european association for astronomy education alan c pickwick manchester grammar school
TRANSCRIPT
European Associationfor
Astronomy Education
Alan C Pickwick
Manchester Grammar School
My CV
• Secretary and a founder member of the European Association for Astronomy Education
• Born in Manchester
• BSc in Physics from Manchester University and Masters Degree in Radio-Astronomy from Jodrell Bank Observatory, part of the University
• After a teaching certificate year, I taught physics for four years at Bolton School before joining Manchester Grammar School in 1975
• Immediate past-chair of the Education Committee of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Manchester – Who Cares? Historic Cotton Town – Now all closed down – All the jobs gone
• Manchester United• Academic Powerhouse – Manchester University –
26000 undergraduates and 9000 postgraduatesand 5000 academic staff
• Rutherford (1911) demonstrated the existence of the atomic nucleus• Williams and Kilburn (1948) invented the first computer that links
directly to the machines that we all use today• Dennis Walsh at Jodrell Bank Observatory with Robert Carswell and
Ray Weymann, found the first double-quasar that lead to the verification of gravitational lensing
• John Charnley performed the first human hip joint replacement• Patrick Steptoe made the first successful human vitro fertilisation.
Manchester Grammar School
• 1400 boys (11 to 18 years) and 140 staff• Independent and fee-paying• Almost all boys go on to university and this year 30+ will go to
Oxford or Cambridge• Strong science, engineering, business and medical traditions.
Alumni• Sir Howard Davies – Head of the London School of Economics• Clifford Cocks and Malcolm Williamson invented the RAS algorithm
for public key encryption whilst working for the UK secret service. They did this before Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len Adleman at MIT but were unable to publish because of the secret nature of their work. http://cryptome.org/ukpk-alt.htm
• Sir Ben Kingsley – Actor who played Gandhiin the film.
EAAE• The Association was created during the EU/ESO workshop on the
Teaching of Astronomy in Europe's Secondary Schools held at ESO Headquarters in Garching in November 1994. Its aims are:
• To promote a greater interest in, and an awareness of, the rôle of astronomy education
• To increase the effectiveness of European astronomy education at all levels through research and the exchange of information and experience
• To be a responsible body able to provide informed and authoritative advice on coordinated European astronomy education
• To encourage the development of resources for teaching of astronomy.
EAAE• Its strengths are:
– Effective outreach to most European countries
– Summer Schools for Teachers
• www.eaae-astro.org• Its real founder was Richard West at ESO.
EAAE Summer Schools1997 Spain1998 Italy1999 France2000 Portugal2001 Germany2002 Finland2003 Austria2004 The Netherlands2005 Sweden2006 La Palma, Spain
2007 Onwards1st ESO-EAAE SummerSchool for European Teachers
“Strategies for EffectiveTeaching of Astronomy”
Garching, Germany19-23 July 2007
Robotic Telescope Results
Manchester Grammar School
Using the Faulkes Telescope at MGS
Faulkes Telescope – 3C273 showing Quasar Jet2 Mly 12.8 mag
Faulkes Telescope – M5 showing beautiful yellow and blue stars24500 ly 5 mag
Bradford Robotic Telescope
Bradford Telescope – M45 The Pleiades440 ly 1.6 mag
Bradford Telescope – Moon
• Mt Teide Stars – See the Earth rotate!
http://www.telescope.org/webcam-tn-teidestarscam-tlv.php
• Pole Star Camera – Can you see it move?
http://www.telescope.org/webcam-tn-polestarcam-tlv.php
• Comparison of Apertures, Cameras and Fields of View
• Bradford Robotic Telescope 0.365 m– Constellation Camera (40 degrees)– Cluster Camera (3 degrees) &– Telescope (Galaxy) Camera (0.4 degrees)
• Faulkes Telescope 2 x 2 m– Telescope Camera (0.08 degrees)
• National Schools Observatory / Liverpool Telescope 2 m– Telescope Camera (0.08 degrees)
• The FTP and NSO/LT have such small fields of view that it would take about 36 images to cover the Moon, however their images of individual craters are spectacular.
• The BRT can additionally image constellations. This appeals to younger pupils.
• The BRT had a number of webcams to observe the telescope, the sky and the site.
• The FTP has a webcam to show the telescope as it moves to target.• The NSO/LT has a webcam to show the telescope.
• Spectrometers are being developed for the FTP and NSO/LT.
