Astronomy at the University of Canterbury Department of Physics & Astronomy and at the Mt John University Observatory

Department of Physics & Astronomy and Mt John University Observatory - William Tobin Astronomy at the University of Canterbury Department of Physics & Astronomy and at the Mt John University Observatory Observatory Director: Dr M.D. Albrow Report 2002–3 Report compiled by Dr William Tobin Report for the period 2002 January 1 to 2003 December 31 Staff director on the SALT Foundation Board, attending two Board meetings in Cape Town during 2003. At the begining of 2002 the Observatory directorship rotated to Dr Michael Albrow who continued as Mt John Dr William Tobin was on study leave 2002 April– director throughout the period covered by this report. In July, and devoted most of his effort to completing his bi- 2003 his permanent half-time position was extended to a ography of the 19th-century French physicist Leon´ Fou- full-time appointment for a period of three years. cault. The French version of this work, entitled ‘Leon´ Alan Gilmore continued as Resident Superintendent Foucault: Le miroir et le pendule’ was published in Oc- at Mt John. Stephen Barlow, Nigel Frost and Pam Kil- tober to coincide with the exhibition of the same name martin continued as other Mt John staff. which was held at the Paris Observatory (where Foucault Turning to Christchurch staff, Professor John Hearn- was ‘physicist’ from 1855). This exhibition was organ- shaw continued on the Board of IAU Division IX and as ised by Dr James Lequeux of the Paris Observatory (Er- chair of the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Committee skine Visitor to Canterbury in 1997), who also adapted on Astronomical Sciences. In 2003 July, while attending Tobin’s book into French. Tobin acted as commissaire the IAU General Assembly in Sydney, he joined the Or- adjoint to the exhibition and assisted in myriad ways. ganizing Committee of IAU Commission 46. In the same The biography later won the Prix special´ du jury of the month he was appointed chairperson of the that Com- Prix du livre de l’astronomie–Haute-Maurienne/Vanoise mission’s Advance Development Program Group. This 2003. group was subsequently renamed the Program Group for In 2002 August, Tobin sent a poster paper to the An- the World-Wide Development of Astronomy. Its goal is tique Telescope Society’s meeting in Dublin. It treated that its members should visit developing countries, make Foucault’s presentation of his new silvered-glass telescope recommendations to the IAU on promoting astronomical to the 1857 meeting of the British Association for the Ad- teaching and research in those countries, and offer advice vancement of Science, which was also held in Dublin. and assistance to the local astronomers. Three months later, Tobin presented an invited talk in Hearnshaw enjoyed a visiting fellowship at the Solar- Marseilles at the colloquium in that city marking the ter- Terrestrial Environment Laboratory at Nagoya University centenary of the Observatoire de Marseille. His subject for the three months from 2002 September. He spent was Foucault’s Marseilles telescope. As part of the same much of his stay editing the proceedings of the previ- trip, he also visited the Haute-Provence and Nice obser- ous July’s IAU Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting in Tokyo, vatories. In December he presented a seminar on Fou- which he had attended, but he found time to visit Gunma cault at the Paris Observatory. Observatory and to attend a meeting of the Japan Physical Tobin was on study leave again for April–July in 2003. Society in Tokyo. He began a year’s study leave in 2003 He spent much of April and May at the European South- August. He spent September–November as a visitor at ern Observatory headquarters in Santiago de Chile, work- the Vatican Observatory in Castelgandolfo (near Rome), ing with Dr John Pritchard on analysis of the light curves where he continued work on a monograph on the history of eclipsing binaries discovered in the Large Magellanic and theory of astronomical spectrographs. Cloud by the French EROS microlensing project. Later Associate Professor Peter Cottrell was on a year’s study in his study leave he dealt with proofs of the English ver- leave from 2002 July. He spent a substantial part of this sion of his book, ‘The Life and Science of Leon´ Fou- leave developing the University of Canterbury’s share in cault: The Man who Proved the Earth Rotates’, which the Southern African Large Telescope project (SALT; see was published by Cambridge University Press in Octo- separate section below). He served as the University’s ber. In July he attended the XIXth annual colloquium Page 1 Department of Physics & Astronomy and Mt John University Observatory - William Tobin at the Institut d’Astophysique de Paris entitled ‘Extraso- held in Merida, Mexico, and ten months later in Santiago lar Planets: today and tomorrow’ where he presented a de Chile at the ESO workshop ‘Stellar candles for the ex- poster paper on Mt John spectroscopy of β Pictoris (coau- tragalactic distance scale’. thors Stuart Barnes and Pollard). During the year, he gave John Bentley completed the requirements for his M.Sc. seminars on Foucault at ESO-Santiago, ESO-Paranal, the degree in 2003 May with a thesis entitled ‘Short-term in- Open University, the Institute of Astronomy (Cambridge) stabiities in γ Velorum: A search for strange modes in and the Universite´ Tous Ages in Vannes, France. variable stars’ (supervisors Cottrell & J. Skuljan). Albrow attended the New Horizons in Globular Clus- Malcolm Cropp obtained his M.Sc. degree in 2002 ter Astronomy conference in Padua in 2002 June. with a thesis entitled ‘Spectroscopic analysis of southern Dr Jovan Skuljan continued until mid-2003 as a post- δ Scuti-type variable stars’ (supervisor Pollard). He then doctoral researcher working with Hearnshaw on high- enrolled for a Ph.D. involving time-sequence photometry precision stellar radial velocities using the HERCULES of open clusters (supervisors Albrow & Tobin). spectrograph. He developed a software package, HRSP, Dane Kent (supervisors Hearnshaw & J. Skuljan) at- for the reduction of HERCULES images and the deter- tended the Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting in Welling- mination of radial velocities. He observed a number of ton in 2002 July. He suspended his Ph.D. enrolment in radial-velocity standard stars and wide binaries suitable 2003 March. for the calibration of an absolute radial-velocity scale de- Ceridwen Livingston (supervisor Hearnshaw) com- pending on the spectral type. In 2002 July, he attended pleted requirements for an M.Sc. in 2002 August with the IAU Asian-Pacific Regional meeting in Tokyo; and a thesis entitled ‘An analysis of the light curves of 20 no- in September, the Monte Rosa Conference ‘GAIA: Spec- vae and their use as distance indicators’. Her degree was troscopy, Science and Technology’ in Gressoney Saint conferred the following April. Jean, Italy. The following month, he attended the 13th Jennifer McSaveney (supervisors Pollard & Cottrell) National Conference of Yugoslav Astronomers in Bel- obtained her Ph.D. in 2003 with a thesis entitled ‘Type II grade, as did Dr Ljiljana Skuljan. J. Skuljan was also Cepheids: line formation and hydrodynamics’. involved with the MOA project. Orlon Petterson (supervisors Cottrell & Albrow) was In 2003, Teaching and Research Fellowships were awarded his Ph.D. in 2002 for a thesis entitled ‘Binary awarded to L. Skuljan (March–November, part-time) and Cepheids’. J. Skuljan (July–November). In 2003 Daniel Pooley (supervisors Cottrell, Albrow In 2002 Albrow was promoted to Senior Lecturer, & Pollard) obtained his Ph.D. with a thesis entitled ‘Spec- Hearnshaw and Cottrell received regradings, and Gilmore troscopic and photometric monitoring of southern post- and Kilmartin were awarded progression in salary bands asymptotic giant branch stars’. above the merit point. Karen Pollard was promoted to Andrew Rakich (KiwiStar Optics, Industrial Research Senior Lecturer in 2003. Ltd., Lower Hutt) enrolled for a Ph.D. as an extra-mural student in 2003 March (supervisors Hearnshaw, Tobin, Students Norman Rumsey (Lower Hutt) & Craig Smith (EOS, Aus- Stuart Barnes (supervisor Hearnshaw) continued his tralia)). He will search for general analytical solutions for Ph.D. project on the design of high-resolution astronom- 4-mirror anastigmatic telescopes with one mirror aspher- ical spectrographs. In 2002 he was awarded the Michael ized. Kidger Memorial Scholarship in Optical Design and the David Ramm (supervisors Hearnshaw & J. Skuljan) William Price Scholarship in Optical Design. He received continued observation and analysis of precise radial ve- these awards in person at the annual meetings of the Op- locities for a score of visual and astrometric binary sys- tical Society of America in Tucson in June, and of the tems. The observations were made with HERCULES. SPIE in Seattle in July. The following month he attended The aim is to obtain mass ratios, and if possible, indi- the SPIE conference on Astronomical Telescopes and In- vidual masses. Ramm was funded through a Bright Fu- strumentation held in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii, where ture Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship in both 2002 and he presented two poster papers. 2003. For some months of 2003 Barnes was enrolled part- Duncan Wright (supervisor Cottrell) obtained his M.Sc. time in order to work on the design of the high-resolution in 2003 with a thesis entitled ‘A spectroscopic study of spectrograph for SALT (see separate section below). two non-radially pulsating stars: HD160641 and FG Vir- Glenn Bayne (supervisors Tobin, Pollard & Pritchard) ginis’. received the Dennis William Moore Scholarship for 2002. In 2002 Stage-4 student Liz Wylie completed a project He submitted his Ph.D. thesis on eclipsing binary stars in under Cottrell’s supervision on line-splitting in the Cepheid the Magellanic Clouds in 2003 December and success- X Sagittarii. In 2003 she began a Ph.D.

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