Near-Earth asteroid surfaces aren’t uniform: Using thermal models of multi-epoch observations to reveal inhomogeneities

NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants Program

Subaward to PSI from University of Arizona

PI: Ellen Howell (University of Arizona)

Start Date: 05/31/2019
Project #: 1669
End Date: 04/29/2024
Award #: 519070

PSI Personnel

Project Description

To support Near-Earth Asteroid Surfaces Aren’t Uniform: Using Thermal Models of Multi-Epoch Observations to Reveal Inhomogeneities, we propose to conduct two-day and one evening professional development workshops each year for 15 teachers, grades 3 to 8. We will conduct one workshop in years one and three and two in year two. These workshops and the follow-up engagement of teachers and their students will be based on our successful NASA-funded WISER (Workshops in Science Education and Resources, 2010–2014; Co-Is Lebofsky and Buxner) program. These workshops have helped hundreds of K-8 teachers throughout southern Arizona significantly increase their understanding of content and processes in Earth and space science by working with PSI scientists and local educators. In particular, WISER already has a workshop (Asteroid-Meteorite Connection) that has a variety of activities that can be modified for the workshops that we are proposing. Near-Earth Asteroid Surfaces Aren’t Uniform scientists and EPO specialists at PSI will work together to create additional content to supplement WISER’s existing workshops. The research results from this NEO study will be integrated into the workshop as they become available and will be incorporated into our teacher follow-up support. Many of the WISER-supported teachers teach in schools that are classified as Title I (at least 40% low income students). The three largest school districts have minority populations ranging from 40% to nearly 95%, a population typically underrepresented in the STEM disciplines. PSI has scientists and education specialists in 25 states and DC. This has enabled WISER workshops to be adapted for use in other states where there are PSI scientists. While not directly supported by this program, PSI’s scientists and science education specialists are working closely with the Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Foundation (SARSEF). SARSEF reaches over 1,000 teachers each year with in-school professional development workshops. Its outreach program to schools reaches over 30,000 students in Southern Arizona, and over 75,000 students participate in their local school science fairs every year. In 2017, over 2,000 projects representing over 5,000 K-12 students were judged at SARSEF’s regional fair. PSI’s collaboration with SARSEF will bring additional professional development, student outreach, and student research experience support that can be used as a model for other organizations supporting regional science fairs around the country through PSI scientists outside Arizona. As with WISER there will be a mix of content presentations and hands-on activities. We will modify an existing activity, Veggie Lightcurves, that was used in Small Bodies, Big Concepts (NASA Dawn mission, developed in part by Lebofsky and Buxner). We will modify this activity to make thermal IR measurements, modeling Probing Asteroid Complexity IR observations. Using different materials we will model the parameters that scientists face as they attempt to model the thermal properties of real asteroids. We have already purchased a visual spectrometer and an IR camera that will be used for these activities. The workshops will cover the history of our knowledge about asteroids, their origin and evolution, how we study their size, shape, and composition, and the basic principles of thermal IR and radar observations at a level appropriate to the grades being taught by the participants. Several of the science researchers involved in this project live in Tucson and have committed their time to present at these workshops. While classroom visits are beyond the scope of this project, the research and science education teams will be available to answer questions that teachers and students may have about the material that was presented to them and to support potential science fair projects. The new Arizona Science Standards will generally align with the NRC’s A Framework for K-12 Science Education and will be implemented in Arizona in a few years. Note: the activities for these proposed workshops will have little, if any, overlap with workshops that will be carried out by another PSI proposal related to the volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon Io (Morgenthaler, PI). Also, the EPO team are on another NSF proposal to study Centaurs. The activities for the NEO proposal will complement those we are proposing here so that teachers can take any of these workshops with minimal repetition of material and will enable us to reach more teachers in southern Arizona.

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