Teaching Science with Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data GriPhyN/iVDGL Education and Outreach meeting March 1, 2002 Jordan Raddick The Johns Hopkins University

What is the SDSS? Project to map the night sky from 9 th to 23 rd magnitude Images of 100 million objects Spectra for 1 million galaxies and 100,000 quasars continued

What is the SDSS? Goal: Create a 3-D map of the universe Image courtesy Adrian Pope, JHU

Data Images –Magnitudes in 5 wavelengths –Near ultraviolet to infrared Spectra –Moderate resolution –3800 to 9200 Angstroms –Survey measures 640 spectra at once

Before the SDSS Star cluster Palomar 5

After the SDSS

Accessing the Data All data available to anyone, free of charge, on the SkyServer web site

Point-and-click through the sky Summary of photometric information on each object Developed by Alex Szalay, JHU and Jim Gray, Bay Area Research Center Tools - Navigate

Information on single objects –Photometric and spectroscopic Look up by object ID, position, spectral plate/fiber Correlations to data from other sky surveys Tools – Object Explorer

Search for all objects meeting given criteria Uses Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) SQL tutorial on site Tools - Query

Richards, et al., Astronomical Journal, 2001 Lauren Saks, freshman creative writing major, JHU SkyServer gives the public access to real astronomical research Quasars project by Robert Sparks The Power of SkyServer

Interactive educational projects –Students use real data –Groundbreaking research in classroom –Full lesson plans for teachers Educational Projects

For Kids Basic –Advanced middle school students –High school students –Curious adults Advanced –Advanced high school students –Introductory level college students –Amateur astronomers Levels of Projects

Flexibility –Projects can be done quickly or in-depth, depending on teacher needs Lessons make extensive use of SDSS data Research Challenges –Independent follow-up work on projects that interest students Teacher’s guide and sample responses for all projects –Password protected –Sample responses available on request to students and others doing projects independently continued Key Features of Projects

Recommended reading materials for teachers Correlations to National education standards –AAAS Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Education –NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics Key Features of Projects

Teacher’s Guides Teacher’s guides are available for all projects Correlations to national educational standards –AAAS Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Education –NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Example: Hubble Diagram 1929 – Edwin Hubble discovers expansion of universe Foundation of modern astronomy Students repeat discovery with SDSS data continued

Example: Hubble Diagram Students calculate relative distances to galaxies Identify galaxies from images Use several methods to find distances continued

Example: Hubble Diagram Find redshifts (velocities) from observed spectra Use same templates as SDSS scientists continued

Example: Hubble Diagram Graph redshift vs. distance Straight line suggests universe is expanding Students asked about logic of argument Over 40,000 galaxies to choose from continued

Example: Hubble Diagram Teachers’ Guide –Project goals –Knowledge required –Estimated time –Advice on leading classes –Correlations to educational standards

Old Time Astronomy –Sketch celestial objects Scavenger Hunt Adopt a Galaxy The Constellation Game Mooseris, the great moose of the sky. A constellation created by Jordan Raddick. For Kids

The Hubble Diagram Asteroids Spectral Types Colors in Astronomy Galaxy Classification Sky Surveys Basic Projects

Hubble Diagram Colors in Astronomy Spectral Types H-R Diagram Galaxies Quasars Sky Surveys The Large Scale Structure of the Universe Image Processing with SDSS Data Advanced Projects

The SkyServer Sampler CD-ROM Background on SDSS Sample images and spectra Several sample lesson plans For free access to all data and lesson plans, visit

Want more information? Volunteer your classes to test projects or