The Jemez Mountains in Northern New Mexico have long been known as an ideal location to learn about stars, galaxies and other mysteries of the universe.

In fact, scientists at the Laboratory have begun building an astrophysics observatory at the Fenton Hill site to observe objects that brighten the night sky then quickly fade away.

When the not-for-profit Earthwatch organization was looking for broad-based science programs that would appeal to high school students, Galen Gisler of Astrophysics and Radiation Measurements (NIS-2) thought it would be the perfect opportunity to use the Labs' expertise to help students study astrophysics.

So Gisler and other Lab staff, with the help of a $9,600 grant from Earthwatch, recently hosted eight students from around the country. The students were at the Lab two weeks this summer to learn about astrophysics and also help conduct site characterizations for the Lab's new observatory.

"It's very heady stuff for high school students," said Gisler. "I know these students enjoyed it and were excited by it."

The Massachusetts-based Earthwatch annually funds a dozen or so summer expeditions for high school students who have expressed some interest in science, Gisler said. Only 70 students from around the country are selected to take part in the expeditions; the students must be nominated by their schools, he said.

Earthwatch was founded in 1972 and funds scientific field research worldwide through its 4,000-member EarthCorps volunteers. Since 1972, nearly 50,000 volunteers have donated 5.6 million hours of labor and more than $40 million to some 2,000 projects with a scientific bent.

Other Earthwatch expeditions this year included a trip to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon where students learned about lithic technology of prehistoric Native Americans; Monteverde, Costa Rica, where students used mapping, imaging and radio tracking technologies in the design of an altitudinal reserve; to Stanford University's Human Genome Center in Palo Alto, Calif., to learn about the human genome and the implications of genome technology; and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Fairbanks and field sites near Denali National Park in Alaska, where students did geophysical investigations of the Denali Fault System.

Students also went to Carson, Wash., to learn about integrated ecosystem research; Winslow, Ariz., to work on an archaeological study with computer imaging of an ancestral Hopi village; and a marine laboratory in North Carolina to learn about the impacts of sea level rise on wetland habitats in coastal estuaries.

Getting students to come to the Lab to study astrophysics wasn't easy, Gisler said. He wrote a proposal after someone at Earthwatch who knew of Gisler's work at the Lab contacted him.

The two-week expedition to Los Alamos cost the Lab almost nothing, Gisler emphasized. The students stayed in local hotels, while the Lab provided necessary transportation. The Earthwatch grant paid for most of the students' expenses.

The expedition included some classroom work, basically an introduction to astronomy. For the most part though, the students were in the field. They worked at the planned observatory site on Fenton Hill and at other potential sites in the Jemez Mountains measuring atmospheric characteristics and other features such as the site's accessibility by road and difficulty in bringing electric power to the site, he said.

The Fenton Hill site is about 21 miles west of Los Alamos in the Jemez Mountains.

The students also got to look at stars with and without telescopes. The student-gathered information will be used by the Lab as it continues its work on the planned observatory, said Gisler.

The students also got to visit Tsankawi Ruins and the Very Large Array in Socorro, which is featured prominently in the movie "Contact."

"They were thrilled about seeing the VLA," said Gisler. "They had never seen anything like that before."

The students also developed a World Wide Web page to chronicle their experience and post their data. The information can be found at http://mioruilt.lanl.gov/earth/ through the Lab's home page.

The expedition, Gisler said, hopefully will encourage some of the students to return to the Lab in the future as a student or staff member. "Reaching them while they're still in high school is really great," said Gisler.

Other Lab personnel participating in the Earthwatch expedition included Don Casperson, Heather Pickett, Jim Wren and Guthrie Partridge, all of NIS-2, Richard Miller, Todd Haines and Michelle Beaver of Neutron Science and Technology (P-23), Pat Majerus of Space Data Systems (NIS-3) and Connie Witt of Science Education (STB/SE). Donna Powell, a teacher at Crownpoint High School, acted as the students' chaperone.

--Steve Sandoval

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