15th Global Hands-On Universe Conference Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco July 8-11, 2012

Book of Abstracts Day 1: Sunday July 8, 2012 (Building 1 - Board Room) Carl Pennypacker Lawrence Berkeley National Lab UC Berkeley, CA USA

Overview of GHOU and Ways for Us to Grow As an introduction I wish show some of the interesting ways we are working together, and point out ways we can work better together in the future. In the second part I will briefly touch on numbers of teachers [email protected] trained in GTTP, I describe some highlights of the year for GHOU, including work in Chile and the United States and other nations. I start to explore how we might fit in in other nations, and keep our momentum growing! Rosa Doran Reaching out with the Galileo Teacher Training Programme NUCLIO - Núcleo Interactivo de Astronomia, The Galileo Teacher Training Programme continues to reach Portugal teachers and children from all over the world. From the [email protected] mountains of Tanzania to the Islands on the Atlantic Ocean, from digitally equipped schools in the US to rural areas in Indonesia. Over 10 000 teachers have been reached by our efforts in a network that continues to grow and embrace educators from all corners of our small planet. What is our recipe for success and continuation of this effort in years to come? What shall be our future vision and mission? Programmes like Discover the Cosmos, Open Discovery Space, Universe Quest, IASC, etc are powerful tools to help us design an innovative view of our effort. The design of a strategic plan should envision the integration of this eScience and eInfrastructure resources. Effective collaboration between partners, effective exchange of our cutting edge developments

Toshihiro Handa (Kagoshima University), Koji Hata (Okayama Shoka University Highschool), Tadashi Hara (Toyooka Highschool, Saitama), Toshihiro Horaguchi (National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo), Masaaki Hiramatsu (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Tatsuyuki Arai (Katsushika City Museum), Yusuke Sato (Hokkaido University), Kouji Ohnishi (Nagano National College of Technology) Japan [email protected] Jamal Mimouni Physics Department, Mentouri University, Constantine, Algeria [email protected]

are crucial for the success of our vision as an organization and for the design of effective missions for the near future. During GHOU2012 we hope to set the tone for the years ahead, to embrace our growing community and reach out for those in need of support and confidence in change for a better and more fair share of education opportunities. A Global view of the Eclipse over the Earth (GEE) in 2009 and 2012 and Venus transit in 2012 Although an eclipse is the single astronomical event, it gives different views from place to place. It is the most important message from astronomy to the public that an apparent view depends on the observer's position. We should show the comprehensive view beyond the appearance. A map made of many movies taken from many locations can be helpful to understand this situation. Therefore, we promoted a campaign to take sequential images of the eclipsing sun simultaneously and to draw a "big picture" made of them. The campaign was done both in 2009 and 2012. Combined with a computer simulated movie watched from the space, we can make a better talk on the solar eclipse with the comprehensive view. We will also talk on the multi-location observations of the Venus transit in June 6, 2012. Through the GHOU network, we will make coordinated observations with more than the 2000 km baseline. Using the resultant FITS image sets we will make a new textbook to estimate 1 AU with the similar procedure done 100-200 years ago. Motivating for Science through Innovative Competition We wish to describe a successful yearly experience carried out by an Algerian astronomy association among the 500 brightest students of the Constantine governorate's 47 High Schools in Algeria. Not only does this competition in scientific culture is unique in its concept and implementation, but it is also exceptional in the prizes the laureates are awarded. It consists indeed in the visit to a world science center or a trip to an astronomical event. In the past years visits for the laureates were organized at ESTEC Space Center in Netherland, the SALT telescope in South Africa, Shanghai for the July 2009 total eclipse, and the GTC at the Canaries Island his year. The student's

Dominik Elsaesser Universitaet Wuerzburg Germany [email protected]

knowledge in the competition is probed not according to the school's curriculum but to the extent of the student's scientific culture. Questions span the whole range of sciences, from he physical ones with a strong bias to astronomy, to biology, geology, physical and human geography and even some geopolitical events. It is highly visual, in fact it is fully visual as all the questions consist of pictures or video sequences the candidates are asked to identify/decrypt. It also probes the students in their mastery of foreign languages mainly French and English. We discuss the great impact it has on the interest in science among high school students in the region and the high level of expectation and a healthy dose of competition it creates. We believe that such a competition could be transplanted to other countries as a way of motivating students for science. We discuss in the process the ways astronomy has impacted the public locally throughout the years through successful outreach programs. Monitoring of brightness variations of blazars - a collaboration between high schools and professional observatories The central engines of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are believed to be massive black holes. From the merger history of galaxy formation, binary systems of black holes ought to exist at least in some AGN. The orbital period of such a binary black hole might imprint a quasi-periodic behaviour onto the brightness variations of such blazars. Indications for such a behaviour have previously been reported from long-term lightcurves e.g. of the object OJ287. Such objects are extremely interesting targets for high-energy telescopes and potentially even gravitational wave detectors, mandating the best possible characterisation of suspected orbital periods. The need for continuous monitoring of such sources in order to unravel the orbital periods in a larger number of candidate objects makes this an ideal task for committed high school students and teachers, equiped with moderately sized telescopes. Here, we report on such a monitoring program carried out in collaboration between the astronomy department of the university of Wuerzburg and local high schools, using a 50cm diameter optical telescope.

