Dear teacher, student or life-long learner,
(no matter your status, please consider this addressed to YOU, even if
some places seem to speak more to those engaged in "formal education")
Welcome to Live From the Hubble Space Telescope, which continued through April 1996.
This unprecedented opportunity allowed students and educators to interact with leading astronomers as they made observations using the world's most powerful space telescope.
A half-hour video entitled "The Great Planet Debate" aired in November 1995, and introduced the first phase of the project, designed to reach a consensus about which planet to observe with the 3 Hubble orbits dedicated to Passport to Knowledge by the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Students, educators and astronomers across the globe participated via e-mail in November and December, 1995.
Together, they decided to allocate 2 orbits to Neptune and its giant storms, and 1 to little-known Pluto.
An archive of this discussion is available, along with extensive and regularly updated background.
Two live programs were scheduled for broadcast by NASA- TV and many PBS stations and educational networks.
On Thursday March 14, 1996 at 13:00 Eastern, a live, one-hour interactive telecast, entitled "Making Your Observations", linked students to the Space Telescope Science Institute, to witness the acquisition of "their" data.
On Tuesday, April 23, 1996, at 13:00 Eastern, a second live interactive telecast, "Announcing Your Results," enabled students to interpret and understand their observations, now enhanced by image processing.
The second live broadcast closely followed National Astronomy Day (April 20, 1996) and fell during NSF's Science and Technology Week, whose theme was Design. We hope you agree that asking students to help design observations using the Hubble exemplified cutting-edge science and an educational frontier!
GEOFF HAINES-STILES
Project Director and Executive Producer,
PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE and the LIVE FROM... specials
