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Program News
July-September 2008
The Z Cha team of twelve teachers and students had a very successful visit to the SSC during Sept 28-Oct 1 to work on analyzing their Spitzer
data with lead scientists Don Hoard (SSC) and Steve Howell (NOAO). The team is currently beginning work on poster presentations for the
January AAS.
The NGC 4051 team had a successful visit at the SSC during August 9-12 working with lead scientist Varoujan Gorjian on their Spitzer data.
Twenty-six teachers and students attended. The team is now preparing posters for the January AAS.
After visiting the SSC in June, the Lynds Dark Nebulae team of eighteen teachers and students are now working with lead scientist Luisa
Rebull on preparing their presentations for the January AAS meeting. The team is working on both scientific and educational posters.
June-July 2008
A new project has been added to the program; "IRAC Monitoring of NGC 4051 for Interday Variability".
This is part of a joint Spitzer/WISE program.
The Lynds Dark Nebulae team of had a very successful visit to the SSC to work on their Spitzer data with lead scientist Luisa Rebull during June 14-17, 2008. Eighteen teachers and students attended. The team confirmed the presence of a likely Class I protostar in Lynds 425, determining its Spitzer SED for the first time.
The NGC 4051 team will be visiting the SSC to work with Varoujan Gorjian on their data during August 9-12. Twenty-six teachers and students are planning to attend, making this the largest program group to ever visit the SSC.
The Z Cha team is planning a data reduction visit to the SSC in the fall - probably in September.
May 2008
January 2008 - April 2008
- Two new projects have been approved and submitted for scheduling: "Star Formation in Lynds Dark Nebulae" and "Spitzer Light Curve of Z Cha".
- The Lynds clouds team is planning a visit to the SSC during June 14-17 to work on some of their data and to work on the archival research described in their proposal.
- Tim Spuck's student, junior Matt Walentosky, presented his Spitzer work at the 69th Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair. He will be one of three students from the event to move on to competition (all expenses paid) at the International Science & Engineering Fair in Atlanta, Georgia May 11 - 17, 2008. At the event he will be competing against students from 49 states and 48 other countries. Matt's research project is on the cataclysmic variable star WZ Sge. He used observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope, Perth Observatory, and light curves from previous studies to better understand the nature of the object and its associated activity. In addition to moving on to International competition, Matt has been awarded a $12,500 annual scholarship to Allegheny College, and an honorable mention award by the US Army.
- Tim Spuck's student, senior Nick Kelley, also presented his Spitzer work at the 69th Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair. Nick conducted his research on two potential T-Tauri stars in the Witch Head Nebula. He used observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Kitt Peak 0.9 Meter Telescope, and Perth Observatory to conclude that the candidates studied are indeed young sun-like stars in the early stages of development. Nick's research won him first place out of nearly 300 students competing in the Carnegie Science Award's senior division. He also won the $300 first place prize in the Earth/Space/Environment category, and a $50 sponsorship award from the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. Nick will be attending the awards banquet for the Spectroscopy Society on April 21, and the awards ceremony for the Carnegie Science Award on May 9, where he will be presenting his research and formally accepting the awards.
- Rosa Hemphill's student Emily Petroff continued her student project from last year. She presented her work on the star formation rate (from the cluster center) for cl1037 last year. This year, she worked on two additional clusters, cl1127 and cl1232. Emily presented her results at the OES Aardvark Expo, where she received a first place in the Physics and Astronomy category.
October 2007 - January 2008
- The program had a very strong showing at the January 2008 AAS meeting. A total of ten posters were presented by program teachers, students, and scientists generating a great deal of interest from others at the meeting. In all, eight teachers and twelve students presented their Spitzer work. All ten posters can be viewed here
- Steve Pompea led a workshop for the newly selected Spitzer program teachers at the Jan AAS meeting during which the teachers learned more about the Spitzer Space Telescope and infrared astronomy. They were also were introduced to infrared educational activities and learned how to get their students involved in research.
- The Brown Dwarf team had a very successful visit to the SSC in October, during which they came up with some surprising new findings about their object, WZ Sagittae. The team produced the first mid- infrared light curve of any cataclysmic variable. Instead of the expected flat light curve, the results showed a deep and wide eclipse as well as evidence of a large accretion disk. As a result of their findings, members of the Brown Dwarf team submitted a new observing proposal.
