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Wiki for the Spitzer Teachers Research Project

What is the Spitzer Research Program for Teachers and Students?

The Spitzer Science Center (SSC) and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) are working together to provide teachers and students with authentic science experiences using observing time on the Spitzer Space Telescope. This program has as its goals the fundamental NASA goals of inspiring and motivating students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as well as to engage the public in shaping and sharing the experience of exploration and discovery. Our educational plan addresses the NASA objectives of improving student proficiency in science and improving science instruction by providing a unique opportunity to a group of teachers and students to observe with the Spitzer Space Telescope and work with Spitzer archival data. This program is allowing a team of teachers and their students (with the help of a mentor astronomer) to apply for Director's discretionary observing time on Spitzer. Once the observations have been completed, the research team, made up of students, teachers, and a mentor scientist, complete the data analysis, and present their findings to others throughout the scientific community. Read more about us on the Cool Cosmos website. Or, keep reading about the goals and other background information we've collected here.

What and Who is this Wiki for?

This wiki is a dynamic environment for the participants (teachers, scientists, and students) to interact as their research projects evolve over time. All participants are asked to share, and continue to develop materials based on their experiences with this program. We ask that if you make a contribution to the Wiki (especially on the discussion pages) that you PLEASE cite the source of your information and/or provide your name within the wiki (when editing, click on the button that has signature+timestamp to finish off your comment) in the event others have questions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since these projects and web pages are designed to evolve and change over time through the contributions of many different learners (including students, teachers, and scientists), you may from time to time find some information that is not 100% accurate. This of course is part of the learning process we hope to foster. We encourage you to think critically about the information that is here, and ask for help or clarification if you need it.

Also see What is this project? for more information. For a "quick start", see the help page linked from the menu bar (above the search box) on the left of each page.

Anyone can view these pages, but if you'd like to edit them or make additional contributions, please email Dr. Luisa Rebull at rebull - at - ipac.caltech.edu to get an account set up. Please see the "help" page (link on the menu bar on the left) for general introductory information as it pertains to editing and interactions on the wiki.)

What is infrared light and how does the Spitzer Telescope work?

A very general introduction to infrared astronomy and the Spitzer Space Telescope, with links to go to for more information.

Note that this wiki is not designed to replace a basic astronomy textbook for general introduction to astronomy information. We're assuming that you've already gotten that information elsewhere.

Research Tools

How to get started, software, tutorials, overviews, and more.

Current Research Projects

Students, teachers, and scientists throughout the US are working together on a wide variety of Spitzer research projects. Currently they include a variety of projects ranging from the hunt for young stars in IC 2118, to exploring the supermassive black hole in Arp102B.

Future Research Project Ideas

Here is a place to explore future research project ideas.

Misc. Lesson Plans, Activities, and Useful Websites

Please feel free to contribute. We do ask that you include your wiki signature (click on the username/date stamp button in the edit window) when submitting lesson plans and activities. This will help users of the site in the event they have questions. Also, when posting a website, please provide a brief description of the site along with the web link.

Wiki Development Plans

Stuff we're still working on re-organizing or writing ab initio.

Leftover "Getting started on the wiki" stuff (including manuals for how to edit files)

Consult the User's Guide for tons of information on using (including editing files with) the wiki software. Playground to experiment with formatting.

• Configuration settings list
• MediaWiki FAQ
• MediaWiki release mailing list