Newsletter Archive the Skyscraper August 2017

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Newsletter Archive the Skyscraper August 2017 the vol. 44 no. 08 Skyscraper August 2017 AMATEUR ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF RHODE ISLAND 47 PEEPTOAD ROAD NORTH SCITUATE, RHODE ISLAND 02857 WWW.THESKYSCRAPERS.ORG In This Issue: 2 Astronomy Nights at Friday, August 4 at Seagrave Observatory River Bend Farm Gravitational Waves Found! 2 Let’s Go “Back to the Moon for A billion years ago, two black holes col- talk is given by Dr. Rainer Weiss, one of the Good” at the URI Planetarium lided and merged, sending powerful ripples co-founders of LIGO. He will speak about 3 Library Telescope Program across the fabric of space-time. In 2015 those the challenges of LIGO and of the implica- is “Off the Ground” gravitational waves reached Earth and tick- tions of this momentous discovery. 4 Perseid Meteor Shower: led the detectors of the Laser Interferometer Dr. Rainer Weiss is Professor of Physics, “Meteor-ocre” Display for 2017 Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). emeritus at MIT and co-founder of the La- This first-ever detection of gravitational ser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Ob- 4 Voyages to the Stars waves confirmed a long-standing prediction servatory. 5 M24 & NGC 6603 : Star Cloud of Einstein's general relativity. It also was the in Sagittarius & Open Cluster culmination of a decades-long effort." This 6 July Reports 7 Twenty Years Ago on Mars… 8 The Sun, Moon & Planets in August 9 Star Party Update & Recent Happenings at Seagrve Observatory Partial Solar Eclipse at Seagrave Observatory Monday, August 21, 2017 1-4pm Skyscrapers (rain date, April 8, 2024) Board Meetings Jeff Padell will be leading our local solar eclipse star party at Third Monday of the Month All Members Welcome Seagrave Observatory on Monday afternoon 1-4pm with white light and hydrogen-alpha-filtered solar telescopes. For more information, contact Jeff at [email protected]. Phases of the Moon Full Sturgeon Moon August 7 18:11 Seagrave Memorial Last Quarter Moon August 15 01:15 Observatory New Moon Open Nights August 21 18:30 First Quarter Moon August 5 & 12 at 9:00 pm August 29 08:13 August 19 & 26 at 8:00 pm weather permitting Astronomy Nights at River Bend Farm Joshua Bell is one of the rangers at Black- If we have poor weather an email will be weather, we'll just have to wait until the fol- stone River Valley National Historical Park sent out that day to let you know that the lowing month. and contacted us suggesting that Skyscrap- program has been postponed until the next Please don't hesitate to contact Josh with ers might be interested in attending the up- evening (Saturday). If both days give us bad any questions at [email protected] coming Night Sky Programs to be held at River Bend Farm. The park has partnered with local Civil Air Patrol Squadrons to run the program. They'll be explaining basic stuff to visitors like how telescopes work and what it is that they'll be looking at. They'll have some be- ginner telescopes, but folks should feel free to bring their own. The following dates are scheduled: June 16 - 9:00-10:00pm • July 14 - 9:00-10:00pm • August 11 - 8:30- 9:30pm • September 15 - 7:30-8:30pm • October 20 - 6:30-7:30pm Let’s Go “Back to the Moon for Good” at the URI Planetarium University of Rhode Island Planetarium on Light Pollution will be shown, then The Upper College Road Skies of the URI campus, a live introduc- Kingston, RI tion to the night sky. Saturday, August 12th, 2017 Admission is only $5.00, to benefit the 6:00 P.M. University of Rhode Island Planetarium Contact: Francine Jackson: 401-527-5558 Fund. The University of Rhode Island Plane- It’s been over 48 years since humans have tarium is located on Upper College Road, walked on the Moon. But, are there plans to on the Kingston campus, across from the go back? Should we? Could we? How could Art Center. this happen? Please join the URI Planetari- The University of Rhode Island Plan- um as plays this award-winning show about etarium is available for programming for the possibility of returning to our one and schools and other organizations. For more only natural satellite. “Back to the Moon for information, please contact Francine Jack- Good” will be shown Saturday, August 12th, son at 401-527-5558. at 6:00 P.M. In addition, a short program The Skyscraper is published President Public Outreach Coordinator monthly by Skyscrapers, Inc. Steve Siok [email protected] Francine Jackson [email protected] Meetings are held monthly, usually on the first or second 1st Vice President Public Relations Spokesperson Friday or Saturday of the month. Ian Dell’Antonio [email protected] Francine Jackson [email protected] Seagrave Memorial Observatory is open every Saturday night, 2nd Vice President Observatory Committee Chairperson weather permitting. Kathy Siok [email protected] Jim Crawford [email