TELEVISION SCRIPT (continued)
16. HEIDI'S NEPTUNE RESULTS: LIVE/STScI (05:30)
Presentation uses video stills playback, computer
manipulation, and pre-planned interactions.
STScI kids (1 or 2) stand behind Heidi on stage...
Heidi, BG, Sasha, etc.
HEIDI ad lib presentation: discusses fact that Neptune
looks pretty much the same in 1996 as it did in 1995: no
huge Dark Spots apparent. This gives astronomers a
baseline of what's "normal" on Neptune, and is therefore
very important. What Voyager saw in 1989 and Hubble in
1994 seems atypical. HEIDI will discuss how long-term
observations from Earth's surface also provide valuable
data, extending back before the "Hubble era" began with the
refurbished telescope in 1993. Though of lower resolution,
surface telescopes provide an accurate record of how
Neptune's overall brightness waxed and waned. She will
note that there appears -- though it's not proven -- to be
an intriguing correlation with the 11-year solar cycle.
She'll set the Neptune observations in context by noting
that since Neptune's year (its revolution round the Sun) is
just under 165 years, we've only been looking at it
carefully for the equivalent of "six Earth weeks". She'll
compare that to the one week of watching clouds some
students have been engaged in as part of LHST (see
sequence 30)
PLEASE NOTE: ALL THE CONTENT ABOVE IS SUBJECT TO CLARIFICATION AND MODIFICATION AT THE DISCRETION OF OUR "PLANET ADVOCATE"!
17. NEPTUNE Q&A: LIVE/STScI and ALL SITES (05:00)
LA, PBG, JAPAN, BRAZIL (VIA VTR)
questions selected/planned to continue the focused
attention to her results
ALL QUESTIONS MUST RELATE TO NEPTUNE AND TO HEIDI'S NEW FINDINGS!!!
BILL:
COME IN LOS ANGELES...
LA KID:
question...
HEIDI:
answers...
BILL:
COME IN PITTSBURGH...
PITTSBURGH KID:
question...
HEIDI:
answers...
map graphic and question via VTR
SASHA:
THIS QUESTION WAS SENT IN ON TAPE FROM BRAZIL...
BRAZILIAN VTR:
question...
HEIDI:
answers...
BRIAN:
AND THIS IS FROM JAPAN, VIA CU-SEEME
VIDEOCONFERENCE...
JAPANESE KID: video from monitor, audio from phone
conference line
HEIDI:
answers...
Bill with hand-mike prompts STScI student question:
BILL:
HEIDI, JANET (EXAMPLE NAME ONLY) HERE AT STScI HAD AN
INTERESTING COMMENT...
JANET:
question
HEIDI:
answer
18. NUMBERS INTO PICTURES DEMO: LIVE/STScI (01:30)
live demo at STScI, with BG, as the audience becomes a
picture: the exact numbers will be fine-tuned based on
seating and actual rehearsals 4/22.
(as reference, see Teacher's Guide Activity 2E)
GUTSCH:
THANKS, HEIDI...
full screen graphic of Teacher's Guide, cover, and Activity
2E (page 26 and 28)
YOU SAW THE COMPUTERS UP THERE, CREATING THE
PICTURES WHICH HELP HEIDI UNDERSTAND OUR
OBSERVATIONS... IT MAY SEEM COMPLICATED, BUT AS OUR
TEACHER'S GUIDE POINTS OUT IT'S QUITE EASY TO
UNDERSTAND HOW DIGITAL INFORMATION -- NUMBERS --
BECOME IMAGES.
chapter graphic with IMAGE PROCESSING highlighted
THIS THIRD SECTION OF OUR PROGRAM WILL SHOW YOU HOW.
SASHA:
OUT HERE IN OUR AUDIENCE WE'VE GOT 160 STUDENTS, MORE
OR LESS ARRAYED IN 8 ROWS OF 20... THINK OF THEM AS 160
PIXELS, OR PICTURE ELEMENTS.
camera pans over kids holding up REAR of cards with
numbers stenciled on them
WE'VE GIVEN EACH A NUMBER FROM 0 TO 3, REPRESENTING A
SHADE OF GRAY FROM PURE WHITE -- ZERO -- TO PURE BLACK
-- 3.
randomly, in relatively close-up, the kids turn over the
cards, and we see the grays.
AND THE FLIP-SIDE OF THE CARD CORRESPONDS TO THAT
NUMBER.
the next sequence requires a WIDE, HIGH shot of the
audience, with the camera looking back from the front of
the auditorium, and the camera positioned UP a ladder!!!
