There are many other programs out there that get teachers and/or students in contact with real astronomy data. Here are the ones we know about. Please let us know if you know of one not listed here. Please note that some of these programs may have suffered in this budget environment and are no longer operating (though website activities may be still available). We also maintain a separate list of other somewhat simpler opportunities that might be suitable for, say, K-6 teachers.
Jump down to:
Astronomy Programs for Teachers and Students
Exoplanet Stuff
Public-web-access robotic telescopes
Astronomy Citizen Science
Even Bigger Projects
Teacher Training
Summer research opportunities for high school students
Places to publish for high school students
All of these programs aimed at educators and students up through grade 13; there are many more opportunities to get your hands on real data in college. Also note that for this subset of the page, the programs are very roughly sorted by wavelength; the wavelength regime as listed is often the primary but not the only data used in the program.
- Radio
- Infrared
- Optical
- Hands-On Universe (HOU), which is now Global HOU. High school and middle school curriculum materials and image processing software available online, much of it for free. Current GHOU-USA activities. (Primarily aimed at teachers; rolling admission for most activities.) See also HOU Curriculum (the original book), available online.
- Astronomy from Home, includes lab exercises. (Anyone can participate any time.)
- Lick Observatory runs several kinds of programs, but their Lick Observatory Teacher Institute is not currently funded. (Teachers must apply.)
- SDSS education, see specifically SDSS Voyages and Sky Server projects. (anyone can participate anytime)
- Other Worlds, Other Earths - looking for exoplanets (middle and high school teachers and students can participate anytime after registering.)
- MicroObservatory online telescopes. (anyone can participate anytime)
- Skynet online telescopes, run from North Carolina; ground-based telescope network worldwide. (see also Skynet Junior Scholars and Skynet University) (originally aimed at NC teachers and students; now including the general public)
- Rubin Observatory Education. Several online exercises meant to be used in classroom settings. (anyone can participate anytime)
- Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) runs the Global Sky Partners, a diverse group of educators and scientists who run their own fully-supported education projects using LCO’s global network of robotic telescopes. LCO is developing the USA Sky Partners to provide an authentic research experience for US undergraduates. LCO’s website also offers educational activities and Spacebook, an online astronomy textbook. (Opportunities for teachers and students; lots of activities online.)
- Slooh online telescopes; ground-based telescope network. Includes lesson plans! Students, teachers, and the public
- Boyce Astro and BRIEF. Several different opportunities. Students, teachers, and the public; San Diego area only
- GORT, a ground-based telescope that is part of Skynet. (Available to high school and college instructors and students.)
- WorldWide Telescope Ambassadors Program. (Lots of online lessons; used to be geographically restricted but may not be anymore.)
- Galaxies and Cosmos Explorer Tool, from UTexas Austin. (Anyone can participate anytime.)
- RBSEU labs, a descendent of Research-Based Science Education (RBSE) from NOAO. (Available to anyone, anytime.)
- Mars Exploration Student Data Teams (MESDT). (May no longer be operating?)
- Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP) (Educators must apply, but can start anytime.)
- ExMASS High School Research program - Exploration of the Moon and Asteroids by Secondary Students. (teacher-student teams; teachers must apply annually.)
- National Schools' Observatory. (Available only to schools in the UK and Ireland)
- Telescopes in Schools, a program to put research-grade telescopes into secondary schools. (Available only to schools around Melbourne, Australia)
- HI STAR Summer Research Program, a one week astronomy program for grade 8-11 students. (Available only to students in Hawaii. Annual application process.)
- ESA/ESO Astronomy Exercises, online labs using data. (Available to anyone, anytime.)
- Project CLEA, online labs (with a long, well-established reputation for quality) using data. (Available to anyone, anytime.)
- Starlight in the university lab: Practical activities for Scientific Skills (or in short Astrolab) (Only Subsaharan Africa)
- Harvard Observing Project (HOP) - aimed at undergraduates, but I bet high school students could talk their way in. (Boston area only.)
