Resources, projects and data sets

TLRBSE: Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education
http://www.noao.edu/education/arbse/arpd
Includes 5 projects with canned data sets and explanations to get a PC-based lab up and running. Good examples of research analysis. The program is now un-funded :-/

SOFIA
http://www.sofia.usra.edu/
Intends to fly teachers on board their 747 based IR observatory.

MIT Haystack Observatory: Research Experiences for Teachers
http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/ret/index.html
Summer program for teachers. Stipend!

NITARP (Spitzer)
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/
This program is another for teachers to get involved in small teams to work on archival SST data with their students. Involves fully funded trips to AAS meetings and JPL/NASA facilities in Pasadena.

Sloan Digital Sky Survey SDSS:
http://www.sdss.org/
http://www.sdss.org/dr7/
Projects are listed here with HUGE data sets.

Hubble Space Telescope Legacy Archive:
http://hla.stsci.edu/
Hubble Space Telescope data available in its raw and edited form. Get direct access to the FITS files used to make all the beautiful images you see online. Can also get spectra, wide band and narrow band image data.

Potential Projects & software

Hello Everyone,
First: A big thank you to all who attended: you are a superb bunch! I always feel even more energized after meeting like-minded individuals, epecially those with the passion for astronomy. I will be posting a few additional topics shortly to this blog, but initially I wanted to just list those topics which would be just GREAT for the new facility. This is something to start sinking your teeth into. Enjoy!
~john

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• Variable star monitoring: long period (300 days), short period (days), eclipsing binaries (hours), Cataclysmic Variabless (unknown periods!) and so many more. Involved photometric analysis and numerical analysis.
• Moon of Jupiter and Saturn: period, mass of planet, speed of light.
• Galaxy and galaxy cluster imaging for beauty and science: observe as many as possible in single night and then, lather, rinse, repeat for weeks on end looking for supernovae.
• comet and asteroid monitoring. There are more asteroids to see than a lifetime will allow. There are also always comets to see... many more than you read about. Orbital determination, math, tracking, astrometry.
• Spectroscopy! TOO many things to list here: radial velocities, temperatures, chemical makeup, and more.
• RGB color imaging.
• Narrow band imaging with Ha, O[III], S[II] narrow band filters. Makes your images look like HST shots!
• High proper motion stars: Barnard's Star, ie.
• Studies of local star clusters: HR diagram, luminosity and distance measurement, plot your own HR diagram, determine their ages.
• Find and study Pluto!
• Venus! It has phases which can even be seen in daylight hours. BEWARE THE SUN!
• ...so many more that I am likely to forget...

Software:

• MaxIm DL: expensive. Professional. EXCELLENT image processing for astronomy. Does data extraction well and easily.
• PhotoShop: Expensive, professional and EXCELLENT image processing for everything.
• ImageJ: FREE and good for astronomy applications. Runs using JAVA, so runs on multiple OS platforms.
• Excel: great for data analysis, as long as kids avoid using the plot line and slope functions! ;-)
• TheSky from Software Bisque: among many many other good planetarium programs, this one comes the closest to being ultra professional. It costs a bundle, but has all you need to prep a night of observing. There are others like Starry Night Pro that do as well.
• Vernier Software Graphical Analysis: excellent graphing application for things like variable stars and spectra. Does integration of graphs to determine true luminosity.
• Visual Spec: Freeware spectrum analysis software. GREAT product. Originally in French, and perhaps a bit quirky, but does real science really well.
• RSpec: low-cost spectrum analysis software in English. Not as scientific perhaps as Visual Spec, but is fun, informative and educational.

Welcome to Astronomy in My Classroom!

What a stimulating day! Kudos to Dave and Sidney for demonstrating that it is possible to realize your dreams through determination and perseverance. What a phenomenal accomplishment! The best part is, this is only the very beginning! John, I really appreciate your passionate enthusiasm for astronomy. It takes a very gifted educator to pack a whole course into a day and have your cohort of students still engaged, questioning and smiling at the end. Thank you for being such an inspiring role model!

Please feel free to open this conversation with your feedback and lingering/developing questions from today's programming. Also, please share this blog with others who you think might enjoy/benefit from participating in our conversations.

I am looking forward to our year's learning ahead.