Rosa Doran NUCLIO - Núcleo Interactivo de Astronomia, Portugal [email protected]

Roger Ferlet Institut d'astrophysique de Paris, France [email protected] Alan Gould University of California Lawrence Hall of Science USA [email protected]

Nassim Seghouani CRAAG / Algiers Observatory, Alger Algeria

Discover the Cosmos with the Classroom of Tomorrow Education and Public Outreach need to walk hand in hand towards the classroom of tomorrow. The teaching model of the present has its days counted. Student's interest for science topics is decreasing and the model adopted by the vast majority of schools doomed. Students are eager for knowledge but with a different speed and with a different teaching methodology. Teachers have to assume the role of tutors and bring to classroom a scientific experience based on real research at your fingertips. Engaging your minds in the thrill of a scientific discovery is a mission that can only be achieved if we open the doors of the classroom for the innovative eScience tools and resources available nowadays for science education. The repositories of science outreach material are rapidly growing and the citizen science approach appearing associated to many cutting edge science facilities. How can we integrate these sources of information and training in the school curricula? How can we effectively train teachers for their use? How do we convince education authorities worldwide that public outreach material are tools to be integrated in all science curricula? The discussion is open and the opportunity to make the change at hand. The EU-HOU project I will present the on-going HOU activities in Europe and more specifically in France. NASA Kepler Mission and HOU, Alan Gould A number of activities of interest to GHOU members have been developed for the NASA Kepler Mission Education and Public Outreach program. Activities include exoplanet starwheels, exercises for exoplanet discoveries by the transit method, and models for exoplanet discoveries. This talk gives an overview of the Kepler activities as well as an update of the mission overall. Observatories in Algeria : Past and Future Algiers Observatory has been built in 1890. I will briefly talk about

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Hassane Darhmaoui, Amine Karmouche, and Ilyass Garara. School of Science & Engineering, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco [email protected]

the history of the observatory and its instruments. I will also talk about the restoration process of the instruments ( Foucault Telescope, Astrographe, Coudé Telescope, ...) that will be used for pedagogical aspects and amateur astronomy. I will also talk about the projects of the new Observatory in the Aures area and the Hoggar Observatory. The Moroccan GHOU robotic telescope, the first in Africa Within Morocco’s growing economic development, the government’s investment in education increased significantly in the past few years. In most of the schools, computer labs, internet and other IT equipment, are being introduced quickly, but there is a lack of innovative programs and curricula that take full advantage of such facilities. The new established GHOU telescope/observatory at Al Akhawayn, which is the first of its kind in Africa, will act as a pilot experience that will allow students and teachers to use real data for their central science and math teaching and learning. High school students will be able to do real observations, possibly in the daytime classroom sessions, thanks to the worldwide network of optical telescopes. Besides developing innovative science education in Morocco around the AUI GHOU observatory, there are numerous scientific research opportunities for such a project: astrometry, asteroids search & tracking, planetary occultation, supernovae search, exoplanets search, etc.

Day 2: Monday July 9, 2012 (Building 7Auditorium) Patrick Miller Hardin-Simmons University, USA [email protected]

International Astronomical Search Collaboration: Online Educational Outreach Program in Astronomy for High Schools & Colleges IASC ("Isaac") was started in October 2006 with 5 schools. It is an online program in which high school and college students make original astronomical discoveries. Students have discovered >400 Main Belt asteroids, 3 near-Earth objects, 1 Jupiter Trojoan, and 1 trans-Neptunian object located 45 AU from the Sun. In the six years since, IASC has grown to 500 schools in more than 50 countries. It has become a survey program, in which resources from 7 major observatories are used to conduct follow-up imaging of student disccoveries.

