In honor of the 2019 airline debacle that resulted in Kate unpacking her rather damaged suitcase of accessible tools and toys on stage at the last in-person RTSRE conference in Melbourne Australia, Kate will introduce her organization’s latest efforts to produce accessible hands-on materials. Teaching astronomy to students with sensory disabilities is the primary motivator […]
Las Cumbres Observatory is a twenty-five telescope network (2 x 2m, 13 x 1m, 10 x 0.4m) based at seven sites around the globe. The telescopes are largely homogenous with similar cameras, spectrographs, filter sets and setups within each size class. It is a purely robotic global network in the sense that a centralised scheduling […]
BRIEF (aka Boyce-Astro) has two remote robotic remote observatories for student research. Five cameras are available any night for students to operate for time-series photometry (e.g. exoplanets), speckle interferometry, astrophotography and virtual star parties. We will summarize their capabilities, limitations, and our experiences in bringing these systems online for student operation and research.
For the past 14 years, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been developing a unique, survey-level astronomy curriculum, primarily for undergraduate students, with the goal of significantly boosting STEM enrolments on a national scale, as well as boosting students’ technical and research skills. Called “Our Place In Space!”, or OPIS!, this curriculum […]
Santa Barbara is well known for it’s excellent food and beverages in the downtown area! Please follow the provided guide to the local area and try something new and/or excellent.
DIY Planet Search is a project of the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian that allows members of the general public to get involved in the hunt for exoplanets. Participants control telescopes in the CfA’s MicroObservatory Robotic Telescope Network through their web browsers, using them to locate potential exoplanets without having to travel to […]
If there is a positive side to the pandemic, it could be the intense focus on online and asynchronous learning. Although it is clear that student achievement and mental health suffered as a result of isolation, students with disabilities and those from rural communities report that this time had many benefits, some of which can […]
Our Place In Space! (OPIS!) is a Skynet-based laboratory curriculum for undergraduates in small to very large, introductory survey courses – and works equally well online as in person. OPIS! consists of eight, and soon nine, labs in which students use the same research instrumentation as professionals to collect their own data. They then use […]
The Alpha Centauri system includes at least three gravitationally bound stars that are remarkably difficult to observe and measure, despite being the closest star system to the Solar System. We observed the A, B, and C stars through the 0.4m telescopes in the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) global network, also employing Our Solar Siblings (OSS) […]
This paper reports on ground-based observations of the candidate exoplanet TOI-2341.01, initially observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The analysis of data provides evidence that TOI-2341.01 is a Jupiter-sized gas giant with a radius of 79475km ± 4013km (RJup 1.112 ± RJup 0.056), orbiting the host star TOI-2341 at a distance of 0.0118 […]
We examine the designations of all G < 12.5 stars classified as RR Lyrae variables in the WISE catalog of periodic variable stars. A three-pronged approach was used, involving literature review, publicly available photometric data, and ground-based follow-up observations for recently discovered objects whose classification remained inconclusive. More than 80 targets were selected for follow-up […]
Recent studies indicate that current algorithmic approaches to large-scale stellar classification are prone to widespread systematic error. We investigate techniques used by the WISE Catalog of Periodic Variable Stars to classify periodic variables. Using our own classifications of the 485 brightest stars categorized as “RR Lyrae” by the WISE Catalog, we compare the speed and […]
RR Lyrae variable stars are historically important cosmic distance indicators which can be used to independently confirm distances derived from Gaia parallax measurements. Theoretical multiband period-luminosity-metallicity (PLM) relationships for RR Lyrae variables have recently been published, which should be verified by comparison to large empirical data sets that can be collected most efficiently using robotic […]
Exoplanet HIP 65 A b is a gas giant of 3 Jupiter masses which orbits every 0.98 days close to its host star, near the Roche Lobe limit within a binary system. The pair of stars within this system is most likely gravitationally bound, but HIP 65 A b orbits only the primary star. Images […]
In 2016, Esseck and Weinberg hypothesized that the Hot Jupiter HAT-P-36 b is experiencing rapid orbital decay and that, consequently, we would be able to detect slight Transit Timing Variations in the near future. I sought to verify this claim by using the Harvard and Smithsonian MicroObservatory and EXOPlanet Transit Interpretation Code to image and […]
Double Stars seem simple on the surface. These are two (or more) stars visibly orbiting around each other over a fairly long period of time. Their positions relative to each other (the position angle and the angular distance) change slowly over time, such that these motions can be tracked over the decades and centuries that […]
PANOPTES helps students and citizen scientists build and operate a worldwide network of low-cost robotic telescopes that survey the night sky for transiting exoplanets. The PANOPTES units consist of medium telephoto lenses on entry-level DSLRs that provide a widefield coverage of the sky. The network of PANOPTES units allows for a continuous survey of the […]
T Tauri stars are known to exhibit variability at all wavelengths. Starspots, cool magnetic field regions on the star’s surface, contribute to this variability and lead to incorrect predictions in stellar evolution models. While many studies on starspot activity have been conducted at a single wavelength range, few surveys have monitored variation in multiple bands […]
Santa Barbara is well known for it’s excellent food and beverages in the downtown area! Please follow the provided guide to the local area and try something new and/or excellent.