protected] Directions Secretary Membership Activities Coordinator Directions to Seagrave Memorial Observatory are Steve Hubbard [email protected] Pat Landers [email protected] located on the back page of this newsletter. Treasurer Librarian Submissions Submissions to The Skyscraper are always welcome. Lloyd Merrill [email protected] Alex Bergemann [email protected] Please submit items for the newsletter no later than August 15 to Jim Hendrickson, 1 Sunflower Circle, Members at Large Historian North Providence, RI 02911 or e-mail to jim@ Linda Bergemann [email protected] Dave Huestis [email protected] distantgalaxy.com. Tracy Prell [email protected] Archivist E-mail subscriptions Trustees Jim Crawford [email protected] To receive The Skyscraper by e-mail, send e-mail Matt Ouellette [email protected] with your name and address to jim@distantgalaxy. Editor com. Note that you will no longer receive the news- Kent Cameron [email protected] Jim Hendrickson [email protected] letter by postal mail. Tom Thibault [email protected] 2 The Skyscraper August 2017 Library Telescope Program is “Off the Ground” by Linda Bergemann Back in January, Skyscrapers' President will do likewise for Cross' Mills. So, I think their telescopes. We agreed that the library Steve Siok challenged us to get a Library it's safe to say that we are “off the ground.” would purchase the materials needed to Telescope Program “off the ground in But, there is more to do; we now have to “fly modify and outfit the telescopes (at a cost of Rhode Island.” At a weak moment during the plane.” about $150 per scope), and Skyscrapers will the February Board of Directors meeting, I Update: Just as we were preparing for provide the necessary consumable materi- accepted his challenge and embarked on an delivery of the second telescope, I was con- als and modify the telescopes as a donation exciting adventure. tacted by Coventry Public Library about to the library. One telescope will reside at I proposed a pilot program working two telescopes they had just purchased. Coventry Public Library on Flat River Road with three libraries within Rhode Island. Having heard Francine Jackson speak and the other at Greene Public Library on Steve and Kathy Siok donated the funds to about the Library Telescope Program at a Hopkins Hollow Road. If you would like to purchase and modify telescopes for North RI Library Association conference, they be the mentor for one or both of these tele- Kingstown Free Library and East Green- were aware of modifications being made to scopes, please contact me. wich Free Library. I donated funds for a the telescopes. Immediately following our telescope for Cross' Mills Public Library in meeting with East Greenwich, I met with Charlestown. the librarian in Coventry about modifying With funding in hand, I got started. I spoke with John Root, of the Aldrich As- tronomical Society about their program. I corresponded with Pete Smith, of the New Hampshire Astronomical Society, about the origins of the Library Telescope Pro- gram, and the details of the modifications made to the telescope to make it more du- rable and user-friendly. I ended up working closely with Ron Thompson of Southern Maine Astronomers and purchased three Orion StarBlast 4.5” telescopes from Cor- nerstones of Science of Brunswick, ME. Then, I proceeded to modify the tele- scopes. Each telescope got a zoom eye- piece, and the thumbscrews holding it in the focuser were replaced by socket head screws to make tampering more difficult. Steve Siok with staff of North Thumbscrews for collimating the primary Kingstown Free Library mirror were removed and replaced. The button-battery for the finder scope was re- placed with a AA battery pack. Lanyards were added to the dust covers. Safety and informational decals were applied. And, a bag was attached to each scope to stow the instruction manual, a constellation guide and a red light headlamp. The total cost of each modified telescope package came to around $350. I am happy to report that Steve Siok and I delivered the first telescope to North Kings- town Free Library in early July. The second telescope was delivered to East Greenwich Free Library a week later. The enthusiasm by the staff of both libraries was exhilarat- ing. The third telescope is ready and will go to Cross' Mills Public Library in early Au- gust. Steve will work with the library staff at North Kingstown and East Greenwich to Three modified telescopes ready to go care for and promote the library telescope. I The Skyscraper August 2017 3 Perseid Meteor Shower: “Meteor-ocre” Display for 2017 by Dave Huestis While the premiere event during August Normally 60+ Perseids can be observed a sideways “M” or “W” (that’s Cassiopeia), is the Great American Total Solar Eclipse per hour, but with bright interference from Perseus is below it so you’re looking in the on August 21, we shouldn’t neglect the most the Moon I suspect perhaps half that num- correct direction.
