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Goleta Students to Take the Controls of Faulkes Telescope in Australia
Students at Goleta Valley Junior High School are among the first in the continental United States to use the Faulkes Telescope in Australia.
As part of an active partnership between GVJH and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, professional astronomers coordinate small research projects with local students and share time on the research equipment.
Students in Kim Miller’s class at GVJH will connect from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Thursday.
Student researchers Daniel Godinez, Caylin Canales, Jason Paras, Ashley Almada and Dos Pueblos High School’s Rishika Singh will operate the 2-meter professional research-grade telescope, controlled robotically over the Internet via a classroom computer. Their target is a star cluster for which little data has been collected.
Guided by Dr. Rachel Street, the online resources at the United Kingdom-based Faulkes Telescope Project and their teacher, the students will create Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams of the star cluster and may plot light curves of any variable stars they discover.
“I’m just amazed at the passion and interest that is sparked in students,” Goleta Valley Junior High Principal Veronica Rogers said. “The motivation and commitment to learning extends beyond the school day and inspires them as lifelong learners.”
— Barbara Keyani is coordinator of administrative services and communications for the Santa Barbara School District.
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» on 01.07.10 @ 11:20 AM
Go Daniel! Daniel is an awesome and amazing student. Anthony says “Hi”. GVJH rules!
» on 01.07.10 @ 01:35 PM
As a parent of a GV student, I am very concerned that I was not notified of this event. I do not want my child participating in these types of right-wing agenda educational tools. Goleta Valley and the district need to overhaul their system of notifying parents of what is going on in the schools. I need to see what my child is being taught.
» on 01.07.10 @ 01:38 PM
Go Daniel! Daniel is an awesome and amazing student. Anthony says “Hi”. GVJH rules!
» on 01.07.10 @ 06:21 PM
Great going GVJH students. Best of luck in finding a variable star or more. This sounds like great fun!
As for the parent concerned about the “right-wing” agenda, what’s right-wing about looking at the stars?
» on 01.07.10 @ 07:43 PM
Concerned Parent, you could ask your child what they’re doing in school…
» on 01.08.10 @ 11:47 PM
to concerned parent all can do is quote Albert Einstein
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe. ”
» on 01.08.10 @ 11:51 PM
Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.
» on 01.09.10 @ 11:18 PM
Evidently you didnt get the joke about the posting and the controversy surrounding GV lately.
» on 01.11.10 @ 09:27 AM
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57953
Oh, I see what they did there.
It’s funny because he said Right Wing Agenda, while GV has been very Liberal. OH,
HAha, hahaha. HA
» on 01.14.10 @ 09:50 AM
Dear “Den”,
Thank you very much for your good wishes on our project. We are hoping that the robotic scheduler will be able to take enough of a time series for us to determine star variability. (Unfortunately, we had bad weather the second time we tried our observations.) We will be able to make some color-magnitude diagrams with our data and do some further stellar analysis.
Also fun, although not very “scientific”, is to imagine a constellation or shape within the cluster, and create a mythology for it. :)
We are very, very grateful to the wonderful people at the Las Cumbres Observatory. They have been so generous with their time! They even allow us to tour their telescope-building facility behind the scenes. Some of my former students are now interning there and helping to build the telescopes. It is especially nice for the junior high students to see what they could potentially be doing, a few years down the line, and how that might lead to a career in astronomy research, engineering, or some other science/technical field.
Best Regards,
Kim
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