News from the Society for Astronomical Sciences
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News from the Society for Astronomical Sciences Vol. 9 No. 3 (July, 2011) Report from the 2011 Symposium For three decades, the Society for Astronomical Sciences has supported small telescope science, encouraged amateur research, and facilitated pro- am collaboration. On May 24-26, more than one hundred participants in the 30th anniversary SAS Symposium heard presentations covering a wide range of astronomical topics, reaching from the laboratory to the distant cos- mos. From Planets to Galaxies Sky & Telescope Editor-in-Chief Bob Naeye opened the technical session with a review of the amateur contribu- tions to exoplanet discovery and re- search through monitoring of transits and micro-lensing events. R. Jay GaBany described his participa- A “family portrait” of 2009 TC3, at the SAS-2011 Symposium. Richard Kowalski (on tion as an astro-imager in the search left) discovered the asteroid while it was still in space, on a collision course with for evidence of galactic mergers. His Earth. Dr. Peter Jenniskens (on right) organized an expedition that recovered frag- exquisite deep images taken with his ments of the asteroid from the desert of northern Sudan. Dr. Jenniskens is holding a 24-inch telescope displayed the di- piece of the asteroid. Photo by Earl Wilson. verse patterns of star streams that can be left behind when a dwarf galaxy is nomical objects in education and pub- Small-telescope science provides a disrupted and absorbed by a larger lic outreach. wonderful adjunct to college classes, galaxy. He also noted that not all faint and not just for astronomy students. structures are evidence of galactic Richard Berry presented his investiga- Doug Walker injected an astronomy mergers: the faint ”loop” structure tion of an imaginative challenge: “Can project into his math class at Estrella near M-81 is actually foreground “ga- the proper motion of Barnard’s Star be College, giving his students a “hands- lactic cirrus” in our own Milky Way detected in a project lasting only a few on” experience in conducting observa- masquerading as a faux tidal loop. nights? Astoundingly, the answer is tions, making measurements, and ap- “yes”. He showed how precision of a plying mathematical analysis to their Education and Outreach few hundredths of an arc-second in data. His students presented their Several papers related to education relative astrometry can be achieved project of measuring several visual and outreach were presented. Debra with a small telescope and CCD binary stars, using both a reticle eye- Ceravolo applied her expertise in the imager. piece and a CCD video camera. Their generation and perception of colors, to data will be submitted to the Journal of describe a new method of merging Robert Buchheim described his project Double Star Observations for entry into narrow-band (e.g. Hα) and broad-band to replicate Tycho’s use of diurnal par- the Washington Double Star Catalog. (e.g. RGB) images into a natural-color allax to determine the distance to the image that displays enhanced detail Moon by using a DSLR camera and its While most small-telescope research without glaring false colors. She is a standard lens. He then applied a 0.28- is done with CCD imagers specially- strong advocate of using “natural” col- m (11-inch) telescope and CCD designed for astronomy, the modern, ors, rather than the potentially- imager to determine the distance to an inexpensive, commercial DSLR and misleading false-color display of astro- steroid, achieving respectable 15% “point and shoot” cameras have re- accuracy. markable capabilities. John Hoot de- Society for Astronomical Sciences Newsletter Vol 9 Number 3 scribed the very advanced technology cated in a variety of adverse ecological (such as Krajci’s) and remotely- in these popular cameras, explaining and physiological trends, including operated systems (such as Smith’s). how the advanced features can be disruption of birds’ migratory patterns used to conduct research and educa- and altering circadian rhythms. Unfor- Photometry tional projects such as meteor parallax tunately, as noted by Eric and Erin Jerry Horne discussed an interesting measurement, satellite tracking, and Craine, research into the effects of example of data mining in which he re- nova searches. light-pollution is hampered by a paucity examined his own data from several of quantitative data on sky brightness years ago that happened to coincide Optics, Instruments and Methods and its secular trends. They described with the Kepler field. He found one Wide-field survey telescopes present their development of a portable light- probable Cepheid variable and some unique challenges in optical design, monitor system and associated archive interesting changes in several stars, but also offer the potential for making that can record both time-based and between his data epoch and Kepler’s new kinds of observations. Peter geographic variations in sky bright- recent lightcurves. Ceravolo explained his design of an ness. This system should be useful for instrument for detecting