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4111. News from the Society for Astronomical Sciences Vol. 10 No. 1 (January, 2012) 31st Annual “Symposium Call for Papers on Telescope Science” Papers are now being accepted for the Please send the abstract of your pro- The 2012 Symposium on Telescope SAS 2012 Symposium on Telescope posed presentation/paper to the Pro- Science will be held at Big Bear, CA Science. Topics on the full range of gram Committee at small-telescope science are wel- on May 22-23-24. This will be a joint [email protected]. meeting of the SAS and the AAVSO. comed: amateur and small-telescope Everyone who is interested in small- research results, pro-am collabora- Deadlines are: tions, science education, evaluation of telescope astronomical science is in- Abstract submission: March 16, 2012 vited to attend. The enthusiastic par- recent professional results on relevant ticipation by both amateur and profes- targets (e.g. small solar system bod- Final Papers due: April 13, 2012 sional astronomers in recent years ies, planets, variable stars), innova- bears witness to the important roles tions in astronomical instrumentation, Abstracts may be submitted in plain text or MS Word format. The format- that the Symposium plays: and special uses of astronomical data. ting requirements for final papers – • An opportunity for non-professional researchers to present their projects and results, and learn from other backyard scientists. • The privilege of receiving research advice from professional astrono- mers. • Continuing education on methods, results, and opportunities for pro-am collaboration in small-telescope as- tronomical research. • Venue for informal networking among the astronomical research community, both amateur and pro- fessional. This joint meeting of SAS and AAVSO promises to be a useful and memora- ble Symposium. The agenda will fea- ture two half-day Workshops, two days of technical papers, an AAVSO busi- ness meeting, evening banquet and keynote lecture. Registration for the symposium, the workshops, and the banquet will open Small telescopes at GMARS were used this fall to test the filters used on the DAWN on January 31, on the SAS website spacecraft mission, in anticipation of its arrival at Ceres in 2015. Duplicate Dawn (www.SocAstroSci.org). We expect the spacecraft filters were sent to principals of the Center for Solar System Studies (CS3) Symposium to be fully subscribed, so and used to obtain phase curves of Ceres. Images through the 7 narrow band filters of register early. We look forward to see- Dawn’s Framing Camera were needed so that the Dawn imaging team would know how ing you there! to sequence the exposures as the spacecraft approaches Ceres. Images were obtained through this 110 mm refractor and a 12-inch RCX to create seven H-G Phase curves of Ceres. © Bob Stephens Society for Astronomical Sciences Newsletter Vol 10 Number 1 including an MS Word template – are PhD from Case Western Reserve Uni- a half-day workshop on various ap- provided on the SAS website versity and has research interests in proaches (and potential pitfalls) in (www.SocAstroSci.org). All accepted spectroscopy, the evolution of massive automating your observing equipment papers will be published in the SAS and hot stars, and small telescopes. so that it robotically carries on obser- Proceedings, and indexed in the NASA His most recently published work has vations and data collection, while the ADS. used the Hubble Space Telescope and observer sleeps. Their lessons were Gemini South Telescope to observe useful for both “backyard” installations Poster papers are also welcomed. the massive star Eta Carinae. He is (such as Krajci’s) and remotely oper- The due-date for Poster abstracts is also the recipient of a National Science ated systems (such as Smith’s). the same as for presentation papers Foundation grant to study the variabil- (March 16). If you provide either a ity of massive stars and supernova Dr. Dirk Terrell presented a half-day one-page summary or a full paper of imposters in the local group of galax- class on eclipsing binary stars, cover- your Poster by the deadline for final ies. ing their characteristics and their main papers, then it will be included in the observational features. He then pre- Proceedings volume and indexed in sented an example of determining the NASA ADS. “Using the Photometry Analysis properties of an eclipsing system by Package VPHOT” workshop will be matching a theoretical lightcurve to presented by Dr. Aaron Price. observational data, using the PHOEBE SAS-2012 Photometry and code. Noting that many interesting VPHOT is AAVSO’s on-line photome- systems are within the range of back- Spectroscopy Workshops try analysis