Carmel Catholic High teens discover baby stars for NASA
By Beth Kramer ekramer@stmedianetwork.com January 20, 2012 10:24AM
Mundelein, IL 1/17/12 Carmel High School science teacher Marcella Linahan and a group of five students just concluded working with NASA on a research project. Carmel High School science teacher Marcella Linahan shows the group the education-themed poster that was created about the project. | Rob Dicker~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:17AM
A team of five Carmel Catholic High School students in Mundelein discovered 20 baby stars near the Cassiopeia Constellation in the northern sky from their analysis of real data from NASA.
Two team members recently presented their findings to science professionals at a American Astronomical Society meeting in Texas.
“We actually contributed real science (to NASA),” said Marcella Linahan, Carmel Catholic science teacher. “I’m really proud of them and the work they did.”
Carmel Catholic High School was one of 15 teams participating in NASA’s Teacher Archive Research Program that gives students the opportunity to conduct original research.
Carmel students worked with infrared images and data from NASA’s Spitzer space telescope and a scientist from NASA to conduct their research.
Spitzer was launched into space in 2003. It orbits around the sun to transmit data as part of NASA’s Astronomical Search for Origins program, according to NASA’s Web site.
Carmel juniors Holly Sprow of Wauconda, Abhisek Rameswaram of Round Lake and seniors Amanda Eullinger of Gurnee, James Fagan of Hawthorn Woods and Nicholas Ezyk of Round Lake logged hundreds of hours analyzing data from NASA to complete their research.
‘Real research’
“It was a chance for me to understand about real science, to understand how real research works,” Rameswaram said.
He wants to pursue a career in aeronautical engineering.
Fellow teammate Eullinger wants a career studying deep space objects, so participating in this research was excellent preparation for her.
“It’s exciting and very interesting that (we saw) something no one has seen before. It blows my mind — and I’m in high school,” Eullinger said.
She said they searched for baby stars in a bright rimmed cloud of gas and dust. Young stars burn brighter than middle-aged stars, she said.
Our sun is middle-aged at about 4.5 billion years old, according to NASA.
Sprow and Rameswaram presented their team’s research at the Texas meeting. The research was the culmination of work from August through December checking and re-checking their data analysis.
“We had really positive feedback,” Rameswaram said.
“We were able to knowledgeably answer questions. I’m very proud of our work,” Sprow said.
The five students were selected from a pool of about 20 Carmel students, Linahan said. She said she is passionate about having her students do authentic research.
“As science teachers, we want to encourage students into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers. This (NASA research) is one way to get them interested.” Linahan said.
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