Outreach Events and Activities

Teacher Workshops 2012-13 ...... Save the Dates

• All teachers are welcome to register for workshops; some may wish to join our leadership team.
• Our workshops are usually 9am - 4pm on Saturdays. Most have a fee of $25; for some there is an addtional materials fee.
• Friday and Saturday nights we observe with Yerkes telescopes, practice remote observing, etc..
• Leadership planning meetings are generally from 4:30-6pm on Saturdays.
• If you are a teacher and would like to be notified via a list serve designed for teachers please ask to subscribe to yoteach.

  Hover over img to see a larger version
From left to right:
Mary Blessing (Herndon HS, Herndon, VA), Cris DeWolf (Chippawa Hills HS, Sheriden, MI), Peggy Piper (Lincoln-Way North HS, Frankfort, IL), Al Harper (Yerkes/University of Chicago), Marita Beard (Branham HS, San Jose, CA), Theresa Paulson (Mellon High School, Mellon, WI) , Kathy Fredette (Desert Willow Intermediate School, Palmdale, CA) and caption

NASA IPAC Teacher Archive Research Project (NITARP)

What is NITARP?

NITARP, the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program, gets teachers involved in authentic astronomical research. Small groups of educators are partnered with a mentor professional astronomer for an original research project. The educators incorporate the experience into their classrooms and share their experience with other teachers. The program runs January through January. Applications are available annually in May and due in September. See http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/.

This program is completely unique in the following two important ways: (1) each team does original research using real astronomical data, not canned labs or reproductions of previously done research; (2) each team writes up the results of their research and presents it at an American Astronomical Society meeting (the AAS is the professional organization for astronomers in the US). Each team also presents the educational results of their experience in the program.

Yerkes Program for High School Students

At Yerkes Observatory educators, scientists, and engineers are organizing monthly activities for area high school students. Our main goal is to reach students interested in astronomy, physics, computer programming, imaging, and engineering.

Monthly sessions may include opportunities for students to:
• Experience the largest refracting telescope in a 90 ft. dome with a 75 ft. elevator floor.
• Explore the Universe using a 24 inch reflecting telescope and its CCD camera.
• Visit our historical museum created to celebrate Yerkes centennial in 1997.
• Compare star changes over time using the historical plate collection.
• Learn to program computers, micro-controllers, cell phones, and data loggers.
• Interact with a monthly guest speaker.
• Observe remotely with The Stone Edge Observatory, Astronomical Research Institute, Yerkes 41 inch, and others through Skynet using telescope technology from webpages at home.
• Create color images of the sky using professional astronomy software.
• Explore infrared astronomy through active astronomy kits
• Learn constellations, stars, and planets locations in the night sky throughout the year with the use of free software and the Yerkes night sky.

At the observatory, students will also meet others involved with NASA research programs; especially the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy Airborne Observatory(SOFIA) . They will also be a part of a community of young scientists considering futures in science, technology, engineering, and math.

To participate call 262-215-5555 or email vhoette at yerkes.uchicago.edu.
This program is funded by the Environmental Education Foundation and NASA's SOFIA.

Galileoscope: Construct your telescope and learn how to use it.

Image Processing Software
Images taken with the Yerkes 24 inch Telescope and Others

• Image Processing Software for 'fts' images and Links to Image Sets
• Hands-On Universe Activities including Explorations and telescope image sets
• Moon Terminator: Waxing Gibbous
  View images taken with the Yerkes 24 inch telescope of the terminator which is the line defining night or day. Cut and tape these pictures together to get the big picture.
• 7 Day Moon from Tokyo Science Museum
  The Kitanomaru Telescope at the Science Museum in Tokyo took these images of the moon for the UNIVERSE Liveshow with Yerkes Observatory on February 24th, 2007. Activity includes putting the images together to see the moon at its 7 day phase.
• Constellations and Digital Camera Comet Holmes Pictures
• AstroSpectroscopy Images for students with gadgets mounted on or at the eyepiece of Yerkes 24 inch telescope
  
  

