The Sky as Laboratory

1. The Sky as Laboratory The educational project of the Department of Astronomy of the University of Padova S. Ciroi, F. Di Mille, P. Rafanelli IAUS 260 - The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture, Paris 22/01/2009

2. Astronomy in Italian High School • Limited to high schools focusing on sciences and/or humanities • Limited to the last year, when students are 18-19 years old • Taught within the Science Course, together with geosciences and not directly connected to Physics Students have the feeling that astronomy is essentially a qualitative and descriptive science!

4. 2000 K Temperature 1750 K 1500 K 1250 K lmax l (mm)

5. A short history of the project • 2001 • Started in 2001 as a pilot project: only 2 schools involved • 2002 • Started a close collaboration with teachers working in the high schools of Veneto region and having a degree or a Ph.D. in astronomy • 7 reference schools involved in the project • First lab activities at the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory • Since 2003 • Significantly increased the number of associated schools, • involved teachers and participating students • Defined the full structure of the project • Improved the quality of the activities in Asiago

6. Aims of the project • The Sky as Laboratory has three main goals: • to give the students a physical approach to astronomy and astrophysics; • 2) to point out the interdisciplinary nature of astronomy and astrophysics, stressing out that many of the open questions on the interpretation of celestial phenomena are connected with other sciences, like e.g.: chemistry, geology and biology; • 3) to offer guidelines to the students for the choice of their future field of study at the university, giving them the possibility to raise awarness on their attitude or not for science.

7. Current status of the project • ~350-400 students per year freely decide to take part of the project • 14 hours of astrophysical lectures + 1 conference are given to the students by the staff of the Dept. of Astronomy and the teachers involved in the project • 30 high schools of Veneto region are currently involved • 9 out 30 high schools have a leadership within the project (reference schools) and host the scheduled lectures • >30 teachers and several principals are involved

8. Current status of the project • ~150-170 students per year decide to attempt the admission test after having attended the astrophysical lectures • 50 students per year are admitted to the training period at the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory • ~35-40 hrs per student are necessary for observations, data reduction, data analysis and interpretation during the period at the observatory • ~12-13 scientific reports per year are produced by the students focused on several astrophysical topics

9. In addition, students get… • a direct and personal experience of astronomical observations at the telescope followed by quantitative data analysis • a learning environment where they act in first person • a general practical knowledge of the use of instruments like spectrographs, imaging cameras, CCDs, and of the use of dedicated astronomical software and new operating systems • an practice with multimedia means of producing articles and presentations of the obtained scientific results

10. The project in details October - November TOPICS OF THE LECTURES • The blackbody radiation • The dual nature of light and the hydrogen atom • The magnitudes, colors and spectra of stars • The H-R diagram and the stellar evolution • The planets of the Solar System and the search of extrasolar planets • The gaseous nebulae spectra • The Universe of galaxies • A course of 7 lectures (14 hrs) of basics of astronomy and astrophysics (1 lecture per week) • A conference of a researcher of the Dept. of Astronomy in each reference school

11. The project in details December A public conference for all participating students and teachers at the Great Hall of the University of Padova

12. The project in details January A test with 42 multiple answer questions for the admission to a training period at the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory. About 50 students per year are selected.

13. The project in details February A training period of 3 days for the admitted students including nights of direct observations at the 1.2m telescope equipped with a Boller & Chivens spectrograph and modern CCD detectors.

14. The project in details April Conclusive reports written by the students in scientific article format and collected in a volume edited every year by the Dept. of Astronomy, and presented by them to their colleagues and teachersas powerpoint slides at the Seminar Room of the Dept. during the final day of the project.

15. Determination of the SMBH mass in 48 low reshift QSOs

17. … In laboratory work: students can use real-life data; they can use the same computer languages and software packages that reaserchers use. The labs should be “authentic” – mirroring real research, rather than aiming for a pre-determined “cook-book” result. … They can learn that the astronomical knowledge is not produced by textbooks but by astronomers – perhaps even by themselves! …. (J. R. Percy, Innovation in Astronomy Education, 2008)

18. Training at the telescopeThe Asiago Astrophysical Observatory facilities

19. B&C Spectrograph g150 / g300 / g600 / g1200 R=16 / 8 / 4 / 2 Å (slit 2”)‏ CCD=512x2048 px scale=0.6”/px Galileo Telescope D=122 cm F=1950 cm scale = 10.5”/mm

20. Control-room of the 1.2m telescope 5 PC/Linux, printer, beamer Astronomical software available: IRAF, MIDAS, DS9, SMongo, Sextractor, Galfit, Topcat Data taken directly at the telescope or extracted from public archives (SDSS, HST, ESO, DSS, etc.)

21. Up to 15 students can be hosted for lab activities

22. 1) Grouping the students on the base of different topics A briefing with students and their teachers, when some topics of research are proposed by the astronomers. 2) Observing with the telescope During the night, if weather conditions are acceptable, students can directly observe, pointing the telescope and acquiring the data necessary for their research. Otherwise, datasets of archival data are already prepared for data reduction and analysis. 3) Working with the data During the day the students carry out the data reduction under the guide of the astronomers, who explain the procedure step by step. The analysis of the data is performed using astronomical software and taking advantage of scientific information extracted from ADS abstract service and internet web sites.

23. RESEARCH TOPICS PLANETS: Spectral analysis of absorption features Rotation curve and mass determination STARS: H-R and color-color diagrams of open and globular clusters Light curves of variable stars Spectral classification of main sequence stars Temperature determination of main sequence stars

24. RESEARCH TOPICS NEBULAE: Temperature, density and chemical composition of Galactic gaseous nebulae Star formation rate in extragalactic HII regions GALAXIES: Morphology of nearby galaxies H-R diagrams of dwarf galaxies of the Local Group Stellar populations in galaxies Mass estimate of spiral and elliptical nearby galaxies Spectroscopy of active nuclei and starburst galaxies

25. THE SKY AS LABORATORY – 2006/2007 Measuring the blackbody temperature of stars in the open cluster M 35 Giorgio Bettineschi Laura Bisigello Antonio Rodighiero Liceo Scientifico G.B. Quadri, Vicenza

26. Description of the work To compare the observed spectra with the Planck blackbody curve, they were normalized fixing to 1 the intensity at l= 5500 Å. The Planck curve, whose equation is in our case needs to be modified. In particular, the C1 term becomes:

29. Once obtained the temperatures and using the B-V color indices published by Sung et al. (1992), we have plotted B-V vs. 1/T, showing that the color index depends on the inverse of temperature, an expected result in case the blackbody is really reproducing the star emissivity. Wrong!

30. Products of the project • A website (not yet in english) collecting all the information about the project and in particular the material useful for lectures and available to everybody (http://www.astro.unipd.it/progettoeducativo/) • Internal publications of the works done by the students during their stay in Asiago, which can easily become examples of possibleexercises • A book of astronomy for students of the high schools and for everybody interested in this topic, written by the teachers with a degree in astronomy and edited by the staff of the project (in press) • For the first time in Italy, teachers of a high school taking part of the project have been able to start lectures and practice of astronomysince the 1st year (when students are 14-15 years old)

31. Conclusions • We have shown that it is possible to spread even complicated astrophysical concepts among strongly motivated students of the high school having a basic knowledge of physics and mathematics. • The success of The Sky as Laboratory depends definetely on the enthusiasm and the efforts of the teachers of the involved schools, and on the close collaboration between them and the staff of the Dept. of Astronomy. • Students who attended the full project, made an important experience for them, for their life and their future, whatever their future choices will be.