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European Association for Astronomy Education Alan C Pickwick Manchester Grammar School.

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Presentation on theme: "European Association for Astronomy Education Alan C Pickwick Manchester Grammar School."— Presentation transcript:

1 European Association for Astronomy 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 postgraduates and 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 1 st 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

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

18 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

19 Comparison of Apertures, Cameras and Fields of View Bradford Robotic Telescope0.365 m –Constellation Camera (40 degrees) –Cluster Camera (3 degrees) & –Telescope (Galaxy) Camera (0.4 degrees) Faulkes Telescope2 x 2 m –Telescope Camera (0.08 degrees) National Schools Observatory / Liverpool Telescope2 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.

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


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