NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP)

PROGRAM INFORMATION + Home Page + Program News + Applications being accepted...go here + Round 1 + Round 2 + Round 3 + Round 4 + Round 5 + Round 6 + (All programs) + Accomplishments + Educational Products + AAS Posters & Photos + Press Coverage + Visiting the SSC + Policies and Procedures CURRENT TEAMS + Round 6 Other EPO programs using real data

Programs Using Real Astronomy Data There are many other programs out there that get teachers and/or students in contact with real astronomy data. Here are the ones we know about. Please let us know if you know of one not listed here. Astronomy Programs for Teachers and Students All of these programs aimed at educators and students up through grade 13; there are many more opportunities to get your hands on real data in college. Also note that the programs are very roughly sorted by wavelength; the wavelength regime as listed is often the primary but not the only data used in the program. Radio NRAO's teacher programs, including Research Experience for Teachers (Primarily aimed at teachers, applications due in February annually.) Pulsar Search Collaboratory (Primarily aimed at teachers; annual cycle of admissions.) Pulse@Parkes. (Australian schools must apply.) Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT). (Primarily aimed at teachers, annual rolling application cycle.) Student Planetary Investigator (PI) Mini-RF program. Work with radio data from the Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter. (Teams of students plus a teacher can participate anytime; registration required.) Arecibo Remote Command Center (ARCC), available for students near University of Texas-Brownsville or University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Unclear if they are still accepting new students. School of Galactic Radio Astronomy (Smiley), from the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute. Infrared NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Project (NITARP) (Primarily aimed at teachers; applications due annually in September. Educators must be US-based.) Also see Cool Cosmos, the IPAC EPO site, which has classroom activities. (anyone can grab these anytime) Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) education program. (anyone can participate anytime; activities available on that site for using real WISE data in classroom environments.) Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has several online resources, including an online graduate course. See also next item. (anyone can grab these anytime; grad course works in cycles) SOFIA's Airborne Ambassadors (Aimed at teachers; approximately annual application cycle -- check the web for deadlines.) Optical Hands-On Universe (HOU). High school and middle school curriculum materials and image processing software available online, much of it for free. (Primarily aimed at teaches; rolling admission for most activities.) SDSS education, see specifically Sky Server projects. (anyone can participate anytime) Other Worlds/Other Earths. (middle and high school teachers and students can participate anytime after registering.) MicroObservatory online telescopes. (anyone can participate anytime) WorldWide Telescope Ambassadors Program. (Primarily teachers in a few specific geographic regions, so far Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and more to come; watch website for details.) Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT), education division. See in particular Agent Exoplanet. Has absorbed what used to be just Faulkes Telescopes. (Opportunities for teachers and students; lots of tutorials online.) Galaxies and Cosmos Explorer Tool, from UTexas Austin. (Anyone can participate anytime.) NOAO's Research-Based Science Education (RBSE) (Primarily aimed at teachers; program on hiatus for now.) Mars Exploration Student Data Teams (MESDT). (Teams of students plus a teacher can participate anytime; registration required.) GRAIL MoonKAM. Request pictures of the Moon. (Classroom teams register anytime.) National Schools' Observatory. (Available only to schools in the UK and Ireland) Telescopes in Education -- at least used to be a NASA-based program including Mt. Wilson. The website is currently entirely in Japanese and has nothing whatsoever to do with astronomy. Current status of program unknown. Telescopes in Schools, a program to put research-grade telescopes into secondary schools. (Available only to schools around Melbourne, Australia) X-rays HEASARC has many substantial programs for education and outreach; see in particular You be the Astrophysicist and Student Hera for things that get you in touch with real data. (anyone can grab these anytime) Chandra has many substantial programs for education and outreach; see in particular Classroom Activities and Chandra Education Data Analysis Software and Activities for things that get you in touch with real data. (anyone can grab these anytime) Rutgers Astrophysics Institute, in collaboration with Chandra. (Aimed at student+teacher teams in NJ area; annual cycle with applications.) Other, or multi-wavelength THEMIS outreach; see in particular GEONS. (Aimed at teachers in rural areas of Northern US.) NASA INSPIRE (Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience) (ONLY students; annual application due in June.) University of Washington Astronomy trains high school teachers to offer Astro101 in their classes; some teachers also offered summer research opportunities. (ONLY teachers in the Seattle area.) McDonald Observatory Teacher Workshops involve observing time and comparing ground- and space-based data. (ONLY teachers, applications for summer workshops solicited annually in Feb.) International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) - following up asteroids (initially detected in other bands) from the ground in dedicated campaigns. (Anyone can participate, but campaigns are planned in advance, and requires background work.) Killer Asteroid Project and its parent Astronomical Research Institute. Seems to be most heavily involved with IASC. Global Jet Watch, run by University of Oxford, UK. Monitoring SS433. Public-web-access robotic telescopes Bradford Robotic Telescope, run by University of Bradford (UK). Web-based access to a suite of telescopes on Tenerife. Charles Sturt University Remote Telescope Project in Australia. Faulkes Telescope Project, which has since been absorbed by LCOGT Liverpool Telescope, a telescope on La Palma in the Canaries. MONET, the MOnitoring NEtwork of Telescopes, run by the Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, McDonald Observatory, and the South African Astronomical Observatory. Tzec Maun Foundation The SkyNet Astronomy Citizen Science Originally grabbed from here, which has a much better list, with a description for each project. These programs all involve the use of real data on the forefront of astronomical research, but are "packaged" so as to make accessing the real data far more easy (e.g., entirely web browser-based) than it might be otherwise. These projects are a great way to start to get into real data. Many offer "hooks" to get into the research questions at a deeper level when you are ready. SETI at home International Observer the Moon Night Globe at Night. NB: data will also be used for evaluating effects on wildlife; activities to come. Great World-Wide Star Count Ice Hunters (Part of Zooniverse) Moon Zoo (Part of Zooniverse) Planet Hunters (Part of Zooniverse) Solar Stormwatch Milky Way Project (Part of Zooniverse) Galaxy Zoo (Part of Zooniverse) Stardust at Home Citizen Sky Cosmo Quest Some citizen science programs are available at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute - see links on that page. Even Bigger Projects Things that need more of a time commitment, e.g., your own observatory (not a 3inch Walmart telescope, but not a 3.5 meter either): Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers American Association of Variable Star Observers Global Telescope Network - following up objects (initially detected at Gamma Ray and X-ray bands) from the ground. (Anyone can participate, but registration required.) Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory BAA Jupiter Section Radio Jove

Funding for NITARP comes from the NASA ADP program and NASA/Archive EPO program.

Questions? E-mail nitarp -- at -- ipac DOT caltech DOT edu