Presentation Abstract

Presentation Number 350.04
Presentation Time: Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012, 9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Title Teacher-Student Education and Public Outreach Using Spitzer Data
Author Block Adam Keeton1, S. Mehta2, M. Butler3, T. Spuck4, M. Heller5, W. Sixel1, C. Cook2, P. Hutchinson2, M. Butler6, M. Abajian7, V. Gorjian8
1North High School, 2Haddam- Killingworth High School, 3Orange County Astronomers, 4Oil City High School, 5Clarion University, 6Tuscarora High School, 7Infrared Processing & Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, 8JPL/Caltech.
Abstract As part of the NASA-IPAC Teacher Archival Research Program (NITARP) astronomers, teachers, and students collaborated in using archival data from the Spitzer Space Telescope to identify galaxy clusters around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at a high redshift of z≈1. The team analyzed 168 fields around AGN to determine if an over density of sources existed. The team, including members from across the US, initially explored the idea at the 2011 Winter AAS Meeting. The initial meeting followed up with regular conference calls, and a 4-day face to face meeting at the Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena, CA. Throughout the process teachers and students gained a great deal of knowledge and experiences conducting authentic science research, and scientists gained a deeper understanding of education issues. The poster will present the processes used to engage students in this real-world experience, and the many benefits to all. In addition our team will present inquiry based activities using archival data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, APT photometry software, and an Excel spreadsheet template, to enrich their understanding of the structure of the universe. NITARP is a NASA funded program.