software, which is freely yard scientists, Dr. Terrell concluded available to all AAVSO members. It with a clear message: “You will be The SAS-2012 Symposium will feature has an intuitive interface on the sur- two half-day workshops, to help par- doing a service to science by taking face, yet behind the scenes it has a the data, making the lightcurve, doing ticipants learn new skills and become powerful photometry algorithm de- familiar with the tools and procedures the analysis, and publishing your re- signed by Dr. Arne Henden. It per- sults.” of astronomical Spectroscopy and forms aperture photometry, searches Photometry. The workshops will be for new variable stars across the full If you would like a copy of the re- held on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Dr. field, gives a wide variety of diagnostic cording of these workshops, contact Martin’s Spectroscopy workshop will plots, and writes standard output files Bob Buchheim at be held in the morning, and Dr. Price‘s ready for direct submission to the [email protected]. If you at- Photometry workshop will be held in AAVSO. It will work on your own im- tended the workshop (or paid the reg- the afternoon. Check the SAS website ages, or images taken through istration fee and for some reason did REGISTRATION page for details on how AAVSOnet, the AAVSO network of not attend), then the DVD price is $3. to register for these workshops. robotic telescopes. It can be used for If you were not a registered attendee, “Spectroscopy with Small Tele- any variable object, including minor then the DVD costs $53 (for each scopes” workshop will be presented planets. workshop). Make checks payable to “SAS”. by Dr. John C. Martin. This demonstration will walk the audi- The field of spectroscopy is a new ence through the most common uses of the software and will come with a frontier now available for amateur as- Probing the Winds of Wolf- tronomers to explore. In the right con- printed tutorial handout. VPhot is text, it is no more complex than the available for free to AAVSO members Rayet Stars: A Pro-Am long practiced methods of photometry. ($60/year) and was originally written by Geir Klingenberg. Campaign for Summer There are also a wide variety of pro- 2013 jects better suited for small telescopes Dr. Price is the Assistant Director of reported by Thomas Eversberg over large telescopes. In this work- the AAVSO. He has a BS in astronomy shop, Dr. Martin will be sharing his and a Ph.D. in STEM Education from We would welcome the participation of expertise with spectroscopy and small Tufts University. He is active in the SAS members in a planned joint ama- telescopes to give the participants a astronomy outreach community as a teur and professional spectro- basic working knowledge (independent U.S. committee member for the Inter- scopic+photometric campaign to ob- of any particular hardware or software national Year of Astronomy and crea- serve two important Wolf-Rayet stars setup) of how spectrographs work, tor of the Slacker Astronomy podcast. in the summer of 2013. The stars are how to optimize their efficiency on a WR 134 and WR 135, located in the small telescope, and how to reduce constellation Cygnus. and analyze the data that they pro- duce. He will also discus projects for Videos of Workshops from The purpose of this project is to under- those who have the equipment as well SAS-2011 are available stand the connection between the as databases of spectroscopic data stars’ hidden invisible surface and their that are publicly available for data min- The 2011 SAS Symposium featured strong radiatively driven winds. A four- ing. workshops on “Remote/Robotic Ob- month-long international campaign, servatories”, and “Eclipsing Binary providing nearly continuous observa- Dr. Martin is an Assistant Professor of Stars”. Video recordings of these tion “round the clock” will enable us to Astronomy-Physics at the University of workshops are now available. test for periodicities and stochastic Illinois Springfield where he is also the clumping in the winds. director of a community supported Tom Smith and Tom Krajci presented research observatory. He earned his 2 Society for Astronomical Sciences Newsletter Vol 9 Number 4 We plan to run the campaign from May We want to support astronomical AAS Division of Planetary Sciences 17 to September 17 of 2013. We in- ProAm enthusiasm as we did in drew data from ALCDEF. The titles vite amateurs and professionals to join 2008/2009 when a group of amateurs were “New physical models of aster- our team with their spectroscopic and and professionals investigated the WR oids derived from sparse and dense photometric instrumentation. + O binary WR 140 in a joint campaign photometry” (by J. Durