Download Development of Makali`i and Teaching Materials

Development of Makali`i and Teaching Materials Using
Authentic Resources of Scientific Observation
Toshihiro HORAGUCHI1) , Masamitsu GOSHIMA2), Tadashi HARA3),
Hidehiko AGATA4) and paofits WG
1)
Department of Science and Engineering, National Museum of Nature and Science,
3-23-1 Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0073
2)
Sugamo High School, 1-21-1 Kami-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0012
3)
Toyooka High School, 1-15-1 Toyooka, Iruma, Saitama 358-0003
4)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588
Abstract
We have developed a FITS image analysis software, Makali`i, for education. Makali`i has
many functions with easy-to-use interface, such as photometry, astrometry, graph-drawing, etc.
It runs on MS-Windows and is free for educational purpose. Along with the software, we are
also developing teaching materials which are based on authentic observational data of research
use. The hand-on analysis of real data inspires interest of students and makes them effectively
learn how the laws of the universe are derived and how the laws are applied to observations.
1. Introduction
The authors have organized a working
group, paofits WG, whose aim is to develop
teaching materials which utilize “real”
observational data of research grade, such as
of Subaru Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Such teaching materials will
undoubtedly attract students, and the
experience of manipulating observational
data and of getting physical values from the
analysis will be of great effect for their
understanding of science. The paofits WG
consists of school teachers, astronomers of
universities and research institutes such as
NAOJ, ISAS/JAXA, and staff of public
astronomical observatories, museums, and
science centers.
The object of paofits WG is teaching
materials using authentic observational data,
but a difficulty was in the way to use
materials, because such data are written in
FITS format, which is the standard format of
observational data in astronomy; i.e. how we
let students at a classroom manipulate data in
FITS format. The answer of us is Makali`i,
which is a newly-developed image analysis
software for education. We present an outline
of the software, Makali`i, in the next section,
and the teaching materials we have
developed are described in section 3.
2. Image Analysis Software: Makali`i
There are several software for astronomical image analysis such as IRAF, which
can manipulate FITS data. However, they are
for professionals and too difficult for students
(and also for most of teachers) to use. That is
the reason why we develop a new software,
Makali`i, which runs on MS-Windows.
Makali`i has many functions such as
photometry, astrometry, graph-drawing, etc.,
but the interface is very simple and easy to
use. Figure 1 shows Makali`i which opens an
HST image of globular cluster NGC 362. The
display level for viewing can be changed by
the slider. Photometric operation can be done
by a single click for each star. The results are
stored into the FITS file as ASCII table
extension and can be output in CSV format.
Makali`i can easily draw the graph of a slice
Fig. 1. Photometry mode of Makali`i measuring
stars of globular cluster NGC 362.
of the image, and the function is useful
especially for the analysis of a specrum
image.
Makali`i is free for the purpose of research,
education, and outreach activity, as long as
the use is non-commercial. You can get
Makali`i from http://makalii.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.
3. Teaching Materials of paofits
Teaching materials that we have developed
are opened to the public at http://paofits.nao.
ac.jp/Materials/. The first set of materials is
of color-magnitude diagram of star clusters,
and the set is composed of “Age of a globular
cluster,” “Main-sequence stars of a open
cluster,” “Stellar evolution of clusters.”
Figure 2 shows a color-magnitude diagram of
NGC 362, whose colors and magnitudes are
measured by Makali`i and processed by an
Excel macro which is included in our
materials. Students then compare diagrams of
star clusters with theoretical isochrones, and
determine the ages of clusters.
The second set of materials is of distance
ladder of astronomical objects. The set is still
under development, and the released items at
present are “Main-sequence fitting of open
cluster M38,” “Distance of M100 using a
Cepheid variable observed by HST key
Fig. 2. Color-magnitude diagram of NGC 362.
Students draw such diagrams and determine the
ages of clusters with our teaching materials.
project,” “Maximum magnitude of type-Ia
supernova and the distance of UGC 9391,”
and “Redshift of galaxies and Hubble’s law.”
We regret to say that the teachers’ guide
and the worksheets for students of the
materials are prepared only in Japanese at
present. However, we believe that not only
Makali`i but also the teaching materials will
help your educational activity, since the FITS
data are universal and you can arrange the
teaching materials freely by yourselves.
The teaching materials are based in part on
data obtained from the SMOKA science
archive at Astronomy Data Center, NAOJ.
This research is supported by NAOJ, and
Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
(17500620).