- Interrnational Association for Astronomical Studies (IAAS) (Denver and front range area students)
- (no longer operating; left here in case you want to look for articles on these programs: Yerkes Astrophysics Academy for Young Scientists (YAAYS), GRAIL MoonKAM, Telescopes in Education, Proyecto Educativo con Telescopios Robóticos (PETeR))
- X-rays
- Other, or multi-wavelength
Some of these programs provide a place to start, a place admittedly with training wheels, but they do provide different aspects of the skills leading to jumping into the public archive directly. In order to actually get into the archive and do anything substantive, one needs to understand the nature of photometry, instrumental errors, and what signals to look for, before getting into data downloads, Fourier transforms, and programming. One can start to build that skill set by starting with any of these programs, plus more from elsewhere on this page, or programs that you can find that are not on the list. These are *very* roughly in order of depth of understanding required.
- Skynet online telescopes, worldwide network, run from North Carolina, research and education.
- Slooh online telescopes, education
- Bradford Robotic Telescope, run by University of Bradford (UK). Web-based access to a suite of telescopes on Tenerife.
- MicroObservatory online telescopes, education.
- Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) worlwide network of telescopes, research and education.
- Faulkes Telescope Project, now part of LCO.
- Liverpool Telescope, a telescope on La Palma in the Canaries. Also see National Schools' Observatory (may be geographically limited, but some activities may not be -- it's ambiguous)
- MONET, the MOnitoring NEtwork of Telescopes, run by the Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, McDonald Observatory, and the South African Astronomical Observatory.
Originally grabbed from here, which has a much better (if possibly dated) list, with a description for each project.
These programs all involve the use of real data on the forefront of astronomical research, but are "packaged" so as to make accessing the real data far more easy (e.g., entirely web browser-based) than it might be otherwise. These projects are a great way to start to get into real data. Many offer "hooks" to get into the research questions at a deeper level when you are ready. Many have lesson plans ready-to-go.
Things that need more of a time commitment, e.g., your own observatory (not a 3-inch cheap telescope, but not a 3.5 meter either):
The programs I list here are advanced, and as far as I know, use real, research-grade data in their programs. Please see teacher workshops entry here for more introductory teacher training.
Many of these at the high school level cost money; a few pay the student. At the college level, there are many opportunities where the student gets paid.
- Global SPHERE Network - STEM Programs for High-Schoolers Engaging in Research Early (not just astronomy). Also community of practice for STEM researchers who mentor (or wish to mentor) high school students.
- Summer Science Program
- CUREA (Mt. Wilson) - also see SOAR
- Arizona Astronomy Camp
- JPL Internships
- UCLA Summer Observing Workshop
- Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
- George Mason University has some programs, including some on astronomy - they are bookkept under "executive education" but they are for high school.
- REACH@CIERA at Northwestern - 3 week summer program
- Duke TIP - not just astronomy
- STEMchats has a variety of programs, including remote research projects
- Another list of programs, this from CMBS4
- Science Internship Program (SIP) at UCSC — not just astronomy
- MIT RSI - not just astronomy
- Caltech - Summer Research Connection (teachers and students), not just astronomy
- JHU APL - ASPIRE - high school juniors and seniors, summer and academic year
- COSMOS, a 4-week summer residential program for grade 8-12 students; may be restricted to California residents
- HI STAR Summer Research Program, a one week astronomy program for grade 8-11 students. (Just Hawaii.)
- IAYC (Europe)
- Another centralized list of programs - this at pathwaystoscience.org
- Centralized list of many NASA student programs, K through graduate school
- For 8th graders: PING, at NRAO
- National Space Club and Foundation Scholars Program - high school students near Goddard Space Flight Center or Wallops Island Facility (both NASA)
- Women in STEM and specifically ATHENA (not just astronomy)
- West African International Summer School for Young Astronomers - students and teachers in West Africa (West Africa only)
- ANU Work Experience - Australia only.
- Students eager to work in the physical sciences should consider learning programming. Python is what most younger astronomers use. There are many resources online for Python in general but also Astropy, the suite of astronomy-related Python programs. Python and Research (PyaR) provides an "on ramp" for students.