BILL:
LET'S SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT ALL THOSE
NUMBERS AND GRAYS TOGETHER IN AN ORGANIZED WAY (this
is said ironically, at first!!!)
kids rise and shout out their number, turning over their
card as they do it.
5 secs of chaos.
OK, OK...
NOW LET'S SHOW YOU WHAT ALL THOSE NUMBERS TOGETHER
MAKE!
the kids organize their cards more carefully, Bill ad libs
them to get them to hold them in positions that work for
camera, and we see what it looks like.
still frame of bottom half of one of Heidi's original
methane images, as seen on the LHST Web site
GUTSCH:
WELL, I HOPE AT LEAST SOME OF YOU RECOGNIZE THIS AS THE
BOTTOM HALF OF ONE OF THE PICTURES THAT HEIDI WAS
USING... BUT, OF COURSE, MUCH MORE GRAINY. THANKS, KIDS!
HOLD YOUR POSITION FOR JUST A MOMENT LONGER.
cross-fade between the actual picture and the kids with
cards
THIS IS THE ACTUAL PICTURE TAKEN BY HUBBLE...
check some stats with STScI
THIS HUBBLE IMAGE OF NEPTUNE IS MADE UP OF AN ARRAY OF
PIXELS SOME XX BY YY IN SIZE, IN OTHER WORDS Z TIMES
MORE "SENSITIVE" THAN OUR LIVING STUDENT PICTURE OUT
HERE.
AND INSTEAD OF 4 SHADES OF BLACK AND WHITE, HUBBLE USES N...
THAT'S JUST THE FIRST STEP IN THE PROCESS.
OVER TO PITTSBURGH FOR AN EXPLANATION OF SOME OF WHAT'S NEXT...
19. PITTSBURGH FACE & EARTH DEMO: LIVE/PBG. (02:00)
face activity... and Earth?
single stretch, increases contrast...
subtle markings = big blotch
MARTIN:
SCRIPT TO COME...
20. HOW DO WE GET SUCH PRETTY PICTURES?: LIVE/STScI
(00:30)
BILL:
SO FAR, WE'VE JUST BEEN SHOWING YOU BLACK AND WHITE
IMAGES...
kid M-16/EAGLE NEBULA poster-holder shuffles into shot
SO HOW DOES THIS BEAUTIFUL IMAGE OF THE M-16 NEBULA
WHICH IS PART OF OUR TEACHER'S KIT GET >ITS< COLOR?
another kid shuffles into shot, carrying the TIME FOR KIDS
cover (blow-up???)
AND SOME OF YOU MAY RECOGNIZE THIS WONDERDUL IMAGE
FROM THE FRONT COVER OF "TIME FOR KIDS"...
NOW WE'RE GOING TO TAKE YOU BEHIND THE SCENES TO SHOW YOU HOW THIS PICTURE GOT FROM 7,000 LIGHT YEARS AWAY, VIA THE HUBBLE, WHICH ONLY SEES PIXELS AND SHADES OF GRAY, INTO LIVING COLOR IN YOUR CLASSROOM!
21. DATA INTO PRETTY PICTURES: VTR (01:30) FIRST, LIGHT FROM A DISTANT OBJECT ARRIVES AT THE HUBBLE.
DIFFERENT FILTERS PLACED IN FRONT OF THE HUBBLE'S DETECTORS ALLOW THE TELESCOPE TO SAMPLE LIGHT OF DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS -- WHICH WE CAN THINK OF MORE SIMPLY AS COLORS -- >ONE< COLOR AT A TIME.
THE HUBBLE STORES THAT DATA ON COMPUTER TAPES... THEN RADIOS IT BACK TO EARTH VIA THE TDRS SATELLITE, DOWN TO WHITE SANDS, NEW MEXICO... THEN BACK UP TO A DOMESIC SATELLITE, THEN DOWN TO NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER.
THERE THE SIGNAL'S CHECKED AND CALIBRATED, PASSING THROUGH SEVERAL COMPUTERS AND CAREFULLY MONITORED BY LOTS OF SKILLED ENGINEERS...
THEN IT'S ON TO THE SPACE TELESCOPE FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS AND ARCHIVING, AND FINALLY OUT TO THE ASTRONOMERS WHO FIRST REQUESTED IT.
RESEARCHERS LIKE HEIDI HAMMEL AND COLLEAGUE WES LOCKWOOD, OR OUR JUPITER PLANET ADVOCATE RETA BEEBE AND HER ASSISTANT, AMY SIMON, SPEND LONG HOURS PROCESSING THE DATA... "STRETCHING" IT TO ENHANCE THE CONTRAST...