Recommended publications
  • Monitor 1St Quarter 2019
    THE ACADEMY MONITOR VOLUME 13 ISSUE 1 1 GREETINGS FROM THE GREAT HALLS OF LEARNING, S STARFLEET ACADEMY!!! T Q U A R IN THIS ISSUE: T Commandant Article 2 E Academy Information 3-5 Around the Academy R Outstanding Students 6 Academic Excellence Awards 7 Graduates 8-13 Academy Degree Program 14&15 2 Bridge Officers Cert Awards 16 0 Vessel Readiness Cert Program 17 Boothby 18-22 1 Miscellaneous 23-34 Editor Comments 35 9 FROM THE ACTING COMMANDANT The first Quarter of 2019 was insanely busy, as Academy continued to recover from the passing of Glen Diebold on September 26, 2018. We also migrated Academy from its separate server into SFI.org, so that the STARFLEET branding could be applied to Academy, and to eliminate the costs of an extra domain and web hosting. We had to close Glen’s unfinished projects that he left behind, and audit and retire those colleges that were not performing at minimum standards. We were not lacking in volunteers to direct those that were left. Survival Studies (COSS), a favorite among many students, was taken over by myself, the author of the first version of the college. The COSS has gone through a major rewrite and reformat. Long exams were divided into 25-point multiple choice or True and False exams. Three of the four schools are reopened, and the fourth will be open soon, with more exams to be added. Wherever an exam was split into 2 or more exams, the existing graduates was copied over with their grades and completion dates.
    [Show full text]
  • Mètodes De Detecció I Anàlisi D'exoplanetes
    MÈTODES DE DETECCIÓ I ANÀLISI D’EXOPLANETES Rubén Soussé Villa 2n de Batxillerat Tutora: Dolors Romero IES XXV Olimpíada 13/1/2011 Mètodes de detecció i anàlisi d’exoplanetes . Índex - Introducció ............................................................................................. 5 [ Marc Teòric ] 1. L’Univers ............................................................................................... 6 1.1 Les estrelles .................................................................................. 6 1.1.1 Vida de les estrelles .............................................................. 7 1.1.2 Classes espectrals .................................................................9 1.1.3 Magnitud ........................................................................... 9 1.2 Sistemes planetaris: El Sistema Solar .............................................. 10 1.2.1 Formació ......................................................................... 11 1.2.2 Planetes .......................................................................... 13 2. Planetes extrasolars ............................................................................ 19 2.1 Denominació .............................................................................. 19 2.2 Història dels exoplanetes .............................................................. 20 2.3 Mètodes per detectar-los i saber-ne les característiques ..................... 26 2.3.1 Oscil·lació Doppler ........................................................... 27 2.3.2 Trànsits
    [Show full text]
  • Extrasolar Planets and Their Host Stars
    Kaspar von Braun & Tabetha S. Boyajian Extrasolar Planets and Their Host Stars July 25, 2017 arXiv:1707.07405v1 [astro-ph.EP] 24 Jul 2017 Springer Preface In astronomy or indeed any collaborative environment, it pays to figure out with whom one can work well. From existing projects or simply conversations, research ideas appear, are developed, take shape, sometimes take a detour into some un- expected directions, often need to be refocused, are sometimes divided up and/or distributed among collaborators, and are (hopefully) published. After a number of these cycles repeat, something bigger may be born, all of which one then tries to simultaneously fit into one’s head for what feels like a challenging amount of time. That was certainly the case a long time ago when writing a PhD dissertation. Since then, there have been postdoctoral fellowships and appointments, permanent and adjunct positions, and former, current, and future collaborators. And yet, con- versations spawn research ideas, which take many different turns and may divide up into a multitude of approaches or related or perhaps unrelated subjects. Again, one had better figure out with whom one likes to work. And again, in the process of writing this Brief, one needs create something bigger by focusing the relevant pieces of work into one (hopefully) coherent manuscript. It is an honor, a privi- lege, an amazing experience, and simply a lot of fun to be and have been working with all the people who have had an influence on our work and thereby on this book. To quote the late and great Jim Croce: ”If you dig it, do it.