Carolin Liefke, Lothar Kurtze, Martin Metzendorf, Julia Schnepf Haus der Astronomie, Heidelberg Germany [email protected]

Ana Costa

IASC is developing new projects including a supernova serarch program, comet search program, international use of Internetbased telescopes, and an international videoconferencing lecture series in astronomy. Asteroid Search and Follow-up observations in German Schools Since October 2010, German school classes and student groups supervised by the Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg successfully participate in the Pan-STARRS asteroid search campaigns of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration. During such a campaign, each school discovers up to 30 previously unknown asteroids. Within the framework of a pilot project with Faulkes Telescopes, one of these teams, the Lessing-Gymnasium in Lampertheim, planned and conducted follow-up observations of their Pan-STARRS discoveries during the fall 2011campaign in order to improve their orbital elements. The students will continue to observe these asteroids with the aim to get them numbered and named within the next few years, and thus complement the asteroid search campaign. Asteroid Search in Portugal/IASC

NUCLIO Portugal [email protected]

Sergio Cabezón AUI/NRAO Santiago, CHILE. [email protected]

Paula Maria Balsinha Sanches Furtado NUCLIO, Portugal

Hassane Darhmaoui1, and Hatim Madani2 1 School of Science & Engineering, Al Akhawayn

The International Astronomical Search Collaboratin (IASC) is coordinated in Portugal by NUCLIO. There are presently 35 Portuguese schools (from across the country) and 4 schools from Portuguese speaking African countries participating every year in 2 All-Portugal , 3 International and 1 Pan-STARRS Asteroid Search Campaigns. Students from 11 to 18 years old, with the help of their teachers, receive digital images taken by large telescopes, analyse them with Astrometrica software using the same techniques as professional astronomers do, and find new asteroids or confirm the existance or orbits of other small bodies of the Solar System. Up to now 12 asteroids were discovered by portuguese students (3 of them together with polish students) among many other objects confirmations and follow-up. Every year NUCLIO provides 1 or 2 hands-on training sessions to help teachers on using Astrometrica. The programme is well embraced by the teaching community and lots of media attention and waves of enthusiasm were raised by this project. GTTP in Chile GTTP has had a relevant impact and dissemination in the Chilean society. The support of the most relevant local universities and private area, had permitted to benefit 97 teachers, reaching around 8,000 students with its contents. “Oficinas do Cosmos”/ EU- UNAWE “Oficinas do Cosmos” is a partnership between NUCLIO and EUUNAWE to bring astronomy to young children. Our goal is to work with children from 4 to 10 years old, helping them to acquire scientific knowledge of the world around them in exciting and funny way, broadening children’s horizons and showing them how important is the environmental preservation of the earth and sky. Developing hands-on activities, story tales, sky simulations, solar observations are some examples of the built up activities. UNAWE –Morocco and Aldebaran Astronomy School clubs Project We officially launched the 'UNiverse AWarEness for young

University in Ifrane, Morocco 2 Astromede, Morocco [email protected]

T. Heenatigala, M. Simmons Astronomers Without Borders, California, USA. thilina@astronomerswitho utborders.org

Sudeep Neupane Nepal Astronomical Society(NASO) / GHOUNepal Tribhuvan University, Nepal [email protected] m, [email protected]

children' (UNAWE) program in Morocco in December 2011. Since then we organized a dozen of successful UNAWE workshops in different schools all over Morocco. We linked this international program to the Aldebaran Moroccan project that endeavors the creation of astronomy clubs within most of the UNESCO associated Moroccan schools network. Astronomy clubs in these schools will enlarge their astro-activities to their neighboring educational institutions. The project aims at outreaching to one million Moroccan students by 2020. In this presentation we will present the vision and mission of the UNAWE – Morocco program along with the Aldebaran project. We will also present sample innovative activities within this program. We think that this project could be duplicated in many developing countries. Global Astronomy Month – An Annual Celebration of the Universe

The 100 Hours of Astronomy cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 showed what the astronomy community can do working together. As the first truly global outreach event, amateur astronomers, clubs, science centers and others held events by the thousands around the world, attracting the largest public audience ever. To keep this enthusiasm alive, Astronomers Without Borders’ initiated Global Astronomy Month, an annual celebration of astronomy in every April since 2010. Global Astronomy Month is a platform for new ideas, news opportunities for a global audience. Global Astronomy Month continues the excitement of the unprecedented International Year of Astronomy 2009 with participation of more than hundred countries. Developing astronomy movement and GTTP in Nepal Astronomy and space science education had been given least importance by Nepalese government in the past. The modern astronomy movement is believed to be started when an official observation programme of Haley’s comet was organized by Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST) in 1986 AD. Following the huge pressure from scientific community, Nepal government (Kingdom of Nepal at that time) established B.P.

du

Martine Janvier Comité International des Jeux Mathématiques (CIJM), Paris France [email protected]

