PULSE@Parkes PUL sar S tudent E xploration online at Parkes

1. PULSE@ParkesPULsar Student Exploration online at Parkes Robert Hollow Australia Telescope National Facility 12 December 2007

2. What is PULSE@Parkes? - Background • ASKAP Budget Announcement, 8 May 2007: • ‘As part of the project, CSIRO will extend its annual in-service training for around 200 high school teachers through the provision of Year 11/12 maths and physics education material involving data and information from the ASKAP. This will expose the next generation to world-class science and technology in a unique way.’ • Where to start? http://www.dest.gov.au/ministers/bishop/budget07/bud34_07.htm CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

3. Challenge • Need to develop and implement stimulating, engaging, and worthwhile radio astronomy activities appropriate for high school students • Develop educational pedagogy and technical systems for school use of ASKAP data CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

4. Step 1 • PULSE@Parkes CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

5. The Project Team • Coordinator & education leader: Robert Hollow • Science leader: George Hobbs • Other ATNF staff: David Champion, Jessica Chapman, Mary Mulcahy, Shaun Amy • Summer Vacation Program student: Matt Carr • CSIRO ICT Centre input: Leila Alem, Laurie Wilson, John Zic, Alex Krum-Heller • Swinburne: Sarah Burke, Willem van Straten • Link with: Rick Jenet (UTB) • Possible future link with David McKinnon & Lena Danaia (Charles Sturt University, Bathurst) CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

6. What are we trying to do? • High school students observe pulsars using the Parkes radio telescope • Obtain observations with educational value for the students and scientific value for the astronomical community • Demonstrate and develop remote observing capabilities at Parkes • Promote the ATNF telescopes and extend outreach with the ATNF facilities • Develop a sequence of educational programs for the ASKAP era • Project inspired by Rick Jenet’s ARCC project at UTB CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

7. Program Development • Phase 1: Oct 07 – Feb 08 • Develop concept • Apply for telescope time • Identify and work with two test schools • Write project materials • Trial & refine procedures • Phase 2: Feb 08 - ? • Apply for more telescope time • Open up project to more schools • Build up data archive • Foster collaboration across schools • Develop more activities and modify existing material as required • Phase 3: 2008 → • Develop new observing projects CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

8. School Selection • Two schools for initial trial • NSW Government High Schools: • Kingswood High School • Muswellbrook High School • Selection through: • teacher interest from ATNF Teacher Workshops • discussion with STANSW – early mentoring program • Target group Year 11 (10-12) • Need to decide future criteria for observing slots • Schools may be ‘non-observers’ and just use data and activities CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

9. First Stage • Successful gaining telescope time: P595; 8 hours • Trialled remote observation setup from Marsfield in October • Selected 34 pulsars for project • Two schools selected • SVP selected to work on project materials over summer • First school visit and trial completed – observations on 4 December! • Second school trial on 13 February 2008 • Project materials under development CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

10. Why Pulsars? • Existing model of student engagement (ARCC) • Local expertise & interest • Single dish astronomy conceptually easier for students • Possible to get time on Parkes • Short observations produce useful data for concise activities • Data is useful for other projects • Can link in with existing observational programs (PPTA, GLAST) & ARCC Image Credit: Imagine the Universe! at NASA/GSFC CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes Image Credit: Manchester, R.N. and Taylor, J.H., Pulsars, Freeman, 1977.

