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Proceedings for the 29th Annual Conference of the Society for Astronomical Sciences Joint Meeting of The Society for Astronomical Sciences The Center for Backyard Astrophysics Symposium on Telescope Science Editors: Brian D. Warner Jerry Foote Robert Buchheim May 11-13, 2010 Big Bear Lake, CA Disclaimer The acceptance of a paper for the SAS proceedings can not be used to imply nor should it be inferred as an en- dorsement by the Society for Astronomical Sciences of any product, service, or method mentioned in the paper. Published by the Society for Astronomical Sciences, Inc. First printed: May 2010 Table of Contents Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 PREFACE 1 CONFERENCE SPONSORS 3 SUBMITTED PAPERS 5 EPSILON AURIGAE IN TOTAL ECLIPSE, 2010 – A PROGRESS REPORT 7 ROBERT E. STENCEL EPSILON AURIGAE ECLIPSE 2009 - INGRESS 13 JEFFREY L. HOPKINS, ROBERT E. STENCEL, ROBIN LEADBEATER, PAUL J. BECKMANN, CHRISTIAN BUIL, DONALD COLLINS, TIZIANO COLOMBO, THIERRY GARREL, STANLEY GORODENSKI, SNAEVARR GUDMUNDSSON, THOMAS KARLSSON, DR. MUKUND KURTADIKAR, HANS-GORAN LINDBERG, DES LOUGHNEY, BENJI MAUCLAIRE, BRIAN E. MCCANDLESS, FRANK J. MELILLO, RICHARD MILES, ROBERT T. (TOM) PEARSON, GERARD SAMOLYK, LOTHAR SCHANNE, IAKOVOS MARIOS STRIKIS, FRANÇOIS TEYSSIER, OLIVIER THIZY RAPID CADENCE MONITORING OF AURIGAE 29 GARY BILLINGS DEVELOPING A POLARIMETER TO SUPPORT THE EPSILON AURIGAE CAMPAIGN 37 GARY M. COLE THE FIRST DECADAL SURVEY OF AMATEUR ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS 43 AARON PRICE, ARNE HENDEN, MIKE SIMONSEN AAVSO PHOTOMETRIC ALL-SKY SURVEY IMPLEMENTATION AT THE DARK RIDGE OBSERVATORY 45 THOMAS C. SMITH, ARNE HENDEN, DIRK TERRELL EXAMINING ROTSE 1 RRC LYR VARIABLES 55 JERRY D. HORNE INTRODUCING ASTRONOMY RELATED RESEARCH INTO NON-ASTRONOMY COURSES 63 DOUGLAS WALKER Table of Contents HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: THE STORY OF U SCO 71 JOHN L. MENKE THE UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR OF TT ARIETIS: 2009 OCTOBER DECLINE 83 ROBERT A. KOFF, JOE PATTERSON THE Z CAMPAIGN 87 MIKE SIMONSEN IO AND EUROPA ATMOSPHERE DETECTION THROUGH JOVIAN MUTUAL EVENTS 91 SCOTT DEGENHARDT, S. AGUIRRE, M. HOSKINSON, A. SCHECK, B. TIMERSON, D. CLARK, T. REDDING, J. TALBOT METHODS AND LESSONS LEARNED DETERMINING THE H-G PARAMETERS OF ASTEROID PHASE CURVES 101 ROBERT K. BUCHHEIM LIGHT BUCKET ASTRONOMY 117 RUSSELL M. GENET, ARNE A. HENDEN, BRUCE D. HOLENSTEIN 117 ASYNCHRONOUS METEOR OBSERVATIONS, DISCOVERY, AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SHOWER STATISTICS AND METEORITE RECOVERY 123 WAYNE GREEN IMAGING DENSE GLOBULAR CLUSTERS LIKE M3 AND M15 129 RODNEY HOWE, IDO BAREKET BAREKET, STOURAITIS DIMITRIOS A TALE OF TWO SPACE ROCKS 135 ROBERT STEPHENS, RALPH MEGNA POSTER PAPERS 143 AN AMATEUR’S SPATIAL MODEL OF THE EPSILON AURIGAE SYSTEM 145 MARINA GEMMA Preface Preface It takes many people to have a successful conference, starting with the Conference Committee. This year the regular committee members are: Lee Snyder Robert Stephens Robert Gill Jerry Foote Cindy Foote Margaret Miller Brian D. Warner Robert Buchheim Dale Mais There are many others involved in a successful conference. The editors take time to note the many volunteers who put in considerable time and resources. We also thank the staff and management of the Northwoods Resort in Big Bear Lake, CA, for their efforts at accommodating the Society and our activities. Membership dues alone do not fully cover the costs of the Society and annual conference. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our corporate sponsors: Sky and Telescope, Software Bisque, Santa Barbara Instruments Group, PlaneWave Instruments, and Apogee Instruments, Inc. Finally, there would be no conference without our speakers and poster presenters. We thank them for making the time to prepare and present the results of their research. Brian D. Warner Jerry Foote Robert Buccheim Dale Mais 1 Preface 2 Conference Sponsors Conference Sponsors The conference organizers thank the following companies for their significant contributions and financial support. Without them, this conference would not be possible. Apogee Instruments, Inc. Manufacturers of astronomical and scientific imaging cameras http://www.ccd.com Santa Barbara Instruments Group Makers of astronomical instrumentation http://www.sbig.com Sky Publishing Corporation Publishers of Sky and Telescope Magazine http://skyandtelescope.com Software Bisque Developers of TheSky Astronomy Software and the Paramount Telescope Mount http://www.bisque.com PlaneWave Instruments Makers of the CDK line of telescopes http://www.planewaveinstruments.com:80/index.php 3 Conference Sponsors 4 Submitted Papers 5 6 Stencel – epsilon Aurigae Progress Report Epsilon Aurigae in Total Eclipse, 2010 – A progress report Robert E. Stencel