Astrophysics Missions, Grants, and Forum Nuggets for September 2010

NASA SMD Astrophysics E/PO Engages Librarians Session at American Library Association’s Annual Conference June 27, Washington, DC “Bring the Universe to Your Library with NASA” »Conference session had audience of 40 public- and school- librarians (from across the US and other countries) »Collaboration between STScI Office of Public Outreach and American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office »Session highlighted by Library Journal; moderated by Susan Brandehoff (ALA) and presented by Dr. Frank Summers and Dr. Mangala Sharma (STScI) »Follow-up: Librarians have contacted us with requests for outreach and speaker programs; exploring Science for Girls collaboration between SMD Astro E/PO community and ALA Summers shared how the “Visions of the Universe” exhibit has been touring 55 public libraries, creating highly successful partnerships, and allowing NASA to engage underserved communities. Visions of the Universe is funded by a NASA SMD EPOESS award (PI, Dr. Denise Smith) and the Hubble Education Program (Manager, Bonnie Eisenhamer). Sharma highlighted free E/PO resources from Astrophysics missions & ROSES awards useful to public & school libraries, including traveling exhibits, space science curriculum support tools, observing opportunities, image compilations, speakers’ bureaus, etc. Handout listing resources distributed widely & online by ALA’s Brandehoff. Sharma presented an emerging collaboration among NASA Astrophysics E/PO community (mission E/PO and EPOESS grantees; coordinated by the SMD Astrophysics E/PO Forum) to better engage girls and young women in STEM, through hands-on astronomy programs at libraries across the nation. The NASA SMD Astrophysics E/PO Forum is headquartered at STScI, with partners at Adler, ASP, and JHU. More information: Dr. Denise Smith, Dr. Mangala Sharma

3 Intersection of NASA Astrophysics E/PO & Higher Education Astronomical Society of the Pacific Annual Meeting – August 3, 2010 – Boulder, CO More information: Dr. Denise Smith, Dr. Mangala Sharma “How Can NASA Astrophysics E/PO Better Support College Astronomy Education?” 1-Hour Moderated Group Discussion among NASA SMD E/PO professionals and higher education professionals Part of SMD Astrophysics E/PO community collaboration to extend appropriate Grades 9-12 E/PO resources for application at the introductory undergraduate level ~20 participants, majority funded for research or E/PO over past two years by NASA (through SMD missions, ROSES awards, & NASA centers) Two-thirds of participants teach college introductory astronomy or physical science and supervise undergraduate students in research projects; about half engage undergraduates in E/PO projects Discussion facilitators: SMD Astrophysics E/PO Forum staff (STScI and ASP) Both SMD science images/data and E/PO products are used by college astronomy instructors, including: Science and E/PO images, image compilations, videos and visualization, e.g. from current and past missions, SkyView, Astronomy Picture of the Day, etc. Data, databases, and science archives, e.g. Astrophysics Data System, NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, HST archive, etc. E/PO resources and curricula, e.g. Amazing Space, Cool Cosmos, PlanetQuest, Multiwavelength Milky Way poster, Night Sky Network, mission E/PO posters and lithographs, podcasts Pedagogy related resources, e.g. NASA/JPL-hosted Center for Astronomy Education workshops and listservs, etc. SMD E/PO Forums are working to better understand our portfolio of resources and identify where gaps need to be filled. Astronomy instructors brainstormed on E/PO resources they would find most useful: A “one stop shop” centralized, easily-searchable portal of all NASA science and E/PO products, e.g. news releases, images, visualizations, student opportunities, funding opportunities, etc. Customizable images, videos, E/PO activities, curricula, etc. Online, robotic telescopes for undergraduate classroom and labs with easy-to-use data portals (à la SkyView) and image analysis software (à la SAO/DS9) Other resources specific to pre-service teachers, or emphasizing computational astrophysics and math for science majors, etc.

Future Galileos: Starry Messenger Project (ROSES) The Cincinnati Observatory just graduated a new class of Future Galileos. On a beautiful September evening 20 educators gathered at the Observatory to show off their 20, 8” dobsonian telescopes. The Future Galileos program, began in 2009, trains applicants to use their telescopes and deliver education programs. Once they are trained and give at least two programs they get to keep the quality telescopes for future use. The 20 winners were chosen from 85 applicants based on their viable, detailed plans to use the scope for education. They needed to demonstrate how they would use the telescope, what audience they would serve, and what new programs they would develop around the telescope. These 20 join 40 recipients from 2009, the majority of which are teachers at all levels (K-12). The purpose of the program follows the theme of the International Year of Astronomy - astronomy outreach. Most people in the Cincinnati area have never looked through a telescope. To date these 60 educators have reached over 13,000 people in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana and conducted over 300 events. Our hope is that this distribution of forty high grade telescopes across our community will celebrate astronomical and scientific achievement and multiply the reach of astronomy education to the region. These telescopes will make a lasting impact and ignite scientific curiosities for the next generation. The graduation ceremony was led by Cincinnati Observatory Outreach Astronomer, and creator of the Future Galileos program, Dean Regas. Special guests included Mary Ronan, Superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools, Dr. Michael Flick of Xavier University, and world- renowned astronomer Dr. Mike Brown. We are proud to announce that the project is far from over. NASA has graciously funded this Cincinnati Observatory program not only for this year, but to continue supporting the 60 Galileos, and awarding an additional 20 telescopes in each of the next two years. By 2012 there will be 100 quality telescopes in the region – making Cincinnati “Telescope Town.” Contact: Dean Regas

Music and Astronomy Under the Stars (ROSES) Contact: Donald Lubowich Dr. Donald Lubowich, Coordinator of Astronomy Outreach at Hofstra University, brought his NASA-funded Music and Astronomy Under the Stars program to the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, MA on August 3, Tanglewood on Parade is an all-day music and astronomy family program and was attended by over 16,000 people with most people participating in some astronomy activity. The Dudley Observatory, the Springfield STARS astronomy club, and students from the Williams College Department of Astronomy assisted with the astronomy activities. Popular activities included solar observing during the day and observations of Jupiter and its moons at night. The public was also very interested in the large astronomy posters and images which included a HST image of the Orion Nebula; an image of the Milky Way from Mauna Kea by Wally Pacholka, and the twelve STScI/American Library Association Vision of the Universe posters describing 400 years of astronomy. There were lectures on July 11, 2010 Easter Island eclipse and recent eclipses by Dr. Jay Pasachoff (Williams College) and edible astronomy demonstrations by Dr. Donald Lubowich (Hofstra University). Science educator Michael Francis, dressed as Galileo, gave a program on Galileo’s telescope and his astronomical discoveries accompanied by Dr. Christopher Morrongiello (Hofstra University) who played lute music composed by Galileo’s father and brother. An astronomy video composed of multiple NASA videos, FETTU images, and TWAN images (created by Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado, Adler Planetarium) and the American Museum of Natural History planetarium programs Journey to the Stars (narrated by Whoopie Goldberg) and Cosmic Collisions (narrated by Robert Redford) were also shown during the day.