Presented at the GHOU 2018 conference in Vienna, Austria from 13-15 August. http://handsonuniverse.org/ghou2018/program/

1. Fraser Lewis
Faulkes Telescope Project
National Schools’ Observatory
Liverpool John Moores University
The Open University
Using Real Data in Education

2. Based in Cardiff, Wales

3. The Faulkes Telescope Project

4. Robotic telescopes allow us to obtain images
from (several) distant good quality sites
Only 3 * 2-metre telescopes that do this for education
FT
LT

5. FTS Siding Spring, Australia

6. Liverpool Telescope, La Palma

7. 7Las Cumbres Observatory 7
2m
2m
2 x 1m
3 x 1m 3 x 1m
1m
Also 9 * 1-metre telescopes
(5 more soon)

9. Also 8 * 0.4 metres
Hawaii, Australia, South Africa, Chile and
Tenerife

14. Fastest Rotating Asteroid Ever!
FTS observations by British
amateur astronomer
Superfast rotator - 42.7s
Mass approx. 5000 tonnes,
15-20m across
Part of new collaborative
project to survey properties
of small NEAs

15. New in 2018
The return of real-time
observing
USP for 2-metre telescope
Schools get exclusive
control of telescopes for
30 minute blocks
NRES (Network of Robotic
Echelle Spectrographs)
High resolution (R ~ 50,000)
spectrographs on 1-metre
telescopes

16. The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
(HRD; sometimes CMD)
A theoretical diagram showing the properties
of a population of stars
Developed independently between 1911 and
1913 plotting brightness/luminosity (y-axis)
against colour (i.e. temperature) or against
spectral type (x-axis)

18. Inquiry-based
‘teacher-free’
activity for
students to learn
about open
clusters and HR
diagrams as well
as photometry
(and all the nasty
maths)
Can choose any
one of 28 datasets
or take their own
observations with
FT/LCO

19. New variables
Patrick Gildersleeve (St. Johns, Cardiff)

20. LT Car RR Lyrae CMD
Joe Setchfield – USW u’grad

21. Stellar Endpoints

22. 18 August 2018 CEPSAR Postgraduate Seminars 22
Lifecycle of stars

23. Gaia Transient Follow-up
http://gsaweb.ast.cam.ac.uk/alerts/alertsindex

24. Getting to know Gaia
CCDs
Signalling
Launch
Orbit Location
Scientific Instruments
Precision
Power Systems

25. http://resources.faulkes-telescope.com/course/view.php?id=144
Spotting a Supernova

27. ASASSN-15oz (~250 images in 4 filters over 7 telescopes on 5 sites)

32. FLOYDS Spectrograph
Both 2-metre telescopes have a low-resolution
spectrograph so as well as imaging objects, spectra can
be taken

33. Exoplanet transits
CoRot 2b: David Hardy & Thomas Ham (Cardiff schools), July 2012

35. 35
Optical X-ray

36. Binary Stars

38.  We are monitoring about 40 LMXBs with the two 2-m Faulkes Telescopes since 2005–2007
(Lewis et al. 2008) – about half are regularly detected in quiescence
 Fully robotic, queue scheduled. Typically use V, R, i’ filters, sometimes g’, r’, i’, y
 Cadence: about once a week or so, can increase frequency if necessary (e.g. outbursts)
 Tracking the X-ray variations of XRBs in quiescence is generally not possible, so optical
monitoring provides the best means to measure mass accretion rate variability between outbursts
Faulkes Telescope Monitoring of LMXBs
FTN (Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii) FTS (Siding Spring, Australia)

39. 18 August 2018 Fraser Lewis - Usk AS 39
12 Years of Monitoring ~40 Low-Mass
quiescent
X-ray Binaries (LMXBs)
working with Dave Russell
(New York University Abu Dhabi)
Donor main sequence or dwarf star
Accretion by Roche lobe overflow
System’s luminosity dominated by disc
Long-lived (~107 – 109 years)
Usually found in globular clusters and Galactic bulge

40. X-ray binary outbursts
This is a low-mass X-ray
binary (LMXB)
Physical components:
 Star
 Compact object: Black hole or Neutron star
 Accretion disc
 Hot inner flow / Corona
 Jets, disc winds
Mass transfer causes an outburst
when disc becomes unstable
Disc simulation by Mike Truss, Leicester
MAXI J1659–152: 2010 outburst
first detection by MAXI
X-ray light curve from
Homan et al. 2013
New outburst detected almost
6 orders of magnitude above
quiescent X-ray flux level

