Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Nov 1995
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995eso..pres...17.&link_type=abstract
ESO Press Release, 11/1995
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Today, forty 16-18 year old students and their teachers are concluding a one-week, educational `working visit' to the ESO Headquarters in Garching (See ESO Press Release 14/95 of 8 November 1995). They are the winners of the Europe-wide contest `Europe Towards the Stars', organised by ESO with the support of the European Union, under the auspices of the Third European Week for Scientific and Technological Culture.
From November 14-20, they have worked with professional ESO astronomers in order to get insight into the methods and principles of modern astronomy and astrophysics, as carried out at one of the world's foremost international centres. This included very successful remote observations with the ESO 3.5-m New Technology Telescope (NTT) and the 1.4-m Coude Auxiliary Telescope (CAT) via a satellite link between the ESO Headquarters and the La Silla observatory in Chile, 12,000 kilometres away.
After a general introduction to modern astronomy on the first day of the visit, the participants divided into six teams, according to their interests. Some chose to observe distant galaxies, others prefered to have a closer look on binary stars, and one team decided to investigate a star which is thought to be surrounded by a proto-planetary system. Each team was supported by an experienced ESO astronomer. Then followed the observations at the remote consoles during three nights, the first at the NTT and the following at the CAT. Each team had access to the telescope during half a night. Although the work schedule - exactly as in `real' science - was quite hard, especially during the following data reduction and interpretative phase, all teams managed extremely well and in high spirits.
The young astronomers' observations were favoured by excellent atmospheric conditions. At the NTT, the seeing was better than 0.5 arcsecond during several hours, an exceptional value that allows very good images to be obtained. All observations represent solid and interesting science, and some of the new results are indeed at the frontline. Together with the team leaders, this will be followed up during the next months, with the likely result in the form of one or more scientific papers. It is difficult to think of an experience for young people that brings them closer to real science.
The stay at ESO is concluded today with the formal presentation of the team's reports, followed by a Press Conference. There will be a closing dinner this evening and tomorrow the participants will return to the respective countries and revert to normal life at the schools.
The entire event has been covered by assisting journalists and has also been documented by the ESO Video Team; a corresponding video film will become available shortly.
This experience has been very positive, both in terms of human relations, education and science. With their widely different cultural backgrounds and common interest in astronomy, the young people and their teachers have demonstrated the many virtues of international collaboration and thereby also made this event a valuable contribution to the integration of Europe.
The two Addenda to this Press Release contain information about the winning projects, and also, in a very provisional form, about the outcome of the work carried out at ESO. Addendum 1 The Projects of the National first-prize winners Belgium: Mr. Freddy Allemeersch (Teacher), Mr. Pieter De Ceuninck, Mr. Jeroen Staelens (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwecollege, Brugge)
This project aims at the theoretical description of a stable planetary system around another star and the possibilities to observe it from the Earth. A star of 0.8 solar mass is placed at the centre, surrounded with 3 terrestrial (Earth-like) planets and 4 planets of the gaseous, Jovian type. The distance from the Earth is 10 parsec, i.e. about 33 light-years. The project provides a very detailed description of these planets, their inner constitution, surface conditions and atmospheres. Many different observational approaches are described, but in the end it is appears that only infrared astrometry and astrometry would allow to detect the presence of the planets around this star. Denmark: Mr. Joern C. Olsen, Mr. Henrik Struckmann, Mr. Uffe A. Hansen, Mr. Mogens Winther (Teacher) (Soenderborg Amtsgymnasium)
This team performed extensive CCD-observations with the school telescope of three stellar clusters. The goal was to determine their HR-diagrammes (colour-magnitude) and other characteristics. Among others, the team succeeded to measure quite accurate B (blue) and V (green-yellow) colours of 40, 12-16-magnitude stars in the open stellar cluster NGC 6939. This allowed a determination of the distance (2500 parsec) to this cluster and its age (1800 million years), quite similar to the `professionally' determined values. As a side-result, and illustrating the faintness of starlight, a calculation showed that it would take no less than 437,236 years for the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, to heat a cup of coffee to the boiling point ! Finland: Mr. Reima EresmA, Ms. Laura Elina Nykyri, Ms. Reetamaija Janhonen (Cygnaeues-Lukeo, Jyvaeskylae and Jyvaeskylae Lyseon Lukeo)
This group used a 50-cm amateur telescope in their home town to observe the spectra of galaxies. A CCD spectrograph recorded the data which were then image-processed in the computer. For this programme, five galaxy pairs were selected and their velocities were measured. This allowed to calculate the distance to the galaxies by means of Hubble's law and also to determine the velocity difference between the two galaxies in a binary system. This in turn makes it possible to estimate the galaxies' total mass. When comparing these numbers with the mass of the visible objects, the group finally determined that the visible mass is only about 8 percent of the total mass, i.e. there must be much `dark matter' in these galaxies. France: Mr. Rene Cavaroz (Teacher), Mr. Vincent Hardy, Mr. Antoine Lesuffleur (Lycee Chartier, Bayeux)
This project concerned the actual construction of a working solar radio interferometer, a rather complex instrument that allows measurements of the long-wavelength radiation from the Sun and to map the locations in the solar corona where this radiation originates. The antennae and receiver were designed for frequences around 550 and 750 MHz and were built by the team members themselves. Radio signals from the Sun (as interference fringes) were effectively observed with this instrument, documenting the excellent functioning of this advanced equipment. Germany: Ms. Dorothee Barth, Mr. Walter Czech (Teacher), Mr. Uwe Kranz, Ms. Karin Wieland (Immanuel-Kant-Gymnasium, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Baden-Wurttemberg)
Following a careful planning phase, systematic observations of the 14-magnitude planet Pluto were made with a CCD camera and a 30-cm telescope during 18 nights in the spring and summer of this year. Five nearby stars were used to calibrate the resulting photometric measurements. In the end, this programme was shown to achieve a very good photometric accuracy of about +- 0.2 magnitude per measurement. The variation of Pluto's brightness was found to be about 0.7 magnitude for this particular instrumental combination (no filtre). It was thus possible to draw the lightcurve which was found to be in complete agreement with the established 6.4 day rotation period. Greece: Ms. Agni Ioannidi, Ms. Elena Katifori, Mr. Vassilis Samiotis, Mr. Vassillos Tzotzes (Teacher) (Varvakio Experimental Lyceum, Athens)
The project starts out from a star of 1.56 solar mass and a certain density. From this, its size, luminosity, temperature, pressure and other parameters are calculated. With an analogue to the Titius-Bode law for planetary distances, a new planetary system is constructed. It has 5 planets, 3 of which are of the terrestrial type and the other 2 are giant gas planets, larger than Jupiter. Their physical characteristics are calculated. One planet (the 3rd from the central star) is somewhat similar to the Earth, but it is too cold for life as we know it, and because of its comparatively small size, th
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