Meyer-Womble Observatory © University of Denver Observatories, Denver CO 80208 USA [email protected] Abstract The enigmatic eclipsing binary, epsilon Aurigae, has once more entered a rare eclipse phase, for the first time since 1983. A wonderful array of photometric and spectroscopic observations is underway, thanks to the eclipse observing campaign and its participants. In addition, breakthrough results have emerged from infrared and ultra- violet observations, and especially with interferometric imaging that revealed the long suspected dark disk in transit, plus new optical spectra that are revealing substructure inside the disk itself. Implications of many of these observations are discussed, but as the eclipse data are still being collected, I anticipate additional discov- eries still to come, throughout 2010, and beyond. 1. Introduction Photometry and spectroscopy campaign efforts, light curves and eclipse timing results to date are discussed Epsilon Aurigae (ep-si-lon Awe-rye-gee) is an in a companion paper by Jeff Hopkins, at this meet- Algol-like, very long period eclipsing binary. The 27 ing (recommended reading). year eclipse interval includes a nearly 2 year eclipse duration, wherein visual magnitude drops from 3.0 to 2. Development #1: The Complete 3.8. As of this year’s SAS symposium, we’ve seen Spectral Energy Distribution (SED). the start of the first eclipse of the millennium, during 2009 August, with totality reached during 2010 As reported by Hoard, Howell, and Stencel Janunary, predicted to last 15 months, through 2011 (2010, hereafter “HHS”), data have become available March. The end of eclipse is expected during 2011 that span a wide spectral range, from the far- May. For up-to-date details, see the online newslet- ultraviolet, through the visible range and out into the ters (Hopkins, 2010). This will be only the seventh far-infrared. Because of calibration efforts, it has documented eclipse in history (2010, 1983, 1956, proven possible to combine these well calibrated data 1930, 1902, 1874 and 1847). For additional detail into a complete and self-consistent picture of the about epsilon Aurigae, see Stencel and Hopkins sources of light in epsilon Aurigae. Key to under- (2009, SAS), along with the book about the star by standing this result is that interlocking requirements Hopkins and Stencel (2009), and feature articles in of distance and other constraints on F star diameter, the 2009 May issue of Sky & Telescope, 2009 Octo- drive us to these self-consistent conclusions. ber in Astronomy, and the 2010 February issue of Clearly the F star dominates much of the visible Astronomy Now and elsewhere. portion of the spectrum (Figure 1), and for the Hip- The bright eclipsing binary star, epsilon Aurigae, parcos distance of 625pc, given the interferometri- has long fascinated astronomers who could determine cally determined diameter, 2.27 ± 0.11 milli-arcsec, the nature of one companion star in the system, but then the F star radius is 135 ± 5 solar radii. The en- not the other (Guinan and Dewarf, 2002). The crux of ergy distribution is well described by a 7750K sur- the problem was that the apparent early F supergiant face temperature and log gravity = 1.0 atmospheric star in this single lined spectroscopic binary, should model. Subtracting this well-defined F star leaves have a comparably massive secondary. However, the two residual signals: In the far-ultraviolet, extra flux secondary is vastly under-luminous for the presumed beyond the well-fit optical region can be fitted by a mass. Various models have been proposed, but the B5V star, with a nominal mass equal to 5.9 solar preferred model involves a disk of material obscuring masses and radius of only 4 solar radii. a fairly normal companion star (Huang, 1965, 1974). In the infrared, clearly an excess signal is present I am happy to report that an unprecedented series above the F star, and this is the cold disk previously of observations are underway in photometric, spec- measured to have a 550K temperature. The total flux troscopic, polarimetric and interferometric modes. from the disk defines a luminosity and hence a total Theory is advancing as well, as discussed below. surface area. Using eclipse length as a width con- 7 Stencel – epsilon Aurigae Progress Report straint (radius 3.8 AU), the implied thickness is 0.9 AU, consistent with the depth of eclipse – that is, the disk does not fully cover the F star. Figure 2: Ingress images of epsilon Aurigae, on the sub- milli arcsecond spatial scale, during ingress 2009 No- vember and December. This pair of images, and hopefully more to fol- Figure 1: The ultraviolet-optical-infrared spectral energy low, already demonstrate that the basic disk model distribution of epsilon Aurigae. (Huang, 1965) is correct, with modifications to ac- count for disk shape. As reported by Kloppenborg 3. Development #2