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Internet
Access to a
4.6-m Radio
Telescope for
High Schools
M. W. Castelaz, J. D. Cline
(Pisgah
Astronomical
Research Institute)
&
Colleges
D. A. Moffett (Furman Univ.)
J. Case (Brevard H.S., NC)
J. Daugherty (UNC-Asheville)
AAS 200th meeting, Albuquerque, NM, June 2002
Tuesday, June 4, 2002, 10:00am-7:00pm.
Session 47.03
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
Smiley and the School of Galactic Radio
Astronomy are located at the Pisgah
Astronomical Research Institute shown
above. Two 26-m, one 12-m, and the 4.6-m
make up the PARI Radio Observatories. In
addition, nine optical telescopes, from 0.12m to 1.8-m are in operation or being planned
(see Session #64.08 at this 200th Meeting of
the AAS) as part of the PARI Optical
Observatories.
Current Education
Programs at PARI
Education
STARLAB
Program
School of
Galactic
Radio
Astronomy
Duke
TIP
Program
Solar/Lunar
Telescope
for Public
Outreach
Teacher
Workshops
Gamma Ray
Bursts
Today and
Tomorrow
Pisgah
Forest
Institute
PARI
SGRA
Summer
Workshops
Summary of the Education Programs:
 STARLAB: Portable Planetarium, visits
region schools, with more than 3500
students in 2001-2002 participating
 SGRA: Internet Classroom using the 4.6
m radio telescope remotely
 DUKE TIP: Dr. Keohane from the NC
School of Science & Math directs the
Talent Identification Program Astronomy
Summer Camp at PARI
 LUNAR/SOLAR Telescope: Live
Internet video of Sun and Moon for
education/public outreach
 SGRA TEACHER WORKSHOPS
 PFI TEACHER WORKSHOPS: Pisgah
Forest Institute Environment Program
includes astronomy component at PARI
 GAMMA RAY BURST WORKSHOP:
8-10 Aug 2002 workshop to prepare for
ground-based work in response to
SWIFT Mission
Introduction to
SGRA
 The Internet Classroom
is called the
School of
Galactic Radio
Astronomy, or SGRA.
 The purpose of SGRA is to
teach the basics of scientific
inquiry, which includes
methodology, critical thinking,
and communication of results
to students in grades 8-12.
 Relies on Internet access to
PARI’s remote-controlled 4.6m radio telescope.
The 4.6-m Radio Telescope
• Smiley shown
with a 26-m in
the background
• 1.4, 4.8, 6.7,
12.2 GHz
Feeds
• Alt-Az Mount
JAVA Applet
Control Panel
is shown here
– software is
combination
of Visual
Basic 6 and
JAVA code.
Internet Access to the
4.6-m Radio Telescope
• T1 Line
• Teacher given username, Password
• Teacher/students schedule observing
time
• Live video of Smiley
• Smiley Control Panel accessed by
any browser
• Control Panel includes:
• Pointing/tracking
• Spectrometer Spectrum control
• Spectrometer Continuum control
To Use the Telescope
For a teacher and class to participate in
SGRA and use the telescope, the
teacher needs to attend a 2 day
workshop. Goals of the workshop:
• Learn how to use the 4.6-m radio
telescope on site and remotely;
• Learn the basics of radio astronomy;
• Develop proficiency in using the
curriculum modules;
• Develop one original use of the
SGRA facilities.
• Given username & password,
schedule observing time
Labs Prepared for SGRA
Lab Title
Topic
What’s
Between the
Stars?
Radio emission from interstellar clouds
Detecting
Radio Waves
How radio telescopes and their detectors
work
Radio Waves
from Space
How different type of radio emission are
produced
Mapping
Constructing a contour map; a Math
exercise
Waves and
Energy
Concept of energy per second emitted by a
radio source
Lab Title
Celestial Object
What Does the Center of the
Milky Way Look Like?
Galactic Center
Star Formation, Interstellar
Dust, and Gas
Orion Nebula
Collapsed Stars
Pulsars
Expanding Shell of Matter
Cassiopeia A
Close to Home
Moon and Sun
Beta-Test Experiences
 Six young scholars from A.C. Reynolds
High School in Buncombe County near
Asheville, N.C. visited PARI in November
2001. The group, plus three of their curious
teachers are shown above.
 These students and teachers are the first
group to beta test SGRA labs.
 They compared the radio brightness of the
Sun to Cassiopea A. If they had radio
eyes, they would be told not to look
directly at the Sun and Cas A !
In March 2002, seven high school students
from the North Carolina School of Science
and Math (NCSSM) spent ten days at PARI.
The student projects included:
•
Mapping the Galactic Center at 1420 MHz using the
West 26 m radio telescope
•
Mapping the entire Galactic Plane at 1420 MHz using
the Smiley 4.6 m radio telescope
•
Measuring the frequency dependence of quasar
emission using the West 26-m radio telescope
•
Measuring the pointing model for the East 26-m radio
telescope
•
Building a radio telescope from scratch
•
Two NCSSM students mapped the Galactic
Plane at 1420 MHz using Smiley sampling
every 2.0 degrees along the plane.
•
Since Smiley’s FWHM beamwidth is about
3 degrees at 1420 MHz, they were able to
measure the coarse velocity structure of the
Galactic Plane.
•
Their map is shown below. The brightest
spot is Cas A.
•
Teachers/students can do the same thing
remotely, and demonstrates the capability
of the 4.6-m radio telescope.
Students from Brevard High School, North
Carolina, have been using Smiley and SGRA
labs throughout the Spring 2002 term.
Part of their intent was to point out ways to
improve the SGRA and Smiley program. We
list their major comments for improvement
and changes as a result:
Comment: The original Internet access was
done through direct connection using a
remote communications software package.
The communications was very slow, even
though both sides were using T1
connections.
Change: A JAVA Applet interface was
developed to replace the direct link remote
communications package. Reaction time
improved greatly. In addition, no special
software is required by the high school –
any Java enabled browser will work.
Comment: The telescope slews to hardware
limits, instead of taking the most efficient
path in Azimuth and Altitude.
Change: The software was revised to make
the slew more efficient.
Comment: The spectrometer is difficult to
use because of the small dynamic range (i.e.
gains and offsets have to be changed often)
and signals saturate the output.
Change: The spectrometer they used had a
12-bit A/D converter. We have upgraded to
a new spectrometer with a 20-bit A/D
converter and now have plenty of dynamic
range. The spectrometer is now easy to use
with signals not saturating the output.
Comment: Smiley was fun to use once we
understood what we were looking at!
Change: The comment here is one we enjoy
hearing. Radio observations are much
different that optical. Students are beginning
to appreciate the sea of electromagnetic
radiation in which we are immersed.
In the coming year we are opening
the SGRA and Smiley Project to
teachers/students in regional high
schools. The remote use of Smiley
may
interest
those
teaching
undergraduate general astronomy
courses as well. Teacher Workshops
are being offered July 15-17 and
again July 24-26, 2002.
Contact Information:
Michael Castelaz
Astronomical Studies and Education
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC 28772
Phone: 828-862-5554
FAX: 828-862-5877
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.pari.edu
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Space Telescope Science
Institute IDEAS Program for partial support of the
School of Galactic Radio Astronomy.
Also, we appreciate the support we have received
from the South Carolina State University NASA
PAIR program for their development of the 4.6-m
radio telescope controls and detectors. This is a
mutual benefit between the SCSU students and
mentors and PARI.
We also acknowledge support from the Z.Smith
Reynolds Foundation for their generous support of
teacher workshops.