- The first self contained lesson plan has been added to the program Wiki (https://coolwiki.ipac.caltech.edu).
July-September 2007
- The Spitzer Space Telescope Program for Teachers and Students received a NASA Group Achievement Award "for significant contributions to Education and Public Outreach and for an outstanding performance in developing and implementing the Spitzer Space Telescope observing program."
- SSC EPO and NOAO have agreed on a proposal to expand the teachers' program with the addition of about twelve new teachers and three additional research teams. One experienced teacher will be assigned to each team as a mentor.
- Two of Jeff Adkins' students, Thomas Travagli and Alekzandir Morton, wrote and submitted a proposal to conduct further observations of S5 0716+714 using Spitzer's Infrared Spectrograph to determine the redshift of this target, which is not well known. They plan to use this information to help determine the nature and temperature of the infrared bump they saw in the previous observation. The proposal was approved and submitted for scheduling.
- The Star Formation team will present an education poster at the January 2008 AAS meeting.
- The Brown Dwarf team will visit the SSC during October 14-17 to reduce and analyze data for WZ Sge. Three teachers, three students and two scientists will work on data during this visit.
- Several articles written by Spitzer teachers and students can be found in the 2007 RBSE journal at
http://www.noao.edu/education/arbsefolder/files/rbsejournal07.pdf
- The teacher's WIKI has undergone a complete reorganization:
https://coolwiki.ipac.caltech.edu/index.php/Main_Page
April-June 2007
- The Star Formation team is doing some additional work on their data and will be working on a poster to be presented at the next AAS meeting in January.
- Ardis Herrold's student, Zackery Schroeder, presented the results of his Spitzer research at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair at Albuquerque, NM in May. He received a fourth place in the Physics & Astronomy division. Zak also published his research in the RBSE Journal sponsored by NOAO, which will come out sometime this summer.
- Rosa Hemphill's student, Emily Petroff, did an independent project directly related to Spitzer research and presented her results at the INTEL science and engineering fair. At the ISEF she received the Priscilla and Bart Bok Second Place Award from the American Astronomical Society and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. She also received the American Association of Physics Teachers Outstanding Physics Student of the Year Award. Emily also presented her work at the OES Science Symposium (April 27, 2007) and reported her work in the OES 2006-2007 Research Activity Journal (June 2007). Emily's cluster work is a direct benefit of the Spitzer Teacher Program and support from program mentors (Drs. Greg Rudnick, Rose Finn, and Vandana Desai).
- Jeff Adkins' students Manutej Mulaveesala, Thomas Travagli, and Alekzandir Morton presented a science fair project on the results of observing S5 0716+714 using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes. They won 1st place in 11th grade physical science at their local science fair, and were invited to compete at the California State Science Fair. They won a 4th place at the California State Science Fair as well. The young men also received a medallion from the Yale Science and Engineering Association for Most Outstanding 11th Grade Exhibit in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics or Chemistry. The students have also been presenting their work at several meetings.
- Thomas Loughran's students, seniors Matt Pellegrino and Vinay Patel wrote up the results of their year-long study of star formation rate and morphology of three clusters observed with Spitzer. The results were accepted for publication in the RBSE Journal
- Cynthia Weehler reports that the Spitzer Teacher Program is partly responsible for the San Antonio Independent School District's decision to add Astronomy courses to their high school curriculum.
January-March 2007
- The Brown Dwarf team submitted a proposal to continue their project. The proposal was accepted.
The interacting short period binary WZ Sge, will be observed using IRAC.
Previously, four magnetic interacting binaries were observed using Spitzer.
WZ Sge is a non-magnetic white dwarf and a brown dwarf companion. It is the closest and
brightest interacting binary. The data collected will allow the team to compare the magnetic and non-magnetic binaries.
Also, optical data of WZ Sge will be collected at Kitt Peak in the summer of 2007. Spectroscopic data and photometry
will be obtained and together will help fully characterize the eclipse and dust in the system.
The multi-wavelength data will be used in classrooms.
- The IC2118 team was awarded 2 nights of observing time in January on the Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope.
They were able to get spectra on approximately 12 targets.
- The IC2118 team is moving towards producing at least one professional journal article on their studies of this region.
The teachers are considering whether or not to submit their own article to the RBSE journal at NOAO.
In order to do a complete analysis, the team has been working on obtaining additional data.