Koirala Memorial Planetarium, Observatory and Science Museum Development Board in 1992 AD. In 2007, a group of astronomy enthusiastic students along with amateurs working independently in past established Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO), which surprisingly increased the amateur activities and inspired other amateur groups to revive. During IYA 2009, more than 80 outreach and observation events were organized solely by NASO. NASO was able to collaborate with many international programmes and projects like GHOU/GTTP, EurAstro, AWB, UNAWE, SGAC, Star Peace, TWAN etc. during IYA2009 and beyond IYA. Currently Nepal is recognized as the most eventful country of outreach and astronomy education among amateur community. The success story of the astronomy movement and the local difficulties while organizing the events will be explained. Mathematics games and the cultural salon The “Mathematics games and the cultural salon“ is held in Paris at the end of every spring since 2000. The ambition of the organizers, CIJM, is to offer a four-day celebration of mathematics and its cultural role that leads visitors into art and science wonders. I will invite you to explore images of the 2012 salon that will perhaps tempt some of you to join us ... Depuis l'année 2000, un salon "Culture et Jeux Mathématiques" se tient à Paris à la fin du printemps. L'ambition du CIJM qui l'organise est d'offrir pendant quatre jours une vraie fête des mathématiques et sa vocation culturelle entraine aussi le visiteur dans des domaines artistiques et scientifiques. Je vous inviterai à une découverte en images de quelques moments de ce salon 2012 qui donneront peut-être envie à certains de nous rejoindre...

Hector Bravo-Alfaro and Laura Salas Departamento de Astronomia Guanajuato,Mexico [email protected]

An Astronomy Graduate Program in Guanajuato, Mexico We provide interesting information about a relatively young Astronomy graduate program (MSc and PhD) in Guanajuato and the success we have to integrate students from abroad. We provide some strategies that could be applied in developing countries under similar conditions to start their own graduate

Ana Rita Guerra NUCLIO Portugal [email protected]

Carl Pennypacker Lawrence Berkeley National Lab UC Berkeley, CA USA

programs. “Dark Skies Awareness” programme in Portugal The “Dark Skies Awareness” programme, a project coordinated by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, has the goal of raising the level of public knowledge about adverse impacts of excess artificial lighting on local environments and the loss of our dark skies, a growing problem that is affecting much of the developed world population.. In Portugal the special educational programme “Dark Skies Rangers” is being implemented in Cascais and Torres Novas with the support of local authorities and coordinated by NUCLIO. This programme was born in 2009 under the auspicies of the International Year of Astronomy and in a joint collaboration between two cornerstones the “Dark Skies Awareness” and the “Galileo Teacher Training Programme”. Students from 6 to 18 years old are developing their activities and improving local solutions to a global problem. Students have been introduced to the problem and are now activelly participating in the awareness campaign. Each school will "adopt" a street and analyze its public illumination. At the end a report, explaining the changes that can be made to reduce energy costs and enhance sky observation, will be delivered to local authorities. Together, we can improve our night sky and maintain it as a natural heritage for the generations to come. Notes on the Nobel Prize in Physics, 2011 and Links to GHOU! Supernova play a key role in GHOU and the Nobel Prize this year, so I will describe some of these connections for the GHOU audience.

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Avivah Yamani, Venus Transit Workshop & Trip to Ambon Ratna Satyaningsih, Aldino Adry Baskoro, Ronny Venus Transit 2012 will be the last chance for all the people in the Syamara world to see it in their life. And it also bring opportunity to astronomy community to introduce astronomy and educate Jawa Barat , Indonesia public regarding this phenomenon. [email protected] Indonesia can see the Venus Transit, but the whole process can only be seen from East Part of Indonesia. So we also decide to hold an event in Ambon in the east part of Indonesia. Ambon is a

beautiful city which for several years had a sectarian conflict (1999-2003). Right now the people start to build their life again as a group and community. And as well as other part in Indonesia, people in Ambon rarely heard about astronomy. In this trip we will hold GTTP workshop for teachers in Ambon as well as distribute You Are Galileo Telescope to the schools. We hope this workshop and telescope can trigger the schools and people in ambon to start their own astronomy activities. Here in this talk, we will present our activities during Venus Transit in Ambon and the challenge we have to hold the event in there.

Day 3: Tuesday July 10, 2012 (Building 7 - Auditorium) Frank Pino INOAZ, Arizona [email protected]

Carlos Antunes Santos NUCLIO, Portugal [email protected]

Use of INOAZ remote telescopes. Using Simulator on how to use the telescopes remotely from INOAZ. Hope to be able to have a live feed to the scopes in Arizona. Universe Quest @Portugal Universe Quest was a NSF funded project at UC@Berkelay – US that had extensions to Kenya and Portugal. The objective was to teach IT skills in the context of studying the universe with modern technology. The students had access to astronomy activities, game design and authoring. In Portugal the strategy was to motivate and train the teachers in the use of the "Thinking Worlds" authoring tool, to build serious games with the students.