    [Show full text]
  • Dear Cheap Astronomy – How Long Until We Won't Be Able to Hear The
    Question 1: Dear Cheap Astronomy – how long until we won’t be able to hear the Voyager spacecraft anymore? Just to clarify the question, the problem won’t be about our hearing them, but about the spacecraft ceasing to transmit once they run out of electrical power. The two close-to- identical Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, Voyager 2 on the 20th of August and Voyager 1 two weeks later on the 5th of September. The trajectories and orbital mechanics involved in getting to their first mission objective, a fly-by of Jupiter, meant that Voyager 1 would arrive there first, despite it launching second. So, NASA called it Voyager 1 to avoid confusing the newsreaders of the day. Both spacecraft have radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which work by using the heat from a decaying lump of plutonium isotope 238 to generate electricity. Since we know the half-life of those lumps fairly exactly, we already know that after 2020 there won’t be enough power to continue running all the currently-operational systems and by around 2025 whatever work-arounds we have managed will fail as both spacecraft lose the capacity to collect and transmit data. After that, they will carry on silently with their golden records attached, time capsules from 1997 Earth for any aliens that find them. Although, given the time periods involved, it’s possible that human-crewed spacecraft might overtake them before that ever happens. Voyager 1 will make a first close pass of another star, called Gliese 445 in about 40,000 years. This is surprising since Gliese 445 is over 17 light years from Earth and Voyager 1 needs 17,000 years to cross just one light year.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2009 ESO
    ESO European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere Annual Report 2009 ESO European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere Annual Report 2009 presented to the Council by the Director General Prof. Tim de Zeeuw The European Southern Observatory ESO, the European Southern Observa­ tory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe. It is supported by 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Several other countries have expressed an interest in membership. Created in 1962, ESO carries out an am­ bitious programme focused on the de­ sign, construction and operation of power­ ful ground­based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world­ View of the La Silla Observatory from the site of the One of the most exciting features of the class observing sites in the Atacama 3.6 ­metre telescope, which ESO operates together VLT is the option to use it as a giant opti­ with the New Technology Telescope, and the MPG/ Desert region of Chile: La Silla, Paranal ESO 2.2­metre Telescope. La Silla also hosts national cal interferometer (VLT Interferometer or and Chajnantor. ESO’s first site is at telescopes, such as the Swiss 1.2­metre Leonhard VLTI). This is done by combining the light La Silla, a 2400 m high mountain 600 km Euler Telescope and the Danish 1.54­metre Teles cope.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesearchforetlifeintheunivers
    Chapter-1 (The Grand Cosmos) - Why Extra-terrestrials.............................................................. 1 - In the Beginning....................................................................... 5 - The other Fantastic Four.......................................................... 8 - Let there be Light................................................................... 14 - To Be or not to Be.................................................................. 16 - Future from the Beyond......................................................... 23 Chapter-2 (Religions, Ancient Astronauts, Histories, UFOs & E.Ts) - The Sacred Whispers............................................................. 26 - The Ancient Astronauts Theory............................................. 30 - UFO s in Medieval Paintings.................................................. 34 - Ancient Astronauts or Ancient Archeology?........................ 35 - UFOs themselves................................................................... 38 - The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life: The Beginning.............44 Chapter-3 (Echoes from our Solar District) -The Story So Far..................................................................... 50 -The Water Worlds................................................................... 50 -Solar System: A very brief Tour.............................................. 52 - The Red Planet...................................................................... 53 - The Evening Star..................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Article Was Published in the Routledge Handbook of Big History, Eds
    HUMAN STUDIES AT A CROSSROAD: ANTHROPOLOGY... Man In India, 99 (3-4) : 217-241 © Serials Publications HUMAN STUDIES AT A CROSSROAD: ANTHROPOLOGY, BIG HISTORY, AND OUR GLOBAL FUTURES Barry H. Rodrigue Abstract: Anthropology has been in a constant process of expansion and clarification since humans began to consider their place in the world. As an exercise in increasing self-awareness, anthropology is not so much a discipline as it is an interdisciplinary field of study. In this way, it shares common ground with the field of big history, which also provides a way to contextualize humanity in its wider milieu. Such macro-views lead to new ways of thinking about past concepts, such as revising antiquated models of regional civilizations into a global civilization. In addition, anthropology has historical precedents for intersecting with big history, as in the works of Alexander von Humboldt, Sarat Chandra Roy, and Leslie White. The author describes these twin fields as complementary paradigms that can assist each other to not only better understand the human condition but to seek a new way forward in a time of climatic change and social crisis. His contention is that, just as anthropology historically built upon inputs from various societies and disciplines, its range of studies and social connections will continue to expand. This movement towards synthesis and holistic thinking will push anthropology into an exciting frontier of new challenges. Keywords: Anthropology, Civilization, Big History, Evolution, Social Change, Humanity, Future. We humans engage in a constant process of enlarging our understanding of the world around us. As our ancestors spread throughout Africa and beyond, they developed innovative strategies for survival – from tools and clothing to languages and customs.
    [Show full text]
  • Guidestar December, 2013
    Houston Astronomical Society Page 1 December, 2013 December, 2013 Volume 31, #12 At the December 6 Meeting Highlights: Seeing the Impossible: Top 10 Astronomical Nightmares 6 The Unsolved Mystery of Novice: Observing Jupiter 6 Most Volcanically Active Place 7 Saturn's Spokes Kid’s Outreach / Bylaws & Articles revs 8 Stephen O’Meara The Constants of Nature… and Life 9 Author, writer for Astronomy magazine Observatory Corner — Bob’s Dream 13 When the young Stephen O’Meara observed and sketched radial spokes in the rings of Saturn in the 70’s his observation was dismissed Will This Technology Transform 14 as an optical illusion. It wasn’t until the Voyager Astronomy space probe sent back, in 1979, photographs of the spokes that the observation was confirmed. What Free Astronomy Resources 15 are the spokes and why do they occur? Stephen Gliese 445 O’Meara will tell us. 16 Stephen O’Meara is a monthly columnist for Astronomy HAS Web Page: magazine, and the author of http://www.AstronomyHouston.org numerous books including The Messier Objects, The Caldwell See the GuideStar's Monthly Calendar of Objects, The Herschel 400 Events to confirm dates and times of all Observing Guide, and The Secret Saturn ring spokes as events for the month, and check the Web Deep. He has regularly been a sketched by Stephen featured presenter at the Texas O’Meara Page for any last minute changes. Star Party after staying up all night observing from the pristine west Texas skies. All meetings are at the University of Houston Science and Research building.