Project PANOPTES (Panoptic Astronomical Networked Observatories for a Public Transiting Exoplanets Survey) uses a network of small robotic wide field imaging cameras to map the night sky. While its primary goal is the detection of transiting exoplanets, a number of other sources can be observed with unprecedented cadence and coverage, such as variable stars, asteroids, […]
PASEA (the Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers) is a biannual experiential short course in astronomy for African university students, designed and taught by a team of astronomers and science educators from Africa and across the globe. PASEA’s vision is to build a critical mass of astronomers in Africa and exchange ideas about teaching across continents. […]
The introduction of the robotic telescopes into the classroom offers the opportunity for students to engage with introductory astronomy content in new ways. One such way is when an optical transient event such as a nova, supernova or cataclysmic variable eruption occurs in the middle of the term. In a class using robotic telescopes, students […]
Early experience in astronomical research is fundamentally important to the education of undergraduate students and their preparation for graduate school. Learning how to use robotic telescopes to obtain photometric data, and then reducing and analyzing that data is one way to introduce young students to basic data reduction. Meaningful projects that make use of differential […]
Following the RTSRE conference in 2018, I worked with Skynet Robotic Telescope Network director Dan Reichart and his team to set up a robotic telescope at the University of Saskatchewan. It took the better part of two years to get all the pieces in place, and we finally set up the telescope in April 2020, […]
This workshop will introduce the first of the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network’s second-semester STEAM education labs from the upcoming Multi-Wavelength Universe! curriculum. In the lab, students will collect multiband images of open and globular star clusters with Skynet telescopes, then use Skynet’s web-based, open access tools to align and stack images, run calibrated photometry, and […]
In high school settings, observational astronomy is often relegated to after school clubs and extension programs for highly motivated and interested students. In an effort to bring the awe and wonder of gorgeous astrophotography to all of our students, Brisbane Girls Grammar School has integrated observatory work into our Junior Science curriculum. This presentation will […]
Astronomy programming in both classroom and informal settings has the potential to impact the STEM career interest and STEM identity of middle school aged students. The Youth Astronomy Network, or YouthAstroNet, is an online learning community featuring robotic telescopes, web-based image visualization and analysis tools, and complementary instructional materials that allows students to pursue astronomy […]
Santa Barbara is well known for it’s excellent food and beverages in the downtown area! Please follow the provided guide to the local area and try something new and/or excellent.
Due to the efforts by numerous ground-based surveys and NASA’s Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of transiting exoplanets ideal for atmospheric characterization via spectroscopy with large platforms such as James Webb Space Telescope and ARIEL. However their next predicted mid-transit time could become so increasingly uncertain […]
Gee-Whiz Astronomy Modeling is an international, interscholastic group started by UC Berkeley astrophysicist Carlton Pennypacker, a founding member of the Global Hands of Universe (G-HOU), who in 2020 together with teachers and school-level students from the United States United States, New Zealand, a middle eastern nation, and Chile decide to form an online research group […]
This talk will look at the idea of astronomy for education from two perspectives. The first is an international perspective in the context of International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for Education whose objective is to enable and support teachers, and educators from around the world to take advantage of the potential offered by Astronomy […]
Members from the Global Hands-On Universe (GHOU) Association, the Galileo Teacher Training Program (GTTP) and the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) planned a series of face-to-face and online workshops, to take place during the summer of 2020, for high school physics teachers living in and around Kampala, Uganda. This professional development was intended to support […]
Remote telescope access has recently grown to be a large part of many formal and informal science education experiences globally. Through the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Sky Partners program and the Skynet Telescope Network education programs, thousands of students have easy access to research-grade telescopes. Through the use of these telescopes students gain a sense […]
Our group has developed instruments to measure the self-efficacy and attitudes of participating students in two large federally funded grants. A repeated- measures research design is being used to determine the extent to which the interventions in ASTRO-101 type courses covary with change in efficacy, attitude and performance. This session will present the instruments, their […]
Following the success of the Our Place In Space! (OPIS!) Skynet-based laboratory curriculum for undergraduates, a consortium of educators, led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have started development of a new laboratory curriculum initiative, the Multi-Wavelength Universe – MWU! This new curriculum includes a series of optical and radio astronomy activities […]