Handfeste Artikel in der neuen "Astronomy Education Review"

Oft ist diese - frei online lesbare - Fachzeitschrift für Astronomielehrer und ähnliche voll von theoretischen Abhandlungen über Prinzipien der Didaktik, aber die neueste Ausgabe besteht überwiegend aus zwei sehr "handfesten" Artikeln, die von allgemeinem Interesse sein dürften!

In An International Asteroid Search Campaign - Internet-Based Hands-On Research Program for High Schools and Colleges, in Collaboration with the Hands-On Universe Project - beschreiben zahlreiche Autoren, darunter der österreichische Amateur H. Raab, "an Internet-based program for high schools and colleges. Within hours of acquisition, astronomical CCD images are made available via the Internet to participating schools around the world. Under the guidance of their teachers, students analyze the images with free software tools, searching for new asteroids and confirmations of near-Earth objects (NEOs). These discoveries are reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC; Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harvard), which gives the students published recognition in its MPC circulars. To date, 36 new Main Belt asteroids have been found in one year, and 197 NEOs confirmed."

Und in Astronomy@Home werden zahlreiche Projekte des distributed computing mit Astronomie-Bezug vorgestellt; "thousands of people have computers running so-called screensaver or passive programs when their machines are not being used for other projects. These are not the screensavers normally thought of, but programs that are contributing to the growth of human knowledge. A lesser number are running active programs that require their interaction with the data provided them. As discussed in this article, these latter programs have far greater educational value than the former".

Außerdem sehenswert: die umfangreichen Webseiten in Englisch zu einer neuen Ausstellung über Galileis Teleskop im Museum für Wissenschaftsgeschichte in Florenz!