Chandra X-ray Data Analysis in Educational Settings

1
Chandra X-ray Data Analysis in Educational
Settings
Terry Matilsky, Eugenia Etkina (Rutgers
University), Kathy Lestition, Eric Mandel
William Joye (CfA)
How can we provide an authentic research
experience to students who want to find out what
science is REALLY about? We couple DS9 imaging
software, a user friendly, fun to explore
environment with a virtual observatory that
allows analysis to be done remotely on UNIX based
machines, regardless of the platform employed by
the user. Furthermore, by adapting VNC (Virtual
Network Computer) software, we can enhance this
flexibility enormously and allow instructors to
view, comment on, and debug any analysis task in
real-time, from anywhere in the world, and across
all computing platforms. This makes these
programs especially useful in distance learning
environments.
DS9 http//chandra-ed.harvard.edu
DS9-Continued Now we can do some real
science! PICK TWO REGIONS
BOX 1
BOX 2
DS9
From this image, we can perform a host of
operations
OR
GET ENERGY SPECTRA!
CHANGE COLORS
CHANGE CONTRAST
DISPLAY COORDINATE SYSTEMS
TIME VARIABILITY ANALYSIS USING CEN X-3
POWER SPECTRUM
LIGHT CURVES
EQUATORIAL
GALACTIC
CREATE ANALYSIS REGIONS Very flexible!
You can even select regions based on
iso-intensity contours
FOLDED LIGHT CURVE
ZOOM IN!!!

BOX 3
VNC- Virtual Network Computing allows you to view
any computer (in this case, a LINUX server at
Rutgers that contains the entire suite of DS9
and FTOOLS subroutines), even if you are in a PC
environment. Moreover, students can work from
several remote locations and see the same window.
The instructor can now debug or comment on any
work , also from a remote location. For example,
you can examine any number of VNC sessions, and
comment (in real time) on a students work. You
can operate the mouse and keyboard remotely, and
the student will see it on his/her desktop! We
have been using these tools for 7 years in our
annual month long Astrophysics Summer Institute
held each year at Rutgers University. See the
handout for more information, and GO TO GADGETS
AND GIZMOS FOR A LIVE DEMO!!