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

1. PARI Education and Research Programs J. D. Cline, M. W. CastelazPisgah Astronomical Research Institute Not-for-profit public foundationwww.pari.edu Session 2.02 Monday, May 30, 2005. AAS 206th Meeting 26m East Radio Telescope Introduction. Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute is a not-for-profit public foundation located on 200 acres in Western North Carolina in the Pisgah National Forest. This poster presents premier programs. Frequent seminars for high school and undergraduate students, and periodic astronomical research collaborations complete programs at PARI. See http://www.pari.edu/ for more information for access to PARI Observatories. Research Programs Education Programs StarLab • Pulsars.Dr. David Moffett, Furman University • 327 MHz receiver installed on 26 East radio telescope. • Timings of a dozen pulsars. • Grades K-8: StarLab • Presentations to more than 32,000 students in Western North Carolina • Six Learning Technologies, Inc Programs offered • High School • Duke TIP Summer Field Study in Astronomy • Senior Projects • Undergraduate Students • NSF IPSE Interns in multimedia and physics developing a radio sky StarLab program • UNC-Asheville Computer Science class developing remote radio telescope control and data analysis software • Summer research students with funding from grants & donations as scholarships • Graduate Students • PARI Observatories available for test-bed applications, monitoring and survey research Portable 8.2m diameter planetarium travels to grades K-8 schools Radio Observatories N Duke Talent Identification Program. Summer Field Study in Astronomy • Extreme Scattering Events (ESEs) and Intra-Day Variables (IDVs). PI: Brian Dennison, UNC-Asheville • Long-term monitoring of interstellar turbulence via its effect on scattering of radio waves over a large sample of compact sources. • Two element interferometer to reduce noise confusion and measure point sources. • Two frequencies, 2.4 GHz and 8.4 GHz. 26m West 26m East NSF Funded Internships In Public Science Education • Optical Observations of Binaries in Old Open Clusters.Dr. Mel Blake, PARI • Measure period changes in pulsating stars to study their evolution • Measure period changes in close binaries to measure effects of magnetic winds. • Use the PARI 0.35m telescope and CCD 0.10m Polaris & Transient 0.40m START* 0.35m 0.25m 0.12m Solar 0.30m *Planned Consortium Graduate Students Optical Observatories Infrastructure • Future Plans • Pisgah Astronomical Research and Science Education Center (PARSEC):Administered by UNC-Asheville for the benefit of each university within the 16-campus University of North Carolina system to promote and coordinates usage of the facilities at PARI. • Small Telescope for Astronomical Research and Teaching (START): Consortium of 6 universites and 2 community colleges to promote research and education using a 0.40m robotic telescope at PARI. • Space Science Lab:Native American, Hispanic, African American, and underrepresented high school students in rural Western North Carolina will have the opportunity to conduct space science research through visible and radio observations of the Sun. Radio Optical Lab and Offices The 26m radio telescopes have new control systems and pointing models Each feedbox has AC power, coax, 12 fibers and appropriate cabling as required by receiver configuration The optical telescopes are equipped with CCDs and BVRI filters, and are under robotic control Seeing average is 2 arcsec Differential photometry average 3 nights/week All labs, offices, telescopes linked via fiber optics and OC-48 network Power backup across campus