M42 - The Great Orion Nebula (= NGC 1976). Taken by Laura Badgor and Emmanuel Ramirez from the Elsinore Middle School, Lake Elsinore, California on January 31, 1995. 40 sec. exposure. http://learn.jpl.nasa.gov/ProjectSpace http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/TIE/TIE_index.html

Objective: Enable students to increase their knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, and to increase critical thinking skills.

Approach: The JPL K-12 Outreach Project consists of two efforts:

Project SPACE (Sun, Planets, Asteroids, Comets Exploration) develops instruction materials about the solar system.

Telescopes in Education (TIE) lets students use a remotely controlled telescope and camera in a real-time, hands-on, interactive environment to students around the world.

Accomplishments: Project SPACE Project SPACE Simulation - Mars Exploration, currently in alpha test. The Project SPACE Educational Partnership Program has 21 school district partners, located throughout California who support product test and evaluation.

Accomplishments: TIE Project Uses a science-grade 24-inch reflecting telescope locatd at the Mount Wilson Observatory, high above the Los Angeles basin in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California. Used by students in grades K-12 in the U.S. and around the world have successfully participated. Through TIE, students have discovered a new variable star and assisted the Pluto Express project at JPL to revise the ephemeris (orbital location) for the planet Pluto.

Significance: TIE Project

• Older telescopes that have become obsolete can be reused for educational purposes.

• Project SPACE Simulation - Mars Exploration, Beta Version release October, 1996.
• TIE model to be replicated at an observatory in Russia.