GEARS Workshop Thursday

1. GEARS Workshop Thursday 2012

2. Warm Up Howdy! Please add some more thoughts to paper evals Please complete your morning warmup

3. Parking lot

4. Transit of Venus Microobservatory – has lots of images of Transit of Venus – June 5, 2012 Software link on your flash drive http://mo-www.harvard.edu/jsp/servlet/MO.ID.ImageDirectory http://transitofvenus.org/education/teacher-resources

5. Switching GEARS from Supernova and Fusion Search for extra solar planets This is looking for planets around other stars Not looking for objects orbiting the Sun There is an app for that And the resource for all things planet searchy: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/

6. Engage: Demonstration Take a look at ONE of these ways to represent a star with a planet as seen from a distant observer on Earth (hint for leaders – use a light bulb…) Brainstorm ways to find planets based on this information

7. Engage: Planet demos • Brainstorm how you might detect planets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WApazS6-mu4 Gears@colstate.edu Gears@ColumbusState.edu after May 1

8. Kepler Mission Staring at a part of the sky for 3.5 years Watching the brightness of stars Looks for dimming of light from star Periodically!

9. Make some predictions See the daily agenda – 9:35 am slot. (or next slide) Think about why you are making your predictions Spend less than 7 minutes on your predictions Write down your predictions AND YOUR REASONING!

10. Which type of system make it easier to find planets using this technique. If it doesn't matter, write EQUAL CHANCE Less massive stars or more massive stars. Planets with orbits that are closer to circular or highly elliptical orbits. Face-on orbits or edge-on orbits. Small diameter planets or large diameter planets. Small mass planets or large mass planets. Planets close to star or planets far from star.

11. Now test your predictions

12. Explore: Transit Simulator Semi-major axis – average distance from star – see ellipse definition Eccentricity – ellipticity – or deviation from round – see ellipse definition Inclination – how much plane of orbit tilts as seen from Earth. Face-on = 0 degrees. Edge on = 90. Longitude – angle that plane of orbit seen by earth – think 2-D ellipse that you aren’t looking at from short or long axis – but at an angle

13. Discuss What definition did your group use for easier to find?

14. Easier to find % flux change – bigger easier to see Frequency of dip – must balance between the orbital period (e.g. 100 years vs. 1 year) and the fraction of the orbital period the star is blocked. Need to discuss normalized flux – 100% of star light seen vs 99%. Other simulator used 0.1 instead of .99 to represent a 1% drop.

15. Thinking about teaching How can using a simulation help students understand science?

16. After play with sim Create a hypothesis Write a hypothesis in the form of "If xxx massive stars make it easier to find planets then I expect to see ________." What is your independent variable? What is your dependent variable? What are your controlled variables? What have you used as a structure or model to help build your hypothesis? (i.e. what reasons do you have for believing your hypothesis?)

17. Compare hypothesis What types of questions might your students come up with? Is this suitable for a science fair? What constitutes a testable hypothesis? Where does this activity this fall on the Rigor & Relevance Framework?

18. Good vs. Testable Hypothesis Hypothesis: If it is easier to find massive planets then I expect to see more massive planets. Testable with simulator or no? Discuss Testable hypotheses vs. Good questions to ask.

19. Elaborate: Kepler Flash Assign multiple people to examine same star to be able to compare answers. Form to complete for answers. Compare your results to someone else’s with same object

20. Evaluate: Graphing Kepler Data in Excel Now it is time to use the real deal

21. Kepler - Period Multiple ways to decide the period. Group discussion about what those methods are.

22. Kepler Peer Review Compare results with other participants who had the same planet. Provide a formal review of their results on your whiteboard.

23. Kepler Planet - answers

24. The Atlas http://exep.jpl.nasa.gov/atlas/atlas_index.cfm (from http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov)

25. % difference, % error Is it appropriate to calculate the percent difference or % error of your results with the astronomically published results in this case? Discuss in groups.

26. Citizen Science & Kepler data http://www.planethunters.org/ Kepler data for your own investigations – published quarterly A list (in Excel format) of candidates is published (as of Apr 2011) in directory: http://archdev.stsci.edu/pub/kepler/catalogs/

27. Kepler candidates Or from link on News page http://archive.stsci.edu/kepler/ If you visit the html version – you can click on the candidate and plot the light curves from publicly accessible data. (Only the EX – not the STKS)

28. Corrected, Uncorrected

29. Demonstration #2 Brainstorm some ways to detect planets using this demonstration as inspiration. Hand out set of demonstrations for each person.

30. Radial velocity Vs. tangential Video – introduction http://planetquest1.jpl.nasa.gov/Planet_Finder/planetfinder.html And Radial velocity Requires sound

31. Doppler Shift Introduction to Doppler shift of light Redshift Blueshift From radial velocity link in Planet Quest video Must use spectral lines – otherwise is just continuous shift to continuous… http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/dopp.html#c3

32. Doppler Shift Lecture Tutorial Complete this exercise in groups of 2 to 3. This is designed to be completed while you are discussing with other people. This is not designed to be completed on your own. (despite the fact we keep assigning them as homework)

33. Doppler Shift Misconception • Summarize – depending on where are • ABC red, yellow, blue stars • Or spacecraft/planets

34. Habitable Zone Define it based on your understanding from the simulation Whiteboard and defend your definition

35. Scientific definitions Mutually agreed upon by many

36. Habitable zone Defined as location in a solar system in which a planetary surface could support liquid water Does not include greenhouse effect heating (like on Earth) Does not include tidal heating – such as on Europa

37. Why liquid water? Ties to other disciplines – chemistry, biology

38. Other speculations What else might be required for life? Might we find life? How might we look?

39. Carbon based/Silicon based How can a discussion of habitable zone be used in biology, chemistry, physics?

40. Habitable Zones Presentations.. Of various levels of difficulty http://lasp.colorado.edu/~espoclass/homework/.../Astr3300_sept14_18.ppt www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/EXTRA2005/talks/Franck.ppt http://phobos.physics.uiowa.edu/~kaaret/sgu.../L07_extrasolarplanets2.ppt SETI Institute Resources for Educators. http://www.seti.org/seti-educators (look what you could do next summer… http://www.seti.org/seti-educators/asset )

41. Making connections Does this content tie to anything you teach?

42. In 2020, a spacecraft lands on Europa and melts its way through the ice into the Europan ocean. It finds numerous strange, living microbes, along with a few larger organisms that feed on the microbes. a. This is likely because biosignatures were already detected on Europa by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. b. This could happen because there is evidence for an ocean underneath the icy surface of Europa and water is a good place to look for life. c. This is fantasy because it would take more than 10 years for a spacecraft to reach Jupiter using current rocket technology. d. This is fantasy because the X-ray emission from Jupiter has effectively sterilized all the moons around it.