Internet Access to a 4.6-m Radio Telescope for High

Schools & Colleges

M. W. Castelaz, J. D. Cline (Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute)

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

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 0.12-m 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.

Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute

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Current Education Programs at PARI

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 4.6-m 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

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

Labs Prepared for SGRA

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.

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.

Contact Information:Michael CastelazAstronomical Studies and EducationPisgah Astronomical Research Institute1 PARI DriveRosman, NC 28772Phone: 828-862-5554FAX: 828-862-5877E-mail: mcastelaz@pari.eduWeb: http://www.pari.edu