41. Even previously unknown LMXBs are now being
discovered by optical telescopes before X-ray
MAXI J1820+070:
A new BH transient discovered in
March 2018 by the ASAS-SN
transients survey

42. Long term optical monitoring of V404 Cyg
We’ve been monitoring the long
term behavior of LMXBs like
V404 Cyg with the 2-m Faulkes
Telescopes
Bernardini et al. 2016

43. 18 August 2018 Fraser Lewis - Usk AS 43
4 Types of Behaviour

44. Schools in research publications
Elebert et al. 2009
MNRAS
Lewis et al. 2010
A&A

45. A nearby and ‘easy-to measure’ black
hole !
Black Holes In My School
(BHIMS; Rosa Doran, NUCLIO, Portugal)

48. What is “Down to Earth”?
A STEM project based around the science of
asteroids, comets, meteorites and impacts
Inquiry-based science education
Multi-disciplinary (astronomy, geography,
geology, physics, maths, IT) and suitable for
many age groups

49. Extremely Relevant !
Chelyabinsk meteor, 15/02/13

52. In development - Android App, more languages
(Basque, Dutch, Romanian)
Via Go-Lab, ESA – more activities, worksheets

53. 1. Can you make the smallest (but not 0
metres) and largest craters ?
http://simulator.down2earth.eu/
http://education.down2earth.eu/
2. Can you reproduce the Chicxulub crater ?
3. Find the largest crater in your country and
try to reproduce it …

54. 4. Can you reverse engineer an existing crater
on Earth ? (you may have to introduce the
concept of ‘degeneracy’)
e.g. Chicxulub (180 km)
Barringer (1.2 km, iron meteorite into
sedimentary rock)
Ries (26 km) and Steinheim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_craters_on_Earth

55. Go-Lab
http://www.golabz.eu/
http://www.go-lab-project.eu/
https://www.golabz.eu/ils/craters-on-earth-and-
other-planets
https://www.golabz.eu/lab/craters-on-earth-
and-other-planets

57. Inquiry-based
‘teacher-free’
activity for
students to learn
about open
clusters and HR
diagrams as well
as photometry
(and all the nasty
maths)
Can choose any
one of 28 datasets
or take their own
observations with
FT/LCO

58. https://www.schoolsobservatory.org/discover/projects/clusters/main
first of five IBSE (guided) activities
Open Clusters
Exoplanets
Variable Stars
Supernovae
Compact Objects (black holes and neutron stars)

59. Exoplanet transits
CoRot 2b: David Hardy & Thomas Ham (Cardiff schools), July 2012

60. WASP-4b transit 2016 – watch this ‘space’
1 undergraduate plus two A level students

61. Activity 2
Go to http://exoplanet.eu/diagrams/
Plot “stuff” against “other stuff”
36 * 35 options = 1260
Search for trends, clumps, etc.

62. If you find one, is it a ‘real’ effect and if so,
does it make sense ?
If it isn’t real, what is causing it ?
Don’t forget to switch off (on) log scaling
and filter by method/status

63. http://astro.unl.edu/naap/esp/animations/transitSimulator.html
http://astro.unl.edu/naap/esp/animations/radialVelocitySimulator.html

64. National Schools Observatory
Established (2004) to provide schools in the UK and Ireland with access to the Liverpool
Telescope through a guided observing system, together with astronomy related content,
news and learning activities.

65. NSO Projects and Activities (no password)

66. VR/AR material via RAL, Gaia, ISS
Some of Other (FT) Projects

67. Augmented Reality
• Explore the Solar System in Augmented Reality, using your smart
phone or tablet and a set of postcards.
• App and postcards are free!
• 3D models of planets in our Solar System that you can explore,
interact with and learn about
Our Universe AR
Search the Google Play Store for “Faulkes Telescope” to find the app

68. Quarknet Cymru

69. Worldwide, you can register for the FT Project
and NSO (they’re free, honestly !)
http://www.faulkes-
telescope.com/information/registration
https://www.schoolsobservatory.org/register

70. http://faulkes-telescope.com
http://resources.faulkes-telescope.com
http://education.down2earth.eu
http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/
@QuarknetCymru
@faulkestel
Please come find me or
e-mail me your ideas
fraser.lewis@
faulkes-telescope.com