High school educators and students continue to make real contributions to astronomy through NITARP, a year-long program that pairs teachers with professional astronomers for authentic research projects using NASA data.

At the recent American Astronomical Society meeting, the 2025 NITARP teams presented their findings. Among them was Steve Jones from FCS Innovation Academy (Alpharetta, GA), whose team analyzed data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to study the rotation rates of stars in the Beta Pictoris Moving Group—a young stellar cluster about 50 parsecs away. The team determined new rotation periods for nearly 200 stars, advancing our understanding of stellar evolution and highlighting areas for further research.

Learn more and view their posters at https://nitarp.ipac.caltech.edu.

Students list with Mr. Jones are Evan Otis and Jad Melina.