Teaching Science with Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data

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

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

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What is the SDSS?

• Goal Create a 3-D map of the universe

Image courtesy Adrian Pope, JHU
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Data

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

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Before the SDSS
Star cluster Palomar 5
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After the SDSS
Star cluster Palomar 5
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Accessing the Data

• All data available to anyone, free of charge, on
  the SkyServer web site
• http//skyserver.sdss.org

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Tools - Navigate

• 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

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Tools Object Explorer

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

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Tools - Query

• Search for all objects meeting given criteria
• Uses Microsoft Structured QueryLanguage (SQL)
• SQL tutorial on site

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The Power of SkyServer
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
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Educational Projects

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

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Levels of Projects

• For Kids
• Basic
• Advanced middle school students
• High school students
• Curious adults
• Advanced
• Advanced high school students
• Introductory level college students
• Amateur astronomers

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Key Features 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
• Teachers guide and sample responses for all
  projects
• Password protected
• Sample responses available on request to students
  and others doing projects independently

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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

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Teachers Guides

• Teachers 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

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Example Hubble Diagram

• 1929 Edwin Hubble discovers expansion of
  universe
• Foundation of modern astronomy
• Students repeat discovery with SDSS data

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Example Hubble Diagram

• Students calculaterelative distancesto galaxies
• Identify galaxiesfrom images
• Use severalmethods to finddistances

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Example Hubble Diagram

• Find redshifts(velocities) from observed
  spectra
• Use sametemplates asSDSS scientists

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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

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Example Hubble Diagram

• Teachers Guide
• Project goals
• Knowledge required
• Estimated time
• Advice on leading classes
• Correlations to educational standards

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For Kids

• 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.
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Basic Projects

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

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Advanced 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

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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 http//skyserver.sdss.org

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Want more information?

• Volunteer your classes to test projects
• http//skyserver.sdss.org
• http//www.sdss.org
• E-mail raddick_at_pha.jhu.edu or rsparks_at_fnal.gov