Audience:  Attendees of NSTA Conference (High School Science Teachers)

Location:  Seattle, WA

Date:  Friday, November 19, 2004

Time:  11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Conference name:  NSTA Regional Conference

Presentation Title:  Seeing More--What NASA's LISA mission will reveal about gravitational waves, black holes, and more

Abstract:  NASA Educator Ambassador presents information about the new LISA mission, including its proposed study of topics such as black holes, quasars, and gravitational waves in space.  Come to learn about this high-energy research with NASA-produced materials.

Time:  1 hour

Presentation description:
1) 8-10 minutes: I will introduce the LISA mission and what scientists will be looking for.
2) 8-10 minutes: We will consider objects in the universe that generate some of the most powerful outflows of energy in the universe (active galaxies, black hole mergers).
3) 20 minutes: We will do two activities related to studying properties of those objects.  The first activity is #3 from the "Active Galaxies" book, estimating distance and luminosity.  Participants will do the first part, and we will do the second part as a group (for the sake of time).
4) 10 minutes: We will do the activity modeling a black hole from "Imagine the Universe: The Anatomy of a Black Hole" and discuss the concept of ripples in space time.
5) 10 minutes: Take questions and advertise the 100-year celebration of Einstein's theories of relativity.