The Search for Exoplanets: A Capstone Project in Service Learning and Outreach

The Search for Exoplanets is an interactive computer simulation, the product of a collaboration between the Departments of Physics and Astronomy and Computer Science at Purdue University. Our goal was to create a computer simulation that would introduce students to scientific principles, research methodology, and analysis of data with which planets in another solar systems are discovered and characterized. We sought to create a simulation that would be engaging, realistic, an accurate model of research, and appropriate to the level of knowledge and abilities for a monthly outreach program, Saturday Morning Astrophysics at Purdue.