Calvin-Rehoboth Robotic Twin Telescopes

卡尔文-里霍博斯机器人双望远镜

• 批准号: 0126841
• 负责人: Lawrence Molnar
• 金额: $ 13万
• 依托单位: Calvin University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-08-01 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0126841&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Calvin; Rehoboth; Robotic; Twin; Telescopes

Astronomy (11)This project is adapting and implementing a model of complementary telescopes--one local and one remote--pioneered at the University of Iowa. The investigators are installing a pair of 16-inch telescopes, one at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where observing is sometimes hampered by poor weather and light pollution, and one at the Rehoboth Christian School near Gallup, New Mexico, a remote location with clearer and darker skies. The choice of the remote site builds on a century-old relationship between the college and the high school, which serves primarily Navajo and Zuni students. A teacher at the school is assisting with the installation and maintenance of the telescope there and is integrating it into the school's physical science curriculum.Students and faculty at Calvin College use their local telescope in a hands-on and a training mode, and use the nearly identical, robotic telescope at Rehoboth Christian School to make observations remotely. Both telescopes provide individual data for many students, including research-quality data for upper-level undergraduates.This arrangement provides a flexible but reliable system, in which the local telescope at the college can be switched between eyepiece, camera, and spectroscopic modes, and in which skills gained by students using the local telescope immediately transfer to data acquisition on the remote telescope in New Mexico. Efficient queue operation of the remote telescope supplies large quantities of high-quality data, enough for individual students to pursue a wide range of physically interesting experiments with their own data sets.Outcomes of the project include sequential installation and reliable operation of the local, and then the remote, telescope; training in the new equipment and procedures for Calvin College faculty who teach astronomy courses, as well as their student assistants; training in the new equipment and assistance in curriculum development for the participating teacher at Rehoboth Christian School; integration of new observing capabilities into the college's lab curriculum and existing and newly developed courses; enhanced recruitment of Native American students (at Rehoboth Christian School) into careers in science; conference presentations that disseminate the college's model for astronomy labs; and the development of relationships with the college's "feeder" high schools (in addition to Rehoboth Christian School), so that they can incorporate use of the new telescope in their science curricula.

天文学（11）该项目正在调整和实施爱荷华州大学首创的一种互补望远镜模式-一台本地望远镜，一台远程望远镜。调查人员正在安装一对16英寸的望远镜，一个在密歇根州大急流城的卡尔文学院，那里的观测有时会受到恶劣天气和光污染的阻碍，另一个在新墨西哥州盖洛普附近的雷霍博斯基督教学校，一个偏远的地方，天空更清晰，更黑暗。远程站点的选择建立在学院和高中之间长达一个世纪的关系之上，这所学校主要为纳瓦霍和祖尼学生服务。学校的一位老师正在协助安装和维护望远镜，并将其纳入学校的物理科学课程。卡尔文学院的学生和教师以动手和培训的方式使用当地的望远镜，并使用雷霍博斯基督教学校几乎相同的机器人望远镜进行远程观测。这两台望远镜为许多学生提供个人数据，包括高年级本科生的研究质量数据。这种安排提供了一个灵活而可靠的系统，在该系统中，学院的本地望远镜可以在目镜、相机和光谱模式之间切换，学生使用本地望远镜获得的技能可以立即转移到新墨西哥州的远程望远镜上进行数据采集。远程望远镜的有效队列操作提供了大量高质量的数据，足以让学生利用自己的数据集进行广泛的物理有趣的实验。该项目的成果包括本地和远程望远镜的顺序安装和可靠操作;为教授天文学课程的卡尔文学院教师及其学生助理提供新设备和程序的培训;在新设备的培训和课程开发的参与教师在Rehoboth基督教学校的援助;新的观察能力到学院的实验室课程和现有的和新开发的课程的整合;加强对美洲原住民学生的招聘（在Rehoboth基督教学校）进入科学事业;会议演讲，传播学院的天文学实验室模型;以及与学院的“支线”高中发展关系（除了Rehoboth基督教学校），这样他们就可以将新望远镜的使用纳入他们的科学课程。