1 / 20

European Association for Astronomy Education

European Association for 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

kent
Download Presentation

European Association for Astronomy Education

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. European AssociationforAstronomy Education Alan C Pickwick Manchester Grammar School

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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 Gandhi in the film.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. EAAE Summer Schools 1997 Spain 1998 Italy 1999 France 2000 Portugal 2001 Germany 2002 Finland 2003 Austria 2004 The Netherlands 2005 Sweden 2006 La Palma, Spain 2007 Onwards 1st ESO-EAAE Summer School for European Teachers “Strategies for Effective Teaching of Astronomy” Garching, Germany 19-23 July 2007

  9. Robotic Telescope Results Manchester Grammar School

  10. Using the Faulkes Telescope at MGS

  11. Faulkes Telescope – 3C273 showing Quasar Jet 2 Mly 12.8 mag

  12. Faulkes Telescope – M5 showing beautiful yellow and blue stars 24500 ly 5 mag

  13. Bradford Robotic Telescope

  14. Bradford Telescope – M45 The Pleiades 440 ly 1.6 mag

  15. Bradford Telescope – Moon

  16. Bradford Telescope – Animations www.telescope.org See next page

  17. 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

  18. 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.

  19. Thank You The EAAE is pleased to endorse the D-Space Project Alan_C_Pickwick@btinternet.com www.eaae-astro.org

More Related