LOOKING AT IT IN DIFFERENT COLORS, TO SEE IF DIFFERENT FEATURES APPEAR OR DISAPPEAR...
THEN IF COLOR IS IMPORTANT TO THE ANALYSIS, THE RESEARCHERS REVERSE THE PROCESS BEGUN UP IN THE HUBBLE, AND PUT THE WAVELENGTHS BACK TOGETHER, TO CREATE COLOR IMAGES.
THIS IS EXACTLY THE PROCESS THAT HAS RESULTED IN THE BEAUTIFUL AND INFORMATIVE PICTURES MANY PEOPLE CALL "HUBBLE'S GREATEST HITS"...
THE HUBBLE HAS SHOWN US NEW STARS BEING BORN... HIDDEN DEEP WITHIN THE ORION NEBULA...
WE'VE DETECTED GREAT JETS OF GAS, PERHAPS POWERED BY BLACK HOLES THAT MAY LURK AT THE CENTER OF GALAXIES...
THERE ARE GALAXIES OF EVERY SHAPE AND SIZE... THIS IS CALLED THE CARTWHEEL... CREATED BY 2 GALAXIES COLLIDING AEONS AGO...
HUBBLE HAS SHOWN US PLACES WHERE A STAR HAS DIED AND EXHALED ITS ATMOSPHERE INTO SPACE...
AND, OF COURSE, IN 1996, THESE SPECTACULAR COLUMNS OF GAS, LIGHT YEARS LONG, BLOWN BACK FROM NEW-BORN STARS IN M-16, THE EAGLE NEBULA...
22. COLOR FILTERS DEMO: LIVE/STScI (01:30)
Bill works with kids at STScI
need large Red, Green, Blue frames and filters
need LARGE hypothetical planet "poster" and place to make
it work...
GUTSCH INTERACTS WITH KID FILTER HOLDERS, etc.
BILL:
WELL, THAT SEQUENCE USED COMPUTER ANIMATION... BUT THE
"LIVE FROM HUBBLE" TEACHER'S KIT GAVE YOU COLOR
FILTERS TO EXPERIMENT WITH.
we see 3 kids (or 6 -- 2 per "filter") waiting for the
experiment
WE'VE BLOWN THEM UP A LITTLE AND ENLISTED SOME
VOLUNTEERS.
crossfade from video still to actual painting in STScI
THIS IS THE "HYPOTHETICAL PLANET" SOME OF YOU MIGHT
RECOGNIZE FROM THE TEACHER'S GUIDE.
THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE THROUGH HUBBLE'S RED
FILTER...
to kid in audience:
WHAT HAPPENS?
KID:
answers...
BILL:
THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE THROUGH THE BLUE FILTER...
to kid in audience:
WHAT HAPPENS?
KID:
answers...
BILL:
OK, NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'LL SEE THROUGH THE GREEN
FILTER?
KID answers...
BILL:
OK, LET'S SEE...
camera looks through the green filter, and we see...
BILL:
WELL, OBVIOUSLY THE HUBBLE DOESN'T HAVE YOUNG HELPERS
RUNNING BACK AND FORTH IN FRONT OF ITS DETECTORS...
AND YOUR COMPUTERS DON'T USE OPTICAL FILTERS, BUT OUR
PARTNERS IN LA HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH SOFTWARE THAT
DOES LET YOU MANIPULATE IMAGES. OVER TO YOU, CAMILLE...
23. LA KIDS: IMAGE PROCESSING DEMO: LIVE/LA (02:30)
first the kids go through an image processing demo, and
then interact with Heidi as she asks them similar
questions to those posted online about how they can use
NIH image to manipulate her Neptune data: split screen
activities
CAMILLE:
ONE OF THE AMAZING THINGS ABOUT SCIENCE EDUCATION
TODAY IS THAT ANY TEACHER AND STUDENT CAN USE THEIR
COMPUTER AND THE INTERNET TO WORK WITH IMAGES JUST
LIKE MARC AND RETA AND HEIDI... WHICH IS WHAT THESE
STUDENTS HERE IN LOS ANGELES HAVE BEEN DOING...
kids explain...
24. HEIDI INTERACTS WITH LA KIDS VIA SPLIT SCREEN:
LIVE/STScI & LA (01:30)
HEIDI:
LOOKING THROUGH YOUR BLUE FILTER, CAN YOU SEE STILL
SEE THE DARK LINES WE CAN SEE IN THE RED FILTER?
LA KID:
responds...
HEIDI:
WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT MEANS?
LA KID:
responds...
HEIDI:
AND HOW ABOUT...
LA KID:
etc.
