Abstract:
Following the success of the Our Place in Space (OPIS) astronomy laboratory curriculum for undergraduates, a consortium of educators, led by a team of astronomers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have started development of new laboratory curriculum initiative, Astrophotography of the Multiwavelength Universe – MWU! The new curriculum includes a series of optical and radio astronomy activities that target students who have already completed at least one introductory astronomy course that are at a vital point in their academic career when they make the choice to focus their education on a pathway toward a post-baccalaureate career in STEM. I present a summary of the laboratory modules that have been created so far, and how they use color information from large- and narrow-band filtered images to make physical interpretations at optical and radio wavelengths.
Speaker:
David Moffett is Furman's astronomer and oversees the operation of the Timmons Planetarium. He teaches introductory physics courses, astronomy, and mechanics, and he serves as the dual-degree advisor in engineering. In addition to teaching at Furman, Moffett collaborates with faculty from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to host the annual Educational Research In Radio Astronomy (ERIRA) workshop at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank, WV.
Moffett continues to perform radio astronomical observations of supernova remnants, and is currently working with Furman students to study the expansion and polarization properties of the remnant of the historical supernova of 1006 AD.