Astrophysics Resources

All of astrophysics depends on the some of the same bits of physics, because most of what we see in the sky is very (sometimes very, very) hot, so most stuff is in the forth state of matter: plasma. We also need to know about the very high energy particles we call cosmic rays and how Einstein's theory of relativity affect things that move as speeds close to that of light.

Here you will find a few notes relevant background science, including plasmas, relativity, measuring time, cosmic rays and so on.

The HiSPARC project is a Europe wide collection of cosmic ray detectors located at universities, colleges and schools. All the data from every detector is assembled in a database in the Netherlands from where it can be downloaded and analysed by students who can experience the pleasures and problems of doing real science with seriously capable instruments.

This page includes a general description of HiSPARC and a collection of other material assembled to aid the students who I have mentored on HiSPARC projects.

Most of the World's astronomical observatories now feed all their observations onto databases, from where it can be accessed by both professional researchers and members of the public - this even includes every photograph and spectrum from the Hubble Space Telescope.

In fact a lot of modern astrophysical research relies on systematically searching through these vast archives, and the professionals often ask the public for help (as with the Galaxy Zoo project).

This note identifies a number of ways of getting hold of the raw data for your own research projects.

Measure the Distance to the Moon

Measuring the distance to the things we can see in the sky is fundamental to all astronomy, and we have to start with the closest objects, and build outwards from there.

By cooperating with another school (preferably on a different continent) you will be able to use the fundamental astronomical technique of parallax to measure the distance to the Moon. This project involves astrophotography through a small telescope, using software (or other methods) to calibrate and measure astronomical photographs, and then performing trigonometric calculations to work out the distance from a known baseline and a measured angle. More able students will be able to derive the baseline length from geographical coordinates. (A reasonable approximation is not difficult, but the exact solution requires a good deal of thinking and the easiest route to follow involves converting everything to 3D cartesian coordinates.) For less mathematically inclined students, I have prepared an explanation of the calculation that can be turned into a spreadsheet. (I have also coded an Excel spreadsheet you can use if you wish.)

This is suitable for Yr10/11s and for Silver CREST awards.

Galaxy Colour Profiles

Have you ever wondered how professional astronomers use the spectacular images that they capture with the World's great telescopes? How do you turn a photograph into science? It turns out that we can learn a great deal about galaxies from studying their colours, and in particular the way colour varies across the face of a galaxy.

This "SDSS Workshop" document gives a set of detailed instruction for identifying and downloading images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and processing them with SAOImage DS9. It has been successfully used to run a two-hour intensive workshop with Yr 10s as an introduction to a more extended Silver CREST project.

I have used this project with Yr 10s.

The observation by Galileo of spots on the surface of Sun was one of the first indicates by science that the heavens were not perfect. It caused a storm of controversy.

Sunspots are still very much a topic of active research for today, because activity on the Sun's surface can directly affect our every day lives. The twisted magnetic fields around sunspots are the cause of solar flares and "coronal mass ejections" which can damage satellites and mess with the Earth's magnetic field enough to sometimes shut down electricity grids.

This is a project that can be pursued at different levels of sophistication, with or without practical observations through a small telescope.

Globular clusters are both beautiful and scientifically important, because they can tell us about the size of the Milky Way. All the stars in a cluster are born at the same time, so they also represent snapshots of the progress of stellar evolution.

You can download data captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and repeat the classic experiment by Harlow Shapley first done just over 100 years ago to work out the distribution in 3D space of all the visible globular clusters. Except that using Hubble data we can now do it much more easily and far more accurately. This is also the first step on a route that allows astronomers to work out the age of globular clusters and hence a lower limit on the age of the Milky Way.

This is a challenging project, suitable for Yr 12/13. It involves learning how to search the Hubble Space Telescope data archive to identify globular cluster observations, downloading the information, then handling a large amount of data listing the brightness and colour of hundreds of thousands of stars. Students will need to learn a number of new computing techniques including more sophisticated methods of data visualisation capable of making sense of thousands of data points.

Massive stars live fast and die young, sometimes leaving behind a black hole. Such stars are relatively rare but have gone through many generations since the galaxies started to form. So, how many black holes (and neutron stars) might be wandering around our Milky Way? Can we detect them? Are they astrophysical important for the evolution of the galaxy?

This would be a challenging project for a Yr 12 student who want to see how high-school mathematics and physics can be used to do a serious investigation with important implications. It could meet the criteria for a Gold CREST Award.

Can we use A-level maths and physics to do calculations that tell us something about the energy source of quasars and the most powerful extragalactic radio sources?

A challenging project for Yr12/13 students who see themselves going on to study physics/astrophysics.