guyana, UTC-4, no daylight saving).
Galaxies and the Milky Way, stars, planets, asteroids, comets, meteoroids and meteorites.
From 6.8° N the Milky Way’s core climbs high in the south and the two Magellanic Clouds rise, so pupils in Guyana see more of the galaxy than pupils in Europe or North America.
Gravity, natural and artificial satellites, and geostationary orbits.
A geostationary satellite on Georgetown’s own longitude stands about 82° up, so satellite dishes in Guyana point almost straight up; the space station can be watched crossing the evening sky with no telescope.
The planets, their orbits, sizes and moons, their distances from the Sun, and where the Earth sits.
The planets keep close to the ecliptic, which passes high over Guyana, so they climb higher here than from the far north.
Day and night, shadows, solar and lunar eclipses, and the phases of the Moon.
Twice a year the noon Sun stands straight overhead in Guyana and shadows vanish at noon; the Moon log and the eclipse sheet carry this term’s real dates.
The International Space Station, the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, and missions to Mars and Jupiter.
The James Webb Space Telescope left Earth from Kourou in French Guiana, Guyana’s neighbour, and the space station can be seen from any schoolyard in Guyana.
Four activities the syllabus asks for, filled in with real dates for Guyana. On the page each sheet prints on its own; further activities come from IAU astroEDU (CC BY 4.0).
Mapped to CSEC Integrated Science SO 1.4
Thirty days of the Moon from your start date: its phase, how much is lit, when it rises and sets, and when to look, for pupils to draw and record.
From Thu 22 Oct 2026 to Fri 20 Nov 2026, 30 days.
Principal phases in these days: Full Moon: Mon 26 Oct 2026, 00:12; Third Quarter: Sun 1 Nov 2026, 16:29; New Moon: Mon 9 Nov 2026, 03:03; First Quarter: Tue 17 Nov 2026, 07:48.
Look at the time in the "When to look" column, in the direction and height in the "Where" column. On "Morning" days look before school, often in daylight.
| Day | Date | Phase | Lit | Rises | Sets | When to look | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thu 22 Oct | Waxing gibbous | 88% | 14:57 | 02:29 | Evening 19:00 | 58° up, east |
| 2 | Fri 23 Oct | Waxing gibbous | 94% | 15:38 | 03:16 | Evening 19:00 | 48° up, east |
| 3 | Sat 24 Oct | Waxing gibbous | 98% | 16:22 | 04:04 | Evening 19:00 | 37° up, east |
| 4 | Sun 25 Oct | Full Moon | 100% | 17:08 | 04:55 | Evening 19:00 | 25° up, east |
| 5 | Mon 26 Oct | Full Moon at 00:12 | 99% | 18:00 | 05:51 | Evening 19:00 | 13° up, east |
| 6 | Tue 27 Oct | Waning gibbous | 98% | 18:57 | 06:50 | Morning 06:00 | 10° up, west |
| 7 | Wed 28 Oct | Waning gibbous | 93% | 19:58 | 07:54 | Morning 06:00 | 24° up, north-west |
| 8 | Thu 29 Oct | Waning gibbous | 86% | 21:03 | 08:59 | Morning 06:00 | 37° up, north-west |
| 9 | Fri 30 Oct | Waning gibbous | 77% | 22:07 | 10:03 | Morning 06:00 | 50° up, north-west |
| 10 | Sat 31 Oct | Waning gibbous | 66% | 23:08 | 11:03 | Morning 06:00 | 63° up, north-west |
| 11 | Sun 1 Nov | Third Quarter at 16:29 | 55% | - | 11:57 | Morning 06:00 | 74° up, north |
| 12 | Mon 2 Nov | Waning crescent | 44% | 00:05 | 12:46 | Morning 06:00 | 78° up, north-east |
| 13 | Tue 3 Nov | Waning crescent | 33% | 00:58 | 13:31 | Morning 06:00 | 71° up, east |
| 14 | Wed 4 Nov | Waning crescent | 23% | 01:48 | 14:13 | Morning 06:00 | 60° up, east |
