ASISTM and the Faulkes Telescope Project: Bringing Deep Space into the Classroom

 Dill Faulkes made $ with a science education and wanted students to have access to quality instruments and programs.  Donated AUD$20 million for the construction of two research-quality telescopes for education and research. An Introduction

The Faulkes Telescopes  Fully remote controlled  2m professional telescopes  25 tonnes each 8m 2m

Hawaii FT (North) Australia FT (South) Sites of the Faulkes Telescopes

Site of Faulkes Telescope South Siding Springs Northern NSW

Site of Faulkes Telescope South

Future Telescope Network Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Telescopes scheduled for 2007  ultimate aim: educational network of > 50 telescopes  sizes ranging from m

The Project in the UK Teachers must undergo observing training either via PD or through the online training portal Schools register to use the telescope, book a 1/2 hour timeslot and take whatever data they wish. Students directly control the telescope via remote control and observe in real time Schools download their data to a local disk for use in class All specialist software is freeware/shareware and available from the UK Faulkes Telescope website

The Pilot Project in Australia Students do not directly control the telescope Schools submit a “telescope application form” Applications are reviewed by a panel of astronomers Successful applications sent to the operations centre in the UK Data is taken and returned to Macquarie Uni Schools download their data to a local disk for use in class All specialist software is freeware/shareware and provided to the school on a CD-ROM

Student Skills planning investigations conducting investigations communicating information and understanding developing scientific thinking and problem- solving techniques working individually and in teams. identifying strengths and weaknesses in a scientific experiment Identifying potential sources of errors

Student Benefits develop critical analysis skills improve ICT literacy develop / improve a scientific method chance for "real" discoveries develop / improve collaborative skills "ownership" of the project appreciation of astronomy practical experience

The Experience in Victorian Schools

Asteroids Scotch College

Location and accurate positions for NEOs 2007 EL88, 2007 EY and 2007FLI Aim: to contribute to the effort of monitoring asteroid motion Use Astrometrica software to locate and obtain an accurate position for the asteroid Use Iris software to generate colour images and show the movement of the asteroid 25 year 7 boys 6 periods allocated contributing to real life science

Near Earth Objects Near-Earth objects (NEO) are asteroids, comets and large meteoroids whose orbit intersects Earth's orbit and which may therefore pose a collision danger. Astronomers need to keep track of these asteroids

Choosing an Asteroid There are several organisations that monitor asteroids We referred to Spaceguard: ( ) We chose 3 asteroids that were classed as URGENT for monitoring

The Data 3 images of each asteroid were taken Taken through red, green and blue filters Low moon light Exposure time between seconds

NEO 2007 EY Colour picture by Phongpol Punyadupta

Tracking NEO 2007 FL1 by Eddie Goldsmith NEO 2007 FL1

Student Comments “Everybody found this project awesome and I can’t wait to do more” “It was so interesting and not that hard to do” “I can’t believe I have contributed to real life science”

Colliding Galaxies University High School

Project aims Implementing the project The images Results Conclusion Overview

engage in real life science grasp the scale of our universe observe the movement and interactions of galaxies use images from Faulkes Project Aims Students will be able to:

Implementing the project The application process  Choosing a topic  Student interest  Year level  Time available  Getting the images  Locating coordinates  Visibility  Exposure time  Phase of moon

Implementing the project The Logistics  Completed in 5x50 minute sessions  2 accelerated year 9 classes

Implementing the project Class activities  Completed an introductory Webquest  Created coloured images  Looked for star formation and tidal interactions  Calculated the size of the galaxies

Our Images

Galaxy NGC 3769 – found in Saucepan constellation

Galaxy NGC 2881 – found in Hydra constellation

Galaxy NGC 5395 – found in Canes Venatici constellation

Results Student comments  “I liked it because it was interesting and we learnt about the space and other stuff…”  “I loved that we got to look at real galaxies.”  “I liked the astronomy project but it was difficult because we hadn’t done astronomy in class. T’was still fun though. Hurrah for interacting galaxies!”

Results Submitted Work  Observations on galaxy interactions  Open ended questions  Showed understanding of the effects of gravity, gasses, heat and star formation  Calculating Size of Galaxy  Required estimate so results varied  Most numbers were within acceptable range

Conclusion Our Reflections  Constraints  Time  Curriculum  Student engagement  Involve in decision making processes  Very hands-on and something different  Images  One of a kind  Evoke a deeper understanding

Conclusion Colliding galaxies in your classroom  Minimum time 10 hours  Needs a thorough introduction  You set the level of difficulty  Suitable for Year 7 – 11  Images bound to impress

The Hertzsprung Russell Diagram Carey Baptist Grammar

The HR Diagram

Terminology

Software - Stellarium

Choosing the Cluster ClusterRADec V mag DiameterNotes M ’ M ’ M ’ NGC ’ NGC ’ M ’

Proposal Name of School – Carey Baptist Grammar School Victoria, Australia Title of Project – Colour and Intensity Analysis of M67 Project Summary In this project, we will image the open cluster, M67, to construct a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to investigate the properties and evolution of stars. We will take images through the B, V and R filters in order to obtain colour information for each of the stars and also to create a colour image of the cluster. Since the cluster is larger than what we can see in a single shot with the Faulkes Telescope, we request several images to be taken to form a mosaic of the cluster.

Raw Data Received

Software - IRIS

Group Cooperation How to deal with slide overlap? Group communication, naming or form mosaic early on and name How to stop measuring the same star twice? Number the stars How to organise groups to measure information? Measure all B and V for one slide. Same group measure B and V for consistency How to check measurements are correct?

Measured

Graphed

HR Diagram

Benefits Collecting real data in astronomy Graphing data and why we do it Using terminology in a context and in a way that develops their understanding Their pictures Better understanding of the theory: HR diagram, star clusters, coloured filters, predictable nature of the spinning of the Earth and the apparent spinning of the stars Exploring differences between theory and practise

Benefits to me Interesting Professional astronomy websites Useful software programs - Stellarium

The Future Collaborative projects with schools in the UK The Immediate Future Students drive the telescopes during class Collaborative projects with schools around the world Partnerships with research astronomers Partnerships with local amateur astronomical societies The Not Too Distant Future

Questions?