    [Show full text]
  • El Hubble Proporciona Un Mapa Interestelar Para La Excursión Galáctica De Los Voyager
    Imagen: Vista del sistema solar desde el Voyager 1 (interpretación artística) EL HUBBLE PROPORCIONA UN MAPA INTERESTELAR PARA LA EXCURSIÓN GALÁCTICA DE LOS VOYAGER Fecha de publicación: 6 de enero de 2017 a las 11:15 am (EST) En 1977, las naves espaciales de la NASA, Voyager 1 y 2, iniciaron su viaje de exploración por el sistema solar para visitar los planetas gigantes exteriores. Ahora, las naves espaciales Voyager viajan a gran velocidad a través de territorios sin explorar en su viaje más allá de nuestro sistema solar. Por el camino, miden el medio interestelar, el entorno misterioso situado entre las estrellas y lleno de restos de estrellas muertas hace mucho tiempo. El Telescopio espacial Hubble de la NASA proporciona el "mapa de carreteras" al tomar medidas del material que se encuentra en la trayectoria de las sondas a medida que se mueven por el espacio. El Hubble se encuentra con una compleja y rica ecología interestelar, que contiene muchas nubes de hidrógeno, enlazadas con otros elementos. Los datos del Hubble, combinados con los de las naves espaciales Voyager, también han proporcionado nueva información sobre cómo viaja nuestro Sol a través del espacio interestelar. La historia completa Las dos naves espaciales Voyager viajan a gran velocidad a través de territorios sin explorar en su viaje más allá de nuestro sistema solar. Por el camino, miden el medio interestelar, el entorno misterioso situado entre las estrellas. El Telescopio espacial Hubble de la NASA proporciona el "mapa de carreteras", al tomar medidas del material que se encuentra en la trayectoria de las sondas a medida que se mueven por el espacio.
    [Show full text]
  • Voyager the Grand Tour to Interstellar Space
    Sky at Night MAGAZINE DISCOVER SPACE The story of voyager the grand tour to interstellar space EXCLUSIVE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS WITH VOYAGER SCIENTISTS PLUS, NASA TELLS US HOW THE VOYAGERS CONTINUE TO SHAPE TODAY’S MISSIONS MARVELS AND MYSTERIES: OUR FARTHEST ENVOY: WHAT MESSAGES FOR ET: HOW THE VOYAGERS’ GREATEST VOYAGER 1 IS TELLING US THE GOLDEN RECORD COULD DISCOVERIES REVEALED ABOUT INTERSTELLAR SPACE HELP ALIENS FIND EARTH TECHNOLOGICALLYSUPERIOR THE ALL NEW “If you’re looking for a portable heavy duty mount... the CGX-L is a worthy contender” 0bca^]^\h=^f9d]T &XbbdT GERMAN EQUATORIAL MOUNT Celestron’s newly designed CGX-L Computerised Equatorial mount and tripod is the latest addition to the fully computerised equatorial mount series. Capable of carrying Celestron’s largest optical tubes with ease, CGX-L is designed for backyard observatories and remote imagers looking for exceptional load capacity to weight ratio, compact design, and innovative features that fully support large telescopes, imaging kits, and the latest in Additional Ports wireless tech accessories. ~4gcaP[PaVT&$[QRP_PRXch ~;PaVTa ##\\SXP\TcTa f^a\fWTT[b ~;^]VTa!&\\S^eTcPX[bPSS[Tc^bd__^ac [PaVTa^_cXRP[cdQTb ~AT\^cT^_TaPcX^]UaXT]S[hUTPcdaTb ~8]cTa]P[RPQ[T\P]PVT\T]c Longer Dovetail Saddle ~<TRWP]XRP[P]STaV^]^\XR X\_a^eT\T]cbcWa^dVW^dc ~BcdaSXTaTPbXTac^dbTP]STPbXTa c^caP]b_^ac COMPACT. ERGONOMIC. INNOVATIVE. 2^]ca^[b^UcfPaTX]R^]Yd]RcX^]fXcW Smoother Belt Drive System ALSO AVAILABLE THE ORIGINAL Compact Designed Tripod ~;PaVT$$[QRP_PRXch ~0[[]TfSTbXV] BcdaSXTaP]S\^aT aXVXSfXcW`dXRZTa SP\_T]X]VcX\T ~8\_a^eTS\^c^ab P]SSaXeTbhbcT\b Celestron® and StarSenseTM are registered trademarks or trademarks of Celestron Acquisition, LLC in the United States and in dozens of other countries around the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Outline Thesis
    Dissertation submitted to the Combined Faculties of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the Ruperto-Carola-University of Heidelberg, Germany for the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences Put forward by Christian Schwab born in: Hanau Oral examination: 16th July 2010 A Calibration System for a Rayleigh Laser Guide Star Constellation & A Planet around a Giant Star Referees: Prof. Dr. Andreas Quirrenbach Prof. Dr. Joachim Krautter Für meinen Vater Stephan, dessen Wunsch das war. Abstract My thesis consists of two parts. In Part I, I describe my contributions to the laser guide star adaptive optics facility at the Large Binocular Telescope, the Advanced Rayleigh guided Ground layer adaptive Optics System , ARGOS. I investigate the effect of scattered light from propagating the laser light across the aperture, and find that contamination is not a concern for the science instruments. I present a study of reflective laser launch telescopes based on commercial optics, and compare this to the refractive design chosen as baseline for ARGOS. The discussed options present an interesting alternative with only small additional light loss at substantially reduced cost and procurement risk. I develop a calibration scheme for the full adaptive optics system, based on artificial light sources that illuminate the deformable mirror, imitating the laser guide star beacons. This enables the interaction between deformable mirror and wavefront sensor to be calibrated at any time, greatly enhancing the possibilities and time available for engineering on the installed system. The light source has to be placed in the prime fcous, as ARGOS uses the adaptive secondary mirrors of LBT. The optical design of the calibration light source is not trivial as the guide star constellation comprises of three beacons forming an equilateral triangle on a circle with a radius of 2 arcminutes.
    [Show full text]
  • La Ricerca Dei Mondi Extra-Solari: Implicazioni Filosofiche Ed Aspetti Metodologici Nell’Astrofisica Moderna
    ALMA Mater Studiorum Università degli Studi Bologna SCUOLA DI SCIENZE Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Astrofisica e Cosmologia Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia La ricerca dei mondi extra-solari: implicazioni filosofiche ed aspetti metodologici nell’Astrofisica moderna Tesi di Laurea di: Relatore: Chiar.mo Prof.: Fabio Antonelli Alberto Buzzoni Co-relatore: Prof. Orsola De Marco Sessione II Anno Accademico 2012/2013 1 INDICE 1 INTRODUZIONE p.3 2 STORIOGRAFIA ED ASPETTI FILOSOFICI p.6 2.1 Premessa p.6 2.2 Filosofia e mondi extra-solari p.8 2.3 Le prime possibili scoperte di esopianeti p.11 2.4 Storia recente p.14 3 METODI DI RICERCA DEGLI ESOPIANETI p.21 3.1 Possibili approcci osservativi p.21 3.2 I metodi di detezione astrometrica p.23 3.3 Lenti gravitazionali p.31 3.4 Esempi rilevanti di micro-lensing planetario p.33 3.4.1 OGLE-2012-BLG-0026 p.36 3.4.2 OGLE-2011-BLG-0251 p.41 3.4.3 MOA-2010-BLG-311 p.47 3.5 Il metodo delle velocità radiali e dei transiti planetari p.52 3.6 Immagine diretta p.59 3.7 Fondamenti matematici dei transiti planetari p.64 4 STRUMENTI DI DETEZIONE E PROGRAMMI DI RICERCA IN CORSO p.67 4.1 Strumenti di ultima generazione p.67 4.2 Programmi in corso ed a medio termine da terra e dallo spazio p.81 4.2.1 Il gruppo ExoPAG SAG#5 p.81 4.2.2 La missione Kepler p.82 4.2.3 La missione CoRot p.83 4.2.4 La missione GAIA p.84 4.2.5 Altri programmi e progetti di ricerca p.85 2 5 NUOVE LINEE DI RICERCA SULL’INTERAZIONE DINAMICA TRA PIANETI E STELLE: VERSO UNA RIVOLUZIONE DEL PARADIGMA EVOLUTIVO STELLARE? p.87 5.1 Stelle binarie
    [Show full text]