High School Teachers Can Learn About Black Holes, White Dwarfs at Free WNCC Workshop

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Area high school teachers can learn about the X-ray story of the structure and evolution of the universe in a workshop this summer at Western Nevada Community College. The workshop, "Space Science XXV: Chandra and the X-Ray Universe," will be in the Davis Observatory at WNCC Carson City, Monday-Friday, June 13-17. Participants earn two continuing education credits and tuition is free.

Topics include stellar evolution--supernovae, white dwarfs, pulsars, and black holes; the electromagnetic spectrum, x-ray technology, stellar spectroscopy and software imaging analysis tools.

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory was deployed by the space shuttle Columbia in 1999. It is designed to observe X-rays from high-energy regions of the universe, such as the remnants of exploded stars. The images captured by Chandra have a resolution 50 times better than that of previous cameras and the increased accuracy has led to major discoveries about the evolution of the universe. Perhaps its biggest legacy has been the information gathered about black holes, though much data has also been collected about our sun and the solar system.

The workshop is co-sponsored by the Wright Center for Education at Tufts University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.