Bonnie Thurber [email protected]

In this presentation I will discuss the portuguese experience with this project and play one of the resulting games. Moon Over Us and Moon Over Us: Faces and Phases

Paulo Bretones [email protected] Hongfeng Guo [email protected]

Chuck Ruehle

When the moon is its third quarter in the USA, what does it look like in Brazil and China? Students create images of the moon, share their information in webpage and comment on each others web page. In this six - seven week project, students take a survey, learn about the phases of the moon and how the face of the moon differs in the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere by observing the moon each day; taking photos and/or drawing the moon as it changes each day during the month; sharing a moon journal; and commenting on other moon journals. The project concludes with a survey and written or videoed reflection from each student. The workshop participants will review what students have created, create their own activites and discuss next steps for the coming year. Telescopes to Tanzania

Racine Astronomical Society

[email protected]

Chuck Ruehle is an amateur astronomer and a member of the Racine Astronomical Society. He has developed a program called Telescopes to Tanzania that has enabled him to teach astronomy to students living in remote communities in northern Tanzania, East Africa. Last October he returned for a second year of teaching astronomy, optics and light. He left 250 pounds of equipment and resources with five secondary and two elementary schools on Mt. Meru (4,566 meters). He worked with 80 teachers, staff, and community members, and more than 500 students. The total number of teachers and staff at the seven schools he visited during the month is more than 150 teachers, with over 3,500 students. Each of the schools received either a 50mm Galileoscope or a 70mm Vixen Space Eye telescope, a tripod, three or four modern eyepieces and other astronomy related materials. Traveling most of the time by Land Rover, he often lived off the grid between 1,500 and 3,000 meters above sea level Recently one of the students sent an e-mail and reported that; “I am just trying to teach other people about night stars. The book (you gave me) has become more useful.” Chuck is also developing materials to assist the secondary schools in the development of “Space Clubs” to help students continue to learn more about the astronomy, physics, chemistry, math, and geography subjects introduced last fall.

In November of 2012 he’ll return for another month of teaching. In addition to working at schools he and a team of African astronomy educators will be teaching 80 Secondary and Elementary teachers at the Mwangaza Partnership for Education Center in Arusha, Tanzania for two weeks. At GHOU Chuck will give a preview of the work coming up this fall. He looks forward to sharing the challenges of preparing materials and methods for teaching off the grid that don't require power or advanced technology. At 9,000 feet there are no "Big Box" stores available for last minute purchases, so it’s helpful to be a blend of both Rube Goldberg and Mc Giver

Chander Bhushan Devgun & Sachin Bahmba SPACE - Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators, New Delhi, INDIA [email protected] m

Possibilities of having Remote Telescope Networks for Education and Research and GHOU opportunities in India Various avenues and possibilities for online/remote telescope network and spreading awareness among the students in india about GHOU and training of teachers for hands on science learning. Our experience as an organisation to work with masses and students. Run through of the activities designed by our organisation for achieving the same

Posters Hector Bravo-Alfaro and Laura Salas Departamento de Astronomia Guanajuato,Mexico [email protected]

Mohamed Th.S. Heikal* Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt *Current address:

An Astronomy Graduate Program in Guanajuato, Mexico We provide interesting information about a relatively young Astronomy graduate program (MSc and PhD) in Guanajuato and the success we have to integrate students from abroad. We provide some strategies that could be applied in developing countries under similar conditions to start their own graduate programs. Major Global Changes and their Impact Effects Major global changes would result from the impact of a large meteorites, asteroids or comets. The collision would set the planet ringing like a giant bell. This leads to produce powerful earthquakes and violent volcanic eruptions. In

Geochemistry Consultant, Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia E-mail: [email protected]

addition, the impact into the ocean would send gigantic tsunami racing toward nearby shores. The impact could also reverse the planet's magnetic field. On the other hand, the impact effects would make a thick blanket of dust into the atmosphere, shutting out the Sun and chilling the planet. The dust and smoke blocking out the Sun would cause a rapid cooling of Earth's surface by 20oC or more. The cooling would persist from several months, bringing freezing weather conditions, giving rise to glacial accumulation. So much damage would beset Earth that extension of species would surely follow Keywords: Global changes, meteorites, earthquakes and volcanic activity, tsunami, magnetic fields, glaciations.