| 15 | Thu 5 Nov | Waning crescent | 15% | 02:35 | 14:54 | Morning 06:00 | 48° up, east |
| 16 | Fri 6 Nov | Waning crescent | 8% | 03:22 | 15:35 | Morning 06:00 | 37° up, east |
| 17 | Sat 7 Nov | Waning crescent | 2% | 04:09 | 16:17 | Not visible: close to New Moon | - |
| 18 | Sun 8 Nov | New Moon | 0% | 04:57 | 17:01 | Not visible: close to New Moon | - |
| 19 | Mon 9 Nov | New Moon at 03:03 | 1% | 05:47 | 17:47 | Not visible: close to New Moon | - |
| 20 | Tue 10 Nov | Waxing crescent | 3% | 06:39 | 18:36 | Not visible: close to New Moon | - |
| 21 | Wed 11 Nov | Waxing crescent | 7% | 07:31 | 19:26 | Evening 18:30 | 11° up, south-west |
| 22 | Thu 12 Nov | Waxing crescent | 12% | 08:23 | 20:18 | Evening 19:00 | 16° up, south-west |
| 23 | Fri 13 Nov | Waxing crescent | 19% | 09:13 | 21:09 | Evening 19:00 | 26° up, south-west |
| 24 | Sat 14 Nov | Waxing crescent | 27% | 10:01 | 21:59 | Evening 19:00 | 37° up, south-west |
| 25 | Sun 15 Nov | Waxing crescent | 36% | 10:47 | 22:47 | Evening 19:00 | 48° up, south-west |
| 26 | Mon 16 Nov | First Quarter | 45% | 11:29 | 23:34 | Evening 19:00 | 58° up, south-west |
| 27 | Tue 17 Nov | First Quarter at 07:48 | 55% | 12:10 | - | Evening 19:00 | 69° up, south-west |
| 28 | Wed 18 Nov | Waxing gibbous | 65% | 12:50 | 00:20 | Evening 19:00 | 78° up, south |
| 29 | Thu 19 Nov | Waxing gibbous | 74% | 13:30 | 01:05 | Evening 19:00 | 79° up, south-east |
| 30 | Fri 20 Nov | Waxing gibbous | 83% | 14:11 | 01:52 | Evening 19:00 | 69° up, east |
Mapped to CSEC Integrated Science SO 1.4
Build a torch, ball and globe model of solar and lunar eclipses, then plan for the next eclipses Guyana will really see.
The next eclipse seen from Georgetown is a penumbral lunar eclipse on the evening of Sat 20 Feb 2027.
The next one with the Earth’s dark shadow on the Moon is on Wed 12 Jan 2028.
The next solar eclipse seen from Georgetown is on Wed 26 Jan 2028.
Eye safety: Never look straight at the Sun, at any moment of a partial eclipse, without eclipse glasses or a hand-held solar viewer made to the ISO 12312-2 standard. Sunglasses, smoked glass, exposed film and phone screens do not protect your eyes. Never look through binoculars, a telescope or a camera without a solar filter fitted to the front, even while wearing eclipse glasses. A pinhole projection is safe: stand with your back to the Sun and look at the image on a card, never through the hole. Supervise children.
| Which | Eclipse | Times (Guyana time) | What you will see |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next eclipse of any kind | Penumbral lunar eclipse, Sat 20 Feb 2027 | The faint outer shadow from 17:12 to 21:14, greatest 19:13 | A penumbral eclipse: the Moon dims only slightly, and most people would not notice without being told. the Moon rises during it. |
| Next lunar eclipse with the dark shadow | Partial lunar eclipse, Wed 12 Jan 2028 | The dark shadow from 23:44 to 00:42, greatest 00:13 | The Earth’s dark shadow covers 3% of the Moon at greatest; the Moon is up for all of it. Safe to watch with the eye. |
| Next solar eclipse | Partial solar eclipse, Wed 26 Jan 2028 | Begins 08:54, greatest 10:54, ends 12:57 | 70% of the Sun covered at greatest, the Sun 59° up in the south-east. Eclipse glasses or a pinhole projector only. |
Mapped to CSEC Integrated Science SO 1.1 · CSEC Physics, Section A, suggested activity 7 (meteor showers)
Count meteors in 15-minute blocks on a shower’s best night, with the radiant’s height and the Moon worked out for Georgetown.
