Pulsar Search Collaboratory

1
Pulsar Search Collaboratory

• What is PSC?
• Why is it at PCHS?
• What do we need to do?

2
What is PSC?

• The Pulsar Search Collaboratory is a project of
  West Virginia University astronomers, the
  National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green
  Bank, WV, and the National Science Foundation.

3
What is PSC?

• The PSC became a reality slowly. First, repairs
  were being made to the GBT, the giant 300-meter
  diameter radio telescope at Green Bank. While it
  was being repaired, it could not be moved. For
  most astronomers, this was a problem.

4
The GBT
5
What is PSC?

• With the telescope immobile, its use was limited.
  The pulsar astronomers at WVU, however, didnt
  mind. They could use the stationary telescope to
  perform a drift scan. As the telescope
  remained in place, the sky would drift by under
  it. Data could be collected.

6
What is PSC?

• With a couple of months of repair work, a lot of
  data could be gathered, and searched for signs of
  pulsars, then investigated further.

7
What is PSC?

• The project worked beyond their wildest dreams
  the drift scans produced 130 terabytes (130
  trillion bytes) of data. This created a new
  problemhow to go through all that data!

8
What is PSC?

• Someone came up with an idea. High school
  students could be trained to go through the data,
  and their teachers could be trained to help them.
  Like any good scientists with an idea, they
  wrote a grant.

9
What is PSC?

• 15 teachers attended two weeks of training, then
  37 students came in for one week of training. 12
  were West Virginia schools, including PCHS,
  Elkins, Independence, Hurricane, Lincoln,
  Nicholas Co., Brooke, Hedgesville, Morgantown,
  Bridgeport, Shady Spring, and Tolsia.

10
What is PSC?

• The students, including two from PCHS, are now
  experienced pulsar astronomers!

11
Why is it at PCHS?

• The collaboratory is science research at its
  purest level. Students will go through 30
  terabytes of the data. There are discoveries
  waiting to be made.

12
Why is it at PCHS?

• Discovery of previously unknown pulsars can lead
  to more science. Pulsars can and have been used
  to study Einsteins relativity, find out about
  interstellar matter, and find out more about
  stars.

13
Why is it at PCHS?

• This is a lot of data. Certainly new pulsars are
  going to be found. There is a nonzero chance of
  a Nobel Prize to be won!

14
What do we need to do?

• We need the school to allow us computer time.
  Students will need to devote one to two hours per
  week of computer time to going through data,
  under trained teacher supervision. 2 students
  have been trained, but 5-10 are needed for the
  team.

15
What do we need to do?

• Up to five students will need release time in May
  to go to WVU and present the research findings of
  the team for the year.

16
What do we need to do?

• Encourage the students to work.
• Promote research.
• Watch us do something great!