- Several of Tim Spuck's students were awarded time on the Kitt Peak 9-meter Telescope at the end of January to conduct
H-alpha observations of IC2118.
During February and March, Mr. Spuck and his students used a robotic telescope in Perth Australia to monitor several of the
T-tauri candidates. This includes approximately 20 students in Mr. Spuck's space science classes.
- Rosa Hemphill's Spitzer student used data for cl1037 to look at star formation rates out from the center of the cluster
and in pairs within the cluster. She presented at the Oregon Junior Academy of Science at Western Oregon University and again
at the Aardvark Expo on March2, 2007; her project was selected for First Place honors in Physics and as Best of Fair. She will present her work at the International Science and Engineering Fair in May.
- Ardis Herrold's Spitzer student, Zak Schroeder,
participated in his regional science fair, and did well enough to qualify for the International Fair to be held this May in
Albuquerque. His project title is "Galaxy Clusters: The Local Effects on Star Synthesis".
Zak was also interviewed by one of the local papers, the Grosse Pointe Times. The article was published on March 14.
- Tom Loughran's students, high school seniors Vinay Patel and Matt Pellegrino, prepared a paper for publication based upon
their Spitzer research: "Star Formation Rate in Three High Redshift Galaxy Clusters: A Contribution to the Study of Galactic
Evolution". The paper will be submitted to the RBSE Journal on April 3rd.
- Tom Loughran's students submitted a team project to the Northern Indiana Regional Science and Engineering Fair. They earned
a First in Division--Intel Excellence in Computer Science award, as well as other cash awards from the Michiana Astronomical
Society and the Physics Club of Notre Dame. Finally, the story of their participation in the Spitzer project was written up on
the front page of the Community section of the South Bend Tribune on March 20, 2007. The SBT has a circulation of 146,476
- Russ Laher (SSC) has been working on developing a sophisticated Excel spreadsheet that will enable a regular teacher to take a Spitzer-based catalog (particularly the one associated with this project) and generate SED plots and fits.
December 2006 - January 2007
September 2006
- The GLAST team visited the SSC in from September 15-18 to reduce and analyze quasar spectra from their round 2 data.
- The Brown Dwarf team reports that spectra for EF Eri was obtained on September 8th. The group may visit the SSC within the next couple of months to reduce and analyze this data. They would like to put together a poster for the January AAS.
- Research done by the IC2118 team was written up in Astronomy Magazine, Sept., 2006.
July 2006
- The IC2118 team visited the SSC from July 6-9 to reduce and analyze data from their round 2 proposal. The group plans to present a poster at the January AAS meeting.
- The M81 group visited the SSC from July 10-12 to reduce and analyze data from their round 1 proposal. They processed data to determine which was usable for identifying new stars in the tidal tails. The team is currently working on a presentation for the January AAS meeting.
- The Star Formation group worked at the SSC during July 25-28 to reduce data for one of their observations.
The team succeeded in establishing a star formation rate for one of their galaxy clusters.
June 2006
- Observations have been completed for round 2 of the GLAST program. The team is now working on ground based data and
can visit the SSC at any time to work on their data.
- The IC2118 team was featured in several press releases and a news program. On Sunday, June 4th, Tim Spuck and his students were
featured in an article in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette (Sunday circulation 401,380).
On June 2, they were featured in an article in The Derrick and News Herald, and earlier in the week on WJET TV in Erie PA.
May 2006
- Cynthia Weehler and one of her students, Jessica Herrera, discussed their involvement with the
Spitzer Research Program for Teachers and Students during an interview on Texas Public Radio. The station has an estimated
audience of 70,000.
- The M81 team plans to visit the SSC to reduce their data during July.
April 2006
- The Iron Star group had a successful visit to the SSC to reduce their Spitzer data for AS 325.
- The IC 2118 team plans to visit the SSC to reduce their Round 2 data during July.
February 2006
- Four Round 2 proposals have been approved and all AORs have been released for scheduling.
- The 6 new Round 2 teachers are all working on a Spitzer observing program which will involve the study star formation
rates in three high redshift galaxy clusters.
- Three teams of teachers from Round 1 (IC 2118, GLAST, and Brown Dwarfs) were awarded additional
observing time to expand on successful work done on their Round 1 programs.
January 2006
- Several groups presented posters on their research at the January 2006 meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
- The Iron Star Group will visit the SSC during April to reduce data for AS 325.
