[AstroNet] opportunity for your schools

[Sam Rametse]

Morning

The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC=”Isaac”) is an
online educational outreach program for high schools and colleges, in
which students make original astronomical discoveries. Each day students
receive telescopic images, only hours old and taken along the ecliptic.
Using the software Astrometrica, they accurately measure the time and
position of asteroids moving in the background. The measurements are
recorded in a report sent to the Minor Planet Center (Harvard).

Each year 5000 students from 500 schools in more than 40 countries
participate in IASC asteroid searches. There is no cost to the students or
schools. Since starting in October 2006, 350 asteroids have been
discovered, of which 15 have been numbered by the International
Astronomical Union (Paris). Numbered asteroids are recorded in the world’s
official minor planet catalog and can be named by their student
discoverers.

Images are provided to IASC by the Astronomical Research Institute
(Westfield, IL), Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii
(Haleakala), and the National Astronomical Observatories of China
(Beijing). Follow-up support is provided by Tarleton State University
(Stephenville, TX), Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green, KY),
Sierra Stars Observatory Network (Markleeville, CA), Faulkes Telescope
Project (Wales), and Shiaparelli Observatory (Italy).

Astronomers Without Borders and IASC are sponsoring a special asteroid
search campaign as part of Global Astronomy Month (GAM2012) in April.
Fifteen schools from around the world will be selected to participate in
this campaign, which will take place from 23 March to 27 April, 2012.

To participate in the IASC asteroid search campaign, a school must have PC
computers with access to high speed Internet. Weather permitting, each
school will receive 3-5 unique sets of image each week of the campaign.
Students will be able download each image set and search them for
asteroids just hours after they have been taken along the celestial
ecliptic by the Astronomical Research Institute (ARI).

Applications from schools wanting to participate in this special GAM2012
asteroid search campaign must be received by 16 February 2012. Teachers of
interested classrooms can apply here.

Written materials are available (English only) on the IASC web site to
help teachers learn Astrometrica. IASC teachers who have participated in
asteroid search campaigns are also available through the web site to
answer questions by email and help with learning the software.

Schools will be selected to participate based primarily on the one
paragraph description of the reasons the teacher and students would like
to participate. In order to allow for geographic diversity in this special
GAM2012 global project, no more than one school will be selected from any
country.

Note: Even if your school isn’t selected to participate in this special
GAM2012 project, it may still be able to participate in any of the 20 or
more other asteroid search campaigns IASC organizes throughout the year.


http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2012-programs/all-programs/1009.html

Sam Rametse
Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy observatory (NRF)
Science Awareness programme
tel: 012 301 3228/100
Fax: 012 301 3300/28
http://www.hartrao.ac.za/
"In infinite multiverse, everything that can happen will happen infinite
times.What does probability mean then?"
- Alan Guth