Astronomy Data Online

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Astronomy Data Online
Jordan RaddickJohns Hopkins University raddick_at_ph
a.jhu.edu
NVO Outreach MeetingJuly 11, 2002
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Problems of Teaching Astronomy

• Most classes are taught during the day
• Light pollution hampers observing
• Textbooks provide limited data
• Often invented or out of date
• Equipment is prohibitively expensive
• Content quickly becomes outdated

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Partial Solution Online Data Archives

• Open 24/7/365
• The virtual sky is always dark
• The seeing is excellent
• Terabytes of data are available
• Data at all wavelengths
• Most data access is free
• Students use high-quality data from large
  professional observatories

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The Sloan Digital Sky Survey

• One of the largest sky surveys in history
• 25 of night sky
• 100 million objects 9th to 23rd magnitude
• 1 million spectra
• All data will be available online
• Goal create a 3-D map of the universe

Image courtesy Adrian Pope, JHU
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SkyServer

• Education and outreach site for the SDSS
• http//skyserver.sdss.org
• Will make all SDSS data available to general
  public
• Tools for accessing data
• Images (JPEG, with links to FITS)
• Spectra (GIF, with links to FITS)
• Full photometric spectroscopic data
• Projects for students and teachers

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SkyServer Tools

• Navigation tool
• Point-and-click access to sky
• Object Explorer
• all data for a single object
• Query tool
• SQL query language allows students to search
  data
• Data can be exported to spreadsheets

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SkyServer Projects

• Projects for upper elementary through college
  students
• Research Challenges
• Independent, open-ended follow-up projects

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Teacher Resources

• Full lesson plans available for all projects
• Goals, background knowledge, structure
• Advice on leading classes through project
• Sample solutions and rubrics
• Correlations to education standards
• AAAS Project 2061
• NCTM Principles and Standards for School
  Mathematics

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Example Scavenger Hunt

• Designed for 4th-8th grade
• Look for different types of stars andgalaxies
• Introduction to quantitative astronomical data

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Example Hubble Diagram

• 1929 Edwin Hubble discovers expansion of
  universe
• Foundation of modern astronomy
• Students repeat discovery with SDSS data
• Honors/AP high school
• Intro college

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Example Hubble Diagram

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

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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 5,000 galaxies to choose from

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The Power of SkyServer
Richards, et al., Astronomical Journal, 2001
Lauren Saks, freshman creative writing major, JHU
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Lessons Learned

• Creating tools is long and arduous
• Browser compatibility
• Involve professionals from the beginning
• Writers/curriculum designers
• Teachers
• Different levels of education are very different
  audiences
• K-3, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, introductory college,
  college majors

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Lessons Learned

• Strike a balance between taking students
  seriously and confusing them
• Challenging, but not too challenging
• Reading level important
• Were not quite there
• and still learning

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Other Online Data Archives

• Many available, but scattered
• Educational support varies
• See SpaceLink, teachspacescience.org

• Hands-On Astrophysics (AAVSO)
• Telescopes in Education
• ISS-AT
• Lewis and Clark Education Project (EOS)
• Fire Information System (EOS)
• NASA Life Sciences Data Archive
• Landsat 7 Gateway
• The Planetary Rings Node
• SETI_at_Home
• Earth from Space
• Heavens Above
• Human Spaceflight Real-Time Data
• Multi-wavelength Milky Way

• Hands-On Universe
• StSci Archive (MAST, DSS, VLA FIRST, SDSS)
• Amazing Space activities (Galaxy Hunter, Hubble
  Deep Field Academy
• SkyView
• Distant Suns Home Planetarium
• virtualsky.org
• HEASARC
• ROSAT
• Hipparcos SkyPlot
• spaceweather.com
• Advanced Composition Explorer
• Mars Student Imaging Project
• The Daily Martian Weather Report
• PDS Mars Explorer

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NVO Data in Education

• NVOs goal is to collect all data in one place
• All wavelengths
• Need to teach multi-wavelength astronomy
• Can help unify disparate educational efforts
  under one rubric
• Were here to design that rubric
• Here is my outreach fantasy of what that rubric
  might look like

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A model The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• Started in 1990 as searchable index of lists
  compiled by users of rec.arts.movies newsgroup
• Centralized into web site in 1993-94
• Incorporated in 1995, bought by amazon.com in
  1998
• Redesigned in 1999 for ease of navigation

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A model The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• The IMDb didn't start as a dream to build a
  business or a web site. It started as a dream to
  make a tool that we, as movie fans, would find
  really useful and fun.

continued
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A model The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• The NVO outreach web site didn't start as a
  dream to build a business or a web site. It
  started as a dream to make a tool that we, as
  astronomy fans, would find really useful and fun.

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A model The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• Data on almost 300,000 movies
• Full cast crew (cross-referenced)
• Reviews, trivia, links
• Data submitted by registered users and checked
  by staff
• All data are free

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A model The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• Acknowledged source of accurate information
• The Bible of movie information, even to
  professionals
• Education potential in film classes
• Not sure how much educational use
• Over 12 million visitors per month

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The Internet Sky Database?

• The NVOs goal for astronomers
• make all astronomy data available through one
  framework
• Goal for the Public?
• Make all astronomy data available from one web
  site
• NASA popularity proves demand is there
• Pathfinder web site got 100 million hits from
  July 4-7, 1997

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The Internet Sky Database?

• Need to develop powerful tools
• Many questions will begin where do I look in
  the sky to find
• Marks vision from this morning
• Consult with planetarium software developers

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The Internet Sky Database?

• Educational uses will grow out of tools
• Need to market to general public
• We could become The Bible of astronomy
  information