11. Selection of pulsars Pulsars have been chosen so that: 1. Each observation only lasts between 2 and 15 minutes 2. Have enough pulsars to be observed at any sidereal time 3. Are useful for long-term timing programs 4. Provide interesting, small experiments for the students to carry out Selected from: The GLAST timing project (i.e. young, pulsars that show timing irregularities) Millisecond pulsar timing (our sample includes J1713+0747, J2145-0750, J2317+1439) Pulsars with oscillatory timing noise on “long” time scales (e.g. B1828-11) CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

12. Before an observing session • Students work through online materials and background reading • Visit the school to talk on the project • Explain about pulsars, radio telescopes and observing • Help the students determine which pulsars they will be able to observe • Let the students do some basic processing using existing data sets CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

13. A typical observing session • The students will arrive at the ATNF lecture theatre (Marsfield) • Introductory talk and a short movie describing the project • Introduce the students to the Parkes astronomer Parkes ‘by video conferencing • Students then work through checklist to check if observations can proceed, eg check the weather via the winds monitor • Show movie of “unstowing the dish” • Once observing the students will- view webcams of the telescope and control room- be able to control the telescope using VNC- monitor the data in real time (using a website)- chat with the controller at Parkes- monitor the weather displays- hear the “pulsar sounds” recorded by the telescope • Start initial processing of the data CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

14. Observations at Marsfield CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

15. TCS Display via VNC Live webcam TCS Video conference link (Skype) CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

16. Observations at Parkes CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

17. On-line monitoring • Need to move towards more verbal interaction between students & astronomer • Less text/typing CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

18. Pulsar Profile • Pulse profile automatically generated and printed out - immediate feedback • Archived for later analysis CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

19. Activity 1: Dispersion Measure & Pulsar Distance • Data output in .txt file • Analysed in Excel workbook – available in schools. Template from website • Archived on website, easily downloaded. CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

20. Dispersion Measure CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

21. Galactic position based on DM CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

22. Results CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

23. After an observing session The students will be able to access their data to: • Measure pulsar dispersion measures and hence distances • Determine how pulse shapes change with frequency • Look for glitches in the timing • Determine orbital parameters from measurements of the pulsar periods • Determine spin-down parameters and hence estimates of age and magnetic field strength. • … any more suggestions for small projects? CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

24. First Trial • Ten students from Years 10 and 11. • Successful observations • Students analysed data, calculated DMs and plotted positions and distance on workbook. • Positive feedback • Useful ideas from ICT Centre CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

25. Educational component • Establish formal evaluation of project with, eg CSU Bathurst • Publish papers and promote project in science education research journals and science teacher publications & conferences • Aim to foster discussion between school groups as data archive grows • Link with similar schemes using major facilities or engaging in ‘real-science’ • Scientists in Schools scheme • Faulkes/Global Jetwatch/HOU • ARCC • NRAO GBT Pulsar scheme? • Provide input into SKA outreach and education planning CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

26. The near future … • Project materials published on ATNF Outreach site: • Work with ICT Centre re interface design and student interactions • Extend project to search for pulsars (probably using the DFB in search mode) • Sustainable with one school observation (~2 hrs) per month • Allow access from schools (or centres at different institutes around Australia) to allow access from schools in Vic, WA, etc. • Firewall issues with state DETs need to be resolved if we want ‘mobile’ version running from schools • Strengthen collaborations with USA, Canadian and European schools and similar projects (such as the ARCC) CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

27. Beyond… • Develop other (non-pulsar) single dish projects. Ideas: • HI projects such as GASS extension (Naomi McClure-Griffiths) • Dave DeBoer interested in developing SETI project • Other ideas? • Develop interferometer projects (ATCA)? • Possible applications for ASKAP dishes situated in NSW • Develop educational pedagogy and technical backend for school use of ASKAP (and SKA?) data. CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

28. We gain …. • Large number of high school students will have heard of ATNF and used Parkes. • Student interest in science/technology (hopefully) • More data for our existing pulsar timing projects • Robust testing of Parkes remote observing issues • High profile CSIRO project • Effective educational pedagogy and technical backend for school use of ASKAP (and SKA?) data. CSIRO. PULSE@Parkes

29. Contact Us Phone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176 Email: enquiries@csiro.au Web: www.csiro.au Thank you Australia Telescope National Facility Robert Hollow Education Officer Phone: 02 9372 4247 Email: robert.hollow@csiro.au Web: http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au