December 2005
- The teachers, whose programs have been observed, have completed their data reduction and analysis visits and are preparing
presentations for the January AAS meeting in Washington D.C..
October 2005
- The Iron Star Group reports that one of their objects,
AS 325, will be observed on October 10th, 2005. The
other object XX Oph was observed in Cycle I and that data won't be
available until late spring of 2006. They have discussed writing a letter
to the Principle Observer and seeing if they could share the data. They are
all awaiting the arrival of the data and are anxious to get together early
next spring to reduce and analyze the data.
- Steve Howell has some additional ground based AS 325 (and XX Oph) spectra
from June, July, August and Septempber that the team will use as part of their
complete picture. The spectra of AS 325 are taken more or less throughout
the eclipse.
September 2005
- The second group of 4 teachers and 3 students from the "Young Stars in
IC2118" team has visited the Spitzer Science Center to work on data
analysis with contact scientist Dr. Luisa Rebull. The visit was a great
success for all. The group was interviewed by a report from the Valley Sun.
August 2005
- The first group of teachers and students from the "Young Stars in IC2118"
team has visited the Spitzer Science Center to work on data analysis with
contact scientist Dr. Luisa Rebull. The visit was a great success for all.
- Mr. Harlan Devore from the "The Supermassive Black Hole in Arp102B "
team, was featured in a Fayetteville Observer Article in the August
4, 2005 issue. The article was titled: "Teachers, students study final
frontier"
- Mr. Spuck and two of his students Brittany Ehrhart and David Bowser,
from the "Young Stars in IC2118" team, were featured in a Titusville
Herald Article in the August 30, 2005 issue. The article was titled: "Final
Frontier"
July 2005
- The data for two objects of the "Detecting Brown Dwarfs in Interacting
Cataclysmic Binaries" project has been archived and released. Teachers and
two students visited the Spitzer Science Center to work on data analysis
with contact scientist Dr. Don Hoard of the Spitzer Science Center and Dr.
Steve Howell of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The
visit was a great success for all.
June 2005
- The data for the "Supermassive Blackhole in APR102B" project has been archived and released. Teachers and four students visited the Spitze
r Science Center to work on data analysis with contact scientist Dr. Ranga Chary. The visit was a great success for all.
- The "AGN Spectral Energy Distributions of GLAST Telescope Network Program Objects" completed the second of two observations of the target
4C 29.45 (Ton 599) using the IRAC instrument. Also during June the data for both sets of observations from IRAC and MIPS was posted for dow
nloading and is now accessible through Leopard.
May 2005
- The data for the "Supermassive Blackhole in APR102B" project has been archived and released. Data analysis is proceding and the teachers
are scheduled to visit the Spitzer Science Center on June 27th, 2005.
- The IRAC data for the "Young Stars in IC 2118" project has been archived and released.
- The MIPS data for the "Intergalactic Star Formation in Tidal Dwarf Galaxies of M81" project has been archived and released.
- The MIPS observation of the "AGN Spectral Energy Distributions of GLAST Telescope Network Program Objects" has been obtained during the mo
nth of May. It is not archived yet. The IRAC observations are scheduled to be obtained on June 9, 2005. The teachers visit to the Spitzer Scie
nce Center has been scheduled for October 2005.
- The IRAC Observations of the "Detecting Brown Dwarfs in Interacting Cataclysmic Binaries" have been scheduled to be obtained during the mo
nth of May. The group will have at least one object to analyze. One of the group's object has been observed and is in the archives (GG Leo obs
erved on 05/06). V347 Pav is not yet re-scheduled and AAVSO 0150-60 (J0153.9-5948) is scheduled for observation on 6/10/05.
April 2005
- The data for the "Supermassive Blackhole in APR102B" project has been archived and released.
- The IRAC data for the "Young Stars in IC 2118" project has been archived and released.
- The MIPS data for the "Intergalactic Star Formation in Tidal Dwarf Galaxies of M81" project has been archived and released.
- The MIPS observation of the "AGN Spectral Energy Distributions of GLAST Telescope Network Program Objects" has been scheduled to be obtain
ed during the month of May.
- The IRAC Observations of the "Detecting Brown Dwarfs in Interacting Cataclysmic Binaries" have been scheduled to be obtained during the mo
nth of May.
March 2005
- The "Supermassive Blackhole in APR102B" observations have been obtained.
- The MIPS data for the "Young Stars in IC 2118" project has been archived and released.
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