Leonids: the best night is the night of Tue 17 Nov into Wed 18 Nov 2026.
The radiant, the point the meteors seem to come from, rises at 00:00; before that few meteors are seen.
The best time is about 04:50, with the radiant 66° up: about 14 meteors an hour under a dark country sky, and about 2 an hour under a town sky like central Georgetown.
The Moon (57% lit) is down at that time.
| Block (Guyana time) |
|---|
| 02:50 to 03:05 |
| 03:05 to 03:20 |
| 03:20 to 03:35 |
| 03:35 to 03:50 |
| 03:50 to 04:05 |
| 04:05 to 04:20 |
| 04:20 to 04:35 |
| 04:35 to 04:50 |
Mapped to CSEC Integrated Science SO 1.4 · CSEC Physics, Section D, suggested activity 6 (true and magnetic north)
Find true north with a shadow stick at solar noon on school days, and with the north star after dark, then compare with a compass.
At solar noon the Sun is due south or due north of you, so the shadow of an upright stick lies exactly along the north-south line. In these weeks solar noon at Georgetown falls between 11:36 and 11:37, not at 12:00, and the noon shadow points north.
After dark, Polaris, the north star, sits only about 7° up (less than one fist), within 1° of due north: at 20:00 on Thu 22 Oct it is 7.1° up and 0.6° east of north. You need a clear, low northern horizon to see it from Guyana.
A compass points to magnetic north, not true north. The difference between the two lines is what you are measuring.
| Day | Solar noon | Noon Sun height | Noon shadow points | Shadow of a 1 m stick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 22 Oct | 11:37 | 72° | north | 0.33 m |
| Fri 23 Oct | 11:37 | 72° | north | 0.33 m |
| Mon 26 Oct | 11:37 | 71° | north | 0.35 m |
| Tue 27 Oct | 11:36 | 70° | north | 0.36 m |
| Wed 28 Oct | 11:36 | 70° | north | 0.37 m |
| Thu 29 Oct | 11:36 | 70° | north | 0.37 m |
| Fri 30 Oct | 11:36 | 69° | north | 0.38 m |
| Mon 2 Nov | 11:36 | 68° | north | 0.40 m |
| Tue 3 Nov | 11:36 | 68° | north | 0.40 m |
| Wed 4 Nov | 11:36 | 68° | north | 0.41 m |
| Thu 5 Nov | 11:36 | 67° | north | 0.42 m |
| Fri 6 Nov | 11:36 | 67° | north | 0.42 m |
| Mon 9 Nov | 11:36 | 66° | north | 0.44 m |
| Tue 10 Nov | 11:37 | 66° | north | 0.45 m |
| Wed 11 Nov | 11:37 | 66° | north | 0.45 m |
Pupils in Guyana often meet "the four seasons" in books written for countries far from the equator. Here, the seasons people feel are wet and dry ones.
The cause is the same tilt of the Earth’s axis, 23.4°. It moves the noon Sun north and south through the year. At Georgetown the noon Sun stands straight overhead twice a year, next on Wed 7 Apr 2027 at 11:55 and Sun 5 Sep 2027 at 11:51, and a stick casts almost no shadow at noon.
Day length hardly changes: 12 h 31 min of daylight on 21 June 2027 and 11 h 44 min on 21 December 2026, only 47 minutes apart. Far from the equator the difference is hours, and that is what makes summer and winter there.
As the Sun moves north and south, it drags a belt of rain clouds where the trade winds meet (the Intertropical Convergence Zone) across Guyana. On the coast that gives two wet seasons, from about mid-April to the end of July and from mid-November to the end of January, and two dry ones; the south has one wet season, from about April to August.
Why Seasons Happen: Axial Tilt Explained · Zero shadow days in Georgetown
Astrophotos GY runs school sessions on request: Workshops and school visits.