Since 2010, the project has been a cornerstone outreach program of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, the Italian Ministry of Education and the National Program for the diffusion of Scientific Degrees (Progetto Lauree Scientifiche or PLS). In the last years has been mainly aimed to underline the connections between Astronomy, Astrophysics and the new materials involved in the astronomical techniques. The Sun has always been used in the course as a key element since the final product was the production of a self-constructed solar telescope able to be used to monitor the solar activity through Wolf’s number estimation.
The laboratory section of the stage is executed in two phases (weeks):
The first phase aims to the realization of a telescope and low-cost acquisition system. During this week students are introduced to astronomical techniques used to acquire safely solar images;
The second phase aims to the realization of a low-cost instrument to analyze sunlight, extracting information about the solar spectrum, solar irradiance and Sun-Earth connection.
A book describing the project has been published by Springer in 2013 (STUDENTI-RICERCATORI per cinque giorni “Stage a Tor Vergata” Editors: Liù M. Catena, Francesco Berrilli, Ivan Davoli, Paolo Prosposito, ISBN: 978-88-470-5271-0 (Online) ), the link to the book describing the project and reporting student interviewsis at: http://www.springer.com/it/book/9788847052703
The Solar Physics Group has been planning and realizing the “Astrophysical Techniques for Solar Physics” module since the first edition in 2010.
More at: http://www.stageatorvergata.it/
