Enhancing the Book "Coloring the Universe" to Serve Undergraduate Education

University Of Alaska Anchorage Campus, Anchorage AK

Investigators

Abstract

The Principal Investigator and coauthors Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke are writing "Coloring the Universe," a book that will provide a behind-the-scenes look at how color astronomical images are made by professional observatories. There are a number of coffee table books showcasing beautiful astronomical images, but none of them focus on how the images are made (astrophotography). Books that do describe image-making techniques are primarily "how to" books intended for amateur astronomers and do not describe the underlying science. "Coloring the Universe" will explain how color-composite images are made, how they are used by scientists for visualization purposes, and how they are shared with the public to highlight new scientific discoveries. The book will also be unique in featuring primarily NSF-funded telescopes and the images made with them. Support from this grant will allow the authors to enhance the book so that it will be more useful as a teaching tool at the undergraduate level. They will add content that provides more information and examples, and they will create a Web site that contains image-making tutorials, data from telescopes with which students can make their own images, and an image gallery allowing students and the public to share their work. Astronomical images offer an engaging introduction to important topics in astronomy, such as how telescopes and charge-coupled devices (CCDs) work, narrowband filters, and multi-wavelength imaging. Many colleges that have access to small-aperture telescopes and CCD cameras have laboratory exercises in which astronomy students make images of astronomical objects. These labs serve as an important tool for teaching how telescopes and CCDs work, while doing it in a fun, visually appealing way. With its enhanced content, "Coloring the Universe" will be a valuable resource for teaching not only how the professionals make images, but why scientists make them the way they do. The tutorials on the Web site will be incorporated into introductory astronomy classes at the University of Alaska Anchorage and will also be presented to instructors in astronomy education groups, such as the Research-Based Science Education (RBSE) group.