Astronomer Talks for Educators

• Mass of Galaxies; M51zoomSDSS; Stars and Spectra; Active Galactic Nuclei and their Host Galaxies (Rich Kron)
• Measuring Angles in the Sky (Rich Kron)
• Limits to sharpness: diffraction and seeing (Rich Kron)
• Star Temperatures (Rich Kron)
• EM Spectrum and Observing (Rich Kron)
• Building Instruments - Ultraviolet Sensor (Rich Kron)
• M51 Zoom (Rich Kron presenting work of Collaborators)
• Elementary Optics; EM Spectrum (Al Harper)
• Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission October 2008 (pdf) or (ppt) (Max Mutchler)
• Hubble Space Telescope, Galaxy Mergers March 25, 2008 (Max Mutchler)
• YAAYS and Hubble Space Telescope March 6, 2007 (Max Mutchler)
• Wiki Site for YAAYS and ARCS teachers and instructors (password required). Includes Python Programming and Activities. (Marc Berthoud)
• Journey to Palomar PBS Series http://www.journeytopalomar.org Teacher Guide
  

Links

• Wisconsin Astronomy http://wisconsinastronomy.org/index.html Find Star Parties and Astronomy Activities in and near Wisconsin!
• Magazines:
• Astronomy http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx
• Mercury http://www.astrosociety.org/pubs/mercury/mercury.html
• Sky and Telescope http://www.skyandtelescope.com/
• Calendars:
  • Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/SkyCalendar/
  • Astronomical Calendar 2008 by Guy Ottewell
  • Heavens Above http://www.heavens-above.com/ for date specific tracking of the International Space Station (ISS), the Space Shuttle, Iridium Flares, etc.
• Resource Websites:
  • Adler Planetarium http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/
  • Astronomy Education Review http://aer.noao.edu/cgi-bin/new.pl
  • Cool Cosmos http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/
  • Cool Cosmos Multiwavelength Astronomy
  • Galileoscopes https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/
  • Globe at Night http://www.globe.gov/GaN/
  • Google Sky http://www.google.com/sky/ and Google Sky for Educators
  • Hubble Site -- Out of the Ordinary ... Out of This World http://hubblesite.org/
  • Hubble Heritage Gallery http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html
  • Hubble Press Release of Saturn Moon Transit http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/12/video/
  • Hubble Servicing Mission http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/servicing/SM4/main
  • International Year of Astronomy http://www.astronomy2009.org/
  • NASA's Imagine the Universe http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html
  • SEE Project Space Exploration and Experience project for Blind/Visually Impaired
  • SETI http://www.seti.org/
  • Sloan Digital Sky Survey SkyServer http://cas.sdss.org/dr7/en/
  • Sun Earth Connection http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  • SOFIA Education, includes Active Astronomy http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Edu/edu.html
  • SOHO: Our Star the Sun http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/classroom/classroom.html
  • StarDate http://stardate.org/
  • Star Wheels: Uncle Al's Star Wheels (Choose Nov. 2007); Double Sided Planisphere
  • Stars by Jim Kaler http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sowlist.html
  • Stellarium http://www.stellarium.org/
  • The Constellations http://www.dibonsmith.com/menu.htm
  • Windows to the Universe http://www.windows.ucar.edu/
  • Universe Forum Learning Resources
    http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/seuforum/learningresources.htm
  • Universe in the Classroom
    http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/tnl.html
  • World Wide Telescope http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/Home.aspx
  • Yerkes Clear Sky Clock http://cleardarksky.com/c/YerkesObILkey.html?1

Previous Programs/Events

2nd Annual Teacher Lunacy Saturday Workshop, followed by an evening event for International Observe the Moon Night. Registration is required for both of these events. International Observe the Moon Night. September 18, 2010.

The Youth Slam of National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute in Baltimore July, 2009. YAAYS and SOFIA contributed Tracing Invisible Rays.

Hands-On Universe Annual Conference June 22-26, 2009 *Agenda, Power Points, and Handouts*

YAAYS Summer Academy Summer Academy Sign-Up Form

Hands-On Universe WISE Conference Agenda and Notes

YAAYS Class NSM5007 Electromagnetic Spectrum

ARCS February 2008 Follow Up Weekend; ARCS Leadership Lesson Template

YAAYS Summer Academy 2008