asteroid entry, Gary Vander Haagen noted that “there both scientific investigations and policy are probably astrophysical processes which demands good image quality assessments related to light control, over a very large field of view. The that generate high-frequency bright- such as demonstrating the impact of ness variability, but we don’t know keys to his optical system are its his- new property uses and assessing the torical heritage (it is in some respects about them because we don’t have the light-control value of various regulatory ability to monitor very fast fluctuations”. a folded, reflective version of a photo- regimes. graphic lens), the importance of cor- He described how the silicon pho- rect placement of the aperture stop One of the difficult management chal- tomultiplier can provide the needed (not at the primary optical element), lenges facing large professional ob- sensor, with some important advan- and control of internal reflections (es- servatories is the handling of transient tages over the conventional photomul- pecially from the surface of the focal “targets of opportunity” – should the tiplier. The Silicon PM is rugged, inex- plane; front-illuminated CCDs are sur- telescope be diverted from an ap- pensive, immune to magnetic fields, prisingly reflective!) proved program in order to focus on a and only about 5X less sensitive that a newly-discovered transient event? conventional PMT. With appropriate Tom Smith presented a valuable de- Private observatories can be su- filtering of the signal, it appears that scription of the method for flat fielding premely flexible in this regard. Near- most atmospheric scintillation noise CCD images that was developed for Earth objects, supernovae, and other can be removed from the data. the AAVSO All-Sky Photometric Sur- unpredictable events can be immedi- Eclipsing Binaries vey. This information will be useful to ately put under intense, long-term ob- many small-telescope photometrists Dr. Dirk Terrell presented a half-day servation on the owner’s sole initiative. class on eclipsing binary stars, cover- who want to ensure the highest quality As Bob Koff described, opportunities and accuracy in their data. One sur- ing their characteristics and their main abound for backyard scientists, as observational features. He then pre- prisingly successful experiment was large surveys collect far more transient the use of Styrofoam insulation sheet sented an example of determining the events than can possibly be studied by properties of an eclipsing system by as the reflective target. This material professional astronomers. He de- turns out to provide a wonderfully true matching a theoretical lightcurve to scribed the requirements for making observational data, using the PHOEBE white and Lambertian reflective sur- credible observations of targets of op- face. code. Noting that many interesting portunity along with sources of prompt systems are within the range of back- Many variable star observers have notification of transients (one of the yard scientists, Dr. Terrell concluded struggled with determining their sys- participants noted that “there’s an ‘app’ with a clear message: “You will be tem’s color transforms in order to for that!”). doing a service to science by taking achieve the best-possible consistency Automated and Robotic Telescopes the data, making the lightcurve, doing in CCD photometry. This struggle is The very first robotic telescope may the analysis, and publishing your re- partly mathematical, but mostly obser- have been the pneumatically-operated sults.” vational, since determining the trans- mechanism that commanded multiple Epsilon Aurigae’s eclipse has gener- forms and second-order extinction cameras to record a solar eclipse in requires observation of standard stars ated many opportunities for small- 1901. Dr. Russ Genet described how telescope science, since it is far too under near-photometric conditions on this venerable heritage is being ad- at least one or two nights per year bright for large observatories to deal vanced, with progress on the devel- with. Gary Cole presented new results (and these nights can be rare indeed opment of low-cost, portable, meter- for many backyard scientists). A new from his ongoing campaign of po- class telescopes for photometric and larimetric monitoring of the system method of determining transforms and occultation studies. secondary extinction terms was ex- throughout this eclipse. His data are plained by David Boyd. His method is Tom Smith and Tom Krajci presented of special value because his is one of less restrictive than previous ap- a half-day workshop on various ap- only three known polarimetric data proaches and offers great improve- proaches (and potential pitfalls) in sets (one of which was largely clouded ment in determining the night-to-night automating your observing equipment out during the critical period of third zero-points for asteroid lightcurves. so that it robotically carries on obser- contact). His data show that the third- vations and data collection, while the contact change in polarization during New Frontiers observer sleeps.