Teachers: help your kids detect cosmic rays

Explore the ERGO telescope project, where students engage hands-on with cosmic-ray detectors, sharing their findings worldwide.

Written byPhil Plait
| 1 min read
Google NewsGoogle News Preferred Source

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

One thing I like to see is kids getting their hands on doing science. There's something about being involved with something, actually doing it for yourself, that gives you a sense of ownership over the knowledge, makes you part of something bigger. Here's another chance to do that for students across the world: the ERGO telescope project. ERGO stands for "Energetic Ray Global Observatory" and the idea is to build simple cosmic-ray detectors that can be sent to classrooms all over the world. Here's a short video describing the project:

[embed width="610"]http://vimeo.com/44264486[/embed]

Cosmic rays are energetic subatomic particles that come blasting in from space. They're created by the Sun, by exploding stars, but distant galaxies... basically, by cool, interesting objects. By distributing these detectors across the world, students can share their data and come up with their own ways of examining them. If you're a teacher and you want your students to not just learn science, but to experience it, then this sounds like a good way to do it! They even have a simple form you can fill out

to apply for a grant to get started.


Related Posts: - Something powerful lurks nearby - Attack of the galactic subatomic particles - No, a new study does not show cosmic-rays are connected to global warming - Bobbing for extinctions

Meet the Author

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe