Science Activation’s PLACES Team Facilitates Second Professional Learning Institute

The NASA Science Activation Program’s Place-Based Learning to Advance Connections, Education, and Stewardship (PLACES) team successfully led their second Professional Learning (PL) Summer Institute (SI) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona from June 11-13, 2024. The team led a group of 13 educators through a variety of powerful place-based data-rich (PBDR) experiences across the three-day SI. PL kicked off with teachers engaging in an intensive field experience at Hat Ranch that leveraged the ecological expertise of NAU’s subject matter expert, Jared Litson Begay, and using data collection protocols from the NASA-sponsored program, GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) to better understand piñon pine populations in Flagstaff ecosystems. Following this, teachers moved from their primary data collection experiences to exploring secondary data that expanded on the piñon pine focus by leveraging data and the Data Literacy Cubes from My NASA Data (MND).

Using and reflecting on GLOBE protocols created powerful conversations where teachers saw how place influenced how they engaged in data collection and how data can help develop new place-based knowledge and connections in their contexts. One teacher even shared that “collecting data using the GLOBE app and making observations about data helped me better understand how I can use these practices with my students.” The MND data and Data Literacy Cubes offered educators the pathways to move from their primary data collection experiences to ask and answer new and exciting questions.

In the follow-up survey, teachers shared that they are interested in exploring “additional resources from NASA,” using “local experts or data for small town/rural areas through NASA,” and implementing PBDR instruction using NASA assets in the coming months. 100% of teachers who were surveyed after the PL indicated (1) they agree or strongly agree that they feel greater connection to NASA and knowledge of NASA assets, and (2) they would recommend the PLACES PL to a colleague. In the coming months, the teachers will participate in a virtual Community of Practice where they will implement PBDR experiences in their own contexts, share examples of student work, and elicit feedback from one another to continue improving their practice.

The PLACES team would like to give a huge shout-out to those who contributed to planning, developing, and implementing the NAU Summer Institute!

• Facilitation Team: Sean Michael Ryan (NAU), Lori Rubino-Hare (NAU), Karen Lionberger (WestEd), Frieda Richsman (Concord Consortium)
• Support Team: Lauren Schollenberger (NAU)
• Team Member Participants: Barbie Buckner (NASA Langley), Tracy Ostrom (GLOBE, UC Berkeley), Sara Salisbury (WestEd)
• Observers: Kirsten Dehler, Nicole Wong (WestEd)

PLACES is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number 80NSSC22M0005 and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn

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NASA STEM Program for Indigenous Communities Honored for Excellence

NASA has been selected by the International Astronautical Federation to receive its 2024 “3G” Diversity Award, which recognizes organizations for their contributions to fostering geographic, generational, and gender diversity in the space sector.

NASA’s Indigenous Community-Based Education (CBE) Program is a consortium of partnerships between NASA and numerous, diverse Indigenous communities which co-create unique educational programs for the youth. Through these partnerships, which have been cultivated for the past two decades, Indigenous Knowledge and Western science come together in a community-based way to support the development of learners’ cultural and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) identities.

The Indigenous CBE Program is part of NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) American Indian and Alaska Native STEM Engagement activity and is supported by NASA’s Astrobiology Program and Planetary Science Division.

The Indigenous CBE Program also works toward more equitable practices in science and supports a diverse workforce by offering working groups that connect Indigenous and Western scientists and educators, as well as mentoring for emerging Indigenous STEM scholars.

“Relationships and collaboration are at the heart of this work,” said Daniella Scalice, NASA lead for the Indigenous CBE Program. “This award is shared with all my community-based partners. The women I work with who are serving their youth and community every day – they are the real heroes.”

“NASA has had a longstanding commitment to equity in STEM education and research.” said Torry Johnson, deputy associate administrator of STEM Engagement Programs at NASA Headquarters. “MUREP American Indian and Alaska Native STEM Engagement provides avenues for NASA to build and nurture relationships, new partnerships, and collaborations with Indigenous communities, and to empower the next generation of Indigenous STEM leaders.”

Starting in January, awardees were nominated to the International Astronautical Federation by representatives from other member organizations. NASA will receive the award during the International Astronautical Federation’s annual conference in October.

For more information on NASA’s MUREP American Indian and Alaska Native STEM Engagement program, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/3vEyhOp

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Discovery Alert: With Six New Worlds, 5,500 Discovery Milestone Passed!

On Aug. 24, 2023, more than three decades after the first confirmation of planets beyond our own solar system, scientists announced the discovery of six new exoplanets, stretching that number to 5,502. From zero exoplanet confirmations to over 5,500 in just a few decades, this new milestone marks another major step in the journey to understand the worlds beyond our solar system.

The Discovery

With the discovery of six new exoplanets, scientists have tipped the scales and surpassed 5,500 exoplanets found (there are now 5,502 known exoplanets, to be exact).

Just about 31 years ago, in 1992, the first exoplanets were confirmed when scientists detected twin planets Poltergeist and Phobetor orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. In March 2022, just last year, scientists celebrated passing 5,000 exoplanets discovered.

Key Facts 

Scientists have discovered six new exoplanets — HD 36384 b, TOI-198 b, TOI-2095 b, TOI-2095 c, TOI-4860 b, and MWC 758 c — this has pushed the total number of confirmed exoplanets discovered to 5,502.

Details

HD 36384 b is a super-Jupiter that orbits an enormous M giant star.

• This planet was discovered using the radial velocity method, which measures the “wobble” of far-off stars that is caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets.
• Orbits a star so large that it clocks in at nearly 40 times the size of our Sun.

TOI-198 b is a potentially rocky planet that orbits on the innermost edge of the habitable zone around its star, an M dwarf.

• This planet was discovered using the transit method, which detects exoplanets as they cross the face of their stars in their orbit, causing the star to temporarily dim.

TOI-2095 b and TOI-2095 c are both large, hot super-Earths that orbit in the same system around a shared star, an M dwarf.

• Planets were both discovered using the transit method.
• Are close enough to their star that they are likely more similar to Venus than Earth.

TOI-4860 b is a Jupiter-sized gas giant, or a “hot Jupiter,” that orbits an M dwarf star.

• This planet was discovered using the transit method.
• Completes an orbit every 1.52 days, meaning it is very close to its star. While it is extremely rare for giant planets like this to orbit so closely to Sun-like stars, it is even rarer for them to orbit M-dwarf stars as is the case here.

MWC 758 c is a giant protoplanet that orbits a very young star. This star still has its protoplanetary disk, which is a rotating disc of gas and dust that can surround a young star.

• This planet was discovered using direct imaging.
• Was found carving spiral arms into its star’s protoplanetary disk.
• Is one of the first exoplanets discovered in a system where the star has a protoplanetary disk.

The field of exoplanet science has exploded since the first exoplanet confirmation in 1992, and with evolving technology, the future for this field looks brighter than ever.

There are a number of both space and ground-based instruments and observatories that scientists have used to detect and study exoplanets.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched in 2018 and has identified thousands of exoplanet candidates and confirmed over 320 planets.

NASA’s flagship space telescopes Spitzer, Hubble, and most recently the James Webb Space Telescope have also been used to discover and study exoplanets.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch in May 2027. Roman will be carrying a technology demonstration called the Roman Coronagraph Instrument. This coronagraph will work by using a series of complex masks and mirrors to distort the light coming from far-away stars. By distorting this starlight, the instrument will reveal and directly-image hidden exoplanets.

With the success of the Roman Coronagraph Instrument, NASA could push the envelope even further with is a concept for the mission the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which would search for “signatures of life on planets outside of our solar system,” according to the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The Discoverers 

These six exoplanets were discovered by different teams as part of five separate studies:

1. TOI-4860 b
2. TOI-2095 b & c
3. HD 36384 b
4. TOI-198 b
5. MWC 758 c

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NASA Invites Media to Discuss Exploration Science Program Update

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, July 17, to provide an update on a program within NASA’s Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website at:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

Participants in the teleconference include:

• Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

To ask questions during the teleconference, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the event to Erin Morton at: erin.morton@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.

The Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate ensures science is infused into all aspects of lunar exploration. Through researching the Moon and its environment, and by using the Moon as an observation platform, NASA strives to gain a greater understanding of the Moon itself, the solar system, the universe, and the deep space environment.

To learn more about NASA’s missions for lunar discovery, visit: 

https://science.nasa.gov/lunar-science

-end-

Karen Fox / Erin Morton 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1275 / 202-805-9393
karen.fox@nasa.gov / erin.morton@nasa.gov

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Tiernan P. Doyle