What’s that in the sky? July 31, 2007
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At the moment there are numerous queries about large, bright lights in the evening sky. Such questions might be considered an occupational hazard when Venus is bright and high in the west but at least they are not as bad as questions as to whether Mars will be as big as the Moon in August!
Where possible and appropriate I take advantage of these inquiries to inform people as to where they can find out what is up in the sky themselves. There are several excellent websites that talk about what is up each month. Ian Musgrave from Astroblog produces a monthly report on his Southern Sky Watch website that is great for Australian observers and is linked from the ABC Science site. No doubt there are many more sites for northern hemisphere viewers.
I like to encourage people to get outside and look up. A star chart or planisphere is always handy for this though many people find them confusing to use at first. Skymaps.com produce excellent skycharts in northern and southern hemisphere editions each month. These are free downloadable PDFs that can be printed off in class sets and contain details on highlights for that month.
Planisphere is a free Windows program that students can use to produce a planisphere tailored for their latitude. They can print it out and construct their own planisphere to use at home or on a school camp.
Perhaps my all time favourite piece of astronomical software is Stellarium, a FREE open-source program.
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It has a lovely aesthetic and is available for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux machines. The latest version (0.90) has recently been released. One of the strengths of Stellarium in an educational setting is the uncluttered interface. It is so simple to use that students can quickly start using it and exploring what if? and when is? scenarios very quickly. The price is right for school systems and it is a must-have for any science classroom or computer. I’ll write more about some educational examples using Stellarium later.
CSIRO podcast with one of the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize winners July 23, 2007
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The prestigious 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize was awarded last week to the two teams responsible for discovering that the Universe is accelerating. Published in 1998 the findings of both teams overthrew the conventional view and provided firm observational evidence for the need for dark energy.
One of the teams, the High-z Supernova Search Team was led by Brian Schmidt from the Australian National University whilst the other, the Supernova Cosmology Project was led by Saul Perlmutter from the University of California Berkeley. Warrick Couch, now at Swinburne University in Melbourne and Brian Boyle, now Director of the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility were both members of Perlmutter’s team.
Professor Brian Boyle explains in this 6-minute podcast what the teams were attempting to measure and how their findings challenged the models of the time. The podcast provides a wonderful, concise example of science in action.
Another member of the SCP team, Carl Pennypacker from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in his quest to detect more supernovae for the project established the Hands-On Universe scheme:
HOU is an educational program that enables students to investigate the Universe while applying tools and concepts from science, math, and technology. Using the Internet, HOU participants around the world request observations from an automated telescope, download images from a large image archive, and analyze them with the aid of user-friendly image processing software.
It is an innovative and engaging scheme that allows students to experience scientific investigation using effective tools. Students can tackle open-ended projects and make their own discoveries. I’ll come back to this concept of student investigations much more in the future.
What’s that Galaxy? July 20, 2007
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Modern astronomy is increasingly characterised by large (huge) data sets. Perhaps the best readily accessible example of this has been the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Using a dedicated 2.5 m telescope at Apache Point, New Mexico in the US the project is producing a 3-dimensional map of about one-quarter of the sky. The database covers over a million objects, primarily galaxies and quasars.
Embedded in the design of the survey from the outset has been a purpose-designed educational site and interface, SkyServer to the science database. It has a wealth of information on astronomy that fits in perfectly with many school science syllabi. The emphasis is very much on students doing their own guided or independent projects though this is also well-supported by extensive background material on topics such as spectroscopy, types of objects, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and much more. Projects are grouped in basic, advanced and challenge categories. Specific guidance for teachers is also available.
The data used in all the activities and projects is the original data that is also available for use by professional researchers. The only key difference is that the interface is more accessible and simplified for student use. Students in several schools overseas have already used SkyServer to make original discoveries. The potential for class and independent use is immense.
Just over a week ago a new engaging tool using the Sloan data was released on a new website. Galaxy Zoo presents users with galaxy images from the Sloan data and asks them to try and classify them. Users register and after a short set of training and trial images they are granted access to the database. One aim of the project is harness the strength of numbers in having thousands of internet uses attempt visual classification of galaxies. Given that there are about one million galaxies in the data set they need a lot of users! A discussion forum should be on the site soon. Users can also flag specific objects for the project supervisors.
Where Galaxy Zoo wins is that it has a very simple interface, it is addictive and you can do as few or as many galaxies in a session as you like. Another strength from an educational perspective is that some (many?) of the galaxy images appear somewhat fuzzy, that is they lack resolution so it can be difficult t definitively classify them. This provides a valuable opportunity on a class or group setting to initiate discussion. It readily shows that dealing with real data poses problems and issues that need to be discussed. Rather than just talking about galaxies in a general sense, classes can now tackle the classification problem using real, new data and add to a worthwhile project.
Give a try! Share your ideas on how to use this great new resource.
Commuter Astronomy July 16, 2007
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Having set up this blog today I was wondering what profound post would be my first real contribution after the welcome one. Reflecting on this as I was driving home tonight I was distracted by the wonderful evening sky. Having spent many years working close to home I am now a commuter, spending an hour each way to and from work in my car. Whilst this is not recommended and certainly a less than productive use of my time there are a few meagre compensations.
Perhaps the best of these is the chance to see the variation in sunrise and sunset. I head eastward each morning and back west in the afternoon. As I leave early to try and avoid the worst of the traffic I am generally on the road well before sunrise for much of the year. I am able to note where the Sun rises with respect to the motorway on clear mornings. Similarly I am able to see where it sets behind the mountain on my trip home. The march of the Sun thus becomes an intrinsic part of my ritual drive. The solstices take on a new dimension as I try and detect the change in path of the Sun. Subtle observations such as the fact that the earliest sunrise actually occurs some days after the winter solstice have a tangible meaning to me as I crawl along in traffic.
Other pleasures come from the drive home. Tonight was an example. It has been the coldest day of the year so far and the evening sky was crisp and clear. The orange twilight blended with the darkening sky. A thin crescent Moon was high in the sky but the rest of the Moon clearly stood out illuminated by Earthshine. Brilliant Venus was much higher in the sky.
Seeing these jewels prompted me to reflect upon how many children these days seem cut off from the natural worls. How many city children actually observe the change in the position of sunrise or sunset over the year? Can they name the phases of the Moon or tell the difference between Venus and a star in the sky? Are these questions important or relevant to them? I hope to return to this theme in subsequent posts.
For now I just have to enjoy the observational delights of being a commuting astronomer.
Welcome to AstroEd July 16, 2007
Posted by astroed in General.1 comment so far
Hi, welcome to this blog, my first.
I’m a science educator specialising in astronomy. My interests include astronomy, school education, students doing research, critical thinking and use of ICT for learning. I’m a skeptic with a tendency to iconoclasm.
I hope to use this blog to foster discussion of astronomy, science education and inquiry and polish my ICT skills along the way.
