{"id":1332,"date":"2021-05-15T20:01:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T20:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2021-05-15T20:01:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T20:01:45","slug":"using-stars-for-reference-and-calibration-global-education-needs-and-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/?p=1332","title":{"rendered":"Using stars for reference and calibration, Global Education needs and opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"
Mitchell,<\/div>\n
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Thanks for your work on RGB and chromacity of stars.<\/div>\n
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I was looking at these two live videos on YouTube for Maunakea,Hawaii live all sky camera and its associated, and fairly nicely synchronized, star chart<\/div>\n
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Live All Sky: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hPWz3mDvAuY<\/div>\n
Star Chart: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S1xkCMa0uQE<\/div>\n
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I think these would make good teaching aides for astronomy groups world-wide. That is hundreds of thousands. Trying to refine the number.\u00a0 Since there are about 1.92 Billion kids from 5-20, most of them get a smattering of astronomy.\u00a0 And a short session with a real sky and labeled stars and things would help.\u00a0 Me, I am 72, and never knew the name of a single star.\u00a0 Looking at the needs for the whole Internet, I am forcing myself to learn again.<\/div>\n
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Anyway, going from spectra for stars (there are lots of sources, and all the databases seem really clumsy and eclectic) to fairly representative colors on a screen or overlay, is a critical step.\u00a0 Also, going backwards — taking live camera views at whatever magnification, follow the many frames statistics on pixels at locations, then checking to see if that is consistent or inconsistent with a star of a known spectra and flux at that location.<\/div>\n
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I said “flux”, which is the crux of my question.\u00a0 I know that the light coming to the eye or sensor can be measured in watts\/meter^2.\u00a0 And whatever prefix or power of ten is appropriate.\u00a0 I have in the back of my mind, Jansky.\u00a0 I checked at https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radiance<\/a> and the names for “watt per square metre” are “irradiance<\/span>” “flux density” “radiosity” “radiant exitance” — depending on “received” “leaving” “emitted”<\/div>\n
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Whatever.\u00a0 If I had a camera, its ADC reading would depend on the photodetector calibration, amplification, exposure time, and lots of other stuff. But, in principle, any camera should be able to be calibrated so that pixel readings convert to absolute “watts\/m2” “received” at the sensor.\u00a0 Oh, atmospheric absorption and scattering, losses and reflections in lenses, phase of the moon.<\/div>\n
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Now I would like kids to be able to use some collection of stars to calibrate their cameras.\u00a0 And for a few dollars more, you can get a lot of camera these days.\u00a0 Or a lot of kids can point their cameras and try to combine results.<\/div>\n
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The NIST STARS Program \u2013 Update 2017 at https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/system\/files\/documents\/2017\/08\/29\/nist_stars_description_for_wfirst_cal_plan.pdf<\/a> uses Vega and Sirius, and is the usual expensive and complicated approach. And it forces only a few stars for reference. But with all stars potentially identifiable, and large datasets of outside the atmosphere irradiances (still watts\/m2 outside the atmosphere), it should be possible for any image sequence (frames) to be matches and quantified.<\/div>\n
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I ran into the variable star observing groups.\u00a0 Their data is hard to use and the observing instructions and cameras and setup and methods are obscure.<\/div>\n
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I am looking at the whole Internet. All users of the Internet and all people.\u00a0 (about 4.8 Billion out of the 7.8 Billion total have some access to the Internet now). Most global education was force online from covid, and the high cost of moving students to brick and mortar classrooms and labs is forcing experiments, measurements, sensor networks, high cost experiments and data collection online, shared and with collaborative education and groups.\u00a0 Hard to say in simple terms, and I am trying to follow and set standards for all.<\/div>\n
