Space Physics

1
Space Physics
and the Faulkes telescope
2
Space Physics at Peebles High School

• Space Physics appears in the curriculum at the
  end of S2 where a short topic allows pupils to
  see their place in the Universe.
• At the end of the Standard Grade Physics course
  there is a short section on Space Physics.
• Space Physics appears lastly in the mechanics
  section of the Advanced higher. An awareness of
  Space physics can also be a stimulus for the
  Advanced Higher project.

3
The Pupils involved

• Four pupils were chosen to use the Faulkes
  Telescope and to share their results with their
  fellow pupils.
• Katy Dickinson fromS2 used her observation to
  introduce the space physics topic to her class
  last week.
• Cieran Roche is ready to add his presentation on
  Galaxies to his S4 class.
• Lizzie Hynd is an S5 physics pupil who hopes to
  continue to Advanced Higher and possibly to
  Astrophysics at University. She has been inspired
  already to study Asteroids as her project.
• Thomas Fraser studying physics in S5 is the
  person currently responsible for publicity and
  website information for the school Engineering
  club
• An extra pupil from S6, Lynda Cameron, has been
  overseer as she was lucky enough to win a week
  at NASA last session.

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Introduction
S2 space physics by Katy Dickinson

• Now we are able to see into space because there
  is a new telescope called the Faulkes Telescope
  which we can control from our classroom.

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Aims of the telescope

• The objectives of the Faulkes Telescope project
  are
• To provide schools with access to a research
  class telescope
• To allow students to see how science is actually
  carried out
• To provide a real-time experience of astronomy,
  through live use of a telescope via the Web
• Targets
• The (ambitious) target of the FT programme is to
  reach 500,000 school children and other users per
  year. Materials required for teachers and
  students to use the telescope will be developed,
  in association with the Royal Observatory
  Greenwich, Liverpool John Moores University and
  the National Space Science Centre.

Taken from the observatory website
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What is the telescope?

• The Faulkes Telescopes are large telescopes that
  can see far into space. There are two of them
  one in Hawaii and one in Australia. These
  telescopes are named after a man called Bill
  Faulkes, who paid for these telescopes to be
  built. The telescopes are like robots, which can
  be controlled by people from the U.K. as well as
  Hawaii and Australia on the internet.

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How does the telescope work?

• The telescope is controlled through the Royal
  Observatory website. Usually it costs a lot of
  money to have a turn. You book a slot of half an
  hour and then in that time, you can tell the
  telescope what you want it to look for. You can
  also get a guide that will give you a list of
  things you can look at and when you click on them
  the telescope looks at it.

8
Things we have seen
Below are some pictures that we took through the
telescope
Jupiter
Saturn
Galaxy NGC 2403
Star Pollux
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Saturn

• Sixth planet from the sun
• Second largest planet in the solar system
• Rings are possibly composed of icebergs and
  snowballs
• Three main rings A,B and C
• 33 known moons

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Jupiter

• Fifth planet from the sun
• Largest of the planets
• Very faint rings that cannot be seen from earth
• 28 moons, 12 of which have only recently been
  discovered

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Pollux

• 17th brightest star in the sky
• In mythology it is the twin of Castor
• Marks one of the heads of the Gemini twins
• It is 36 light years away from the Sun

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NGC 2403

• A Galaxy
• 11 or 12 million light years away
• Discovered by William Herschel in 1788
• The best time to see it is on the 15th January

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Reasons this will help for standard grade
Extra slides added by Cieran Roche

• In standard grade you are expected to know what
  galaxies are, with the telescope you can see
  exactly what they are.
• The faulkes telescope lets you use a telescope
  without the troubles of high altitude.
• Even the website itself tells you how the
  telescope works and you should know that at the
  end of standard grade

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Reasons this will help in 5/6 year.

• This will help pupils who want to get a career in
  astronomy as it will give them experience of
  using a telescope.
• They will also know exactly what the planets,
  galaxies, nebulae, etc. look like instead of
  looking at a drawing in a textbook.
• lt-M64 Jupiter--gt
• (Black hole
• Galaxy)

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Other pictures that we took
Pal 4 Globular cluster
NGC 3242 Ghost of Jupiter
NGC 3115 Spindle Galaxy
M 96
M97 Owl Nebula
M 95