Chelen Johnson
The goal of SHIPs (Searching Herschel Images for Protostars) is to find and identify stars in the earliest phases of formation in NGC 281, a.k.a. "the pac-man nebula". These stars will help us understand the history of the star formation process in that region.
For the teacher, connecting with working scientists and networking with other colleagues has immeasurable value. I plan to utilize these relationships and potentially other projects spawned by them for years to come.
My students were really impressed when I gave them just a summary of some of the stuff we did and saw [at the AAS]!
In its current form, anyone with moderate computer skills and high school physics can download, explore, and begin to understand available data.