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It is not hard to get the atmospheric models. They are just big and clumsy and eclectic, like everything else.\u00a0 A Beers-Bouger-Lambert “formula” approach breaks down really quickly when you have a lot of measurements and potentially can get real data, and not estimates based on uniform densities in paths.\u00a0 Now the GPS dual frequency path lengths are getting used more and more.\u00a0 I am straining to remember how they extract meteorological data. The electron density path totals are fairly easy as that matches the delay. But how electron density varies in the atmosphere, I cannot remember.\u00a0 I find these things and have no place to put them.\u00a0 It is hard enough translating all the units and dimensions and models.\u00a0 And finding all the people in the world who use something, who measure it, who work on new detectors, who process and share the data, who write websites about it, who teach and model and test and correlate.\u00a0 And I try to trace and track every group on the Internet.<\/div>\n
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Not sure what, if anything, i am asking.\u00a0 You seemed smart and diligent and knew the importance of making sure what human viewers see and report, and what kids learn and what is in the databases and measurements all fits together in a verifiable and traceable chain.\u00a0 That is much of what I see.\u00a0 I really got upset with NASA when they (still do) were posting jpgs of astronomical images (Hubble etc) online without names, no documentation, in lossy formats.\u00a0 That is not science I told them.\u00a0 Just eye candy. They let their marketing and web design groups make the decisions.<\/div>\n
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Sorry.\u00a0 Sore point.\u00a0 The same casual attitude to images, video and all measurements on the Internet is shown by every site owner.\u00a0 No exceptions.\u00a0 Or so few they hardly register.\u00a0 ESA, NASA, NIST, you name it and I can show you where they all are just putting cute pictures, vague references or no references or explanations at all.<\/div>\n
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So i spend my days just trying things to see what is required.\u00a0 The last week or so, it was all the “nuclear data” groups. They every one have about 20 basic datasets that everyone shares. But each website shows their half dozen favorites, using the hand-written and mostly undocumented tools that the webmaster or someone wrote. Everyone is proud of what they did, but they are not working together on just the implementation.\u00a0 ALL those sites all use different navigation, identification, site procedures, policies, linking standards.\u00a0 It is like they took some very beautiful subjects and databases, examples and teaching and professional tools – threw them in a blender and spread that on the Internet – “Here is nuclear data”, “Here are stellar surveys”.<\/div>\n
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I have only been at this for the last 23 years for the Internet Foundation. And 7 years before that on the early internet and networks.\u00a0 Remember BBS and dialup to mainframes?\u00a0 I am old enough I started at 300 baud.\u00a0 110 paper tape. Teletype.<\/div>\n
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Anyway.\u00a0 Can you recommend some stars scattered over the whole sky, and a practical sustainable way to make sure that is always available for the next 50 years?\u00a0 <\/strong>(I have to deal with people who are the north pole and south pole, and in every spot on earth and in orbit.\u00a0 I am already making plans for Moon and Mars and in transit.\u00a0 But the earth based school kids and “citizen scientists”.\u00a0 Well that one far outstrips the full time paid professionals, in number, impact on global technology, new industries, and all other measures. If you want, I can tell you why most people are so multitasking globally, people won’t just change jobs several times in their lives. They will be working on many at any times all their lives.\u00a0 I am trying to set up global communities online for every topic and issues and opportunity.\u00a0 Because some people like to work on one thing for a long time.\u00a0 And that will be possible because I also am trying to get the donors, and supporters, crowdfunding, early investors, nonprofit support network streamlined and standardized.\u00a0 Partly that is practical because the Internet cannot function without decent pay for people who contribute online materials and services. But it is also to identify and prevent fraud and corruption and abuse.<\/div>\n
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Richard K Collins, Director, The Internet Foundation<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitchell, Thanks for your work on RGB and chromacity of stars. I was looking at these two live videos on YouTube for Maunakea,Hawaii live all sky camera and its associated, and fairly nicely synchronized, star chart Live All Sky: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hPWz3mDvAuY Star Chart: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S1xkCMa0uQE I think these would make good teaching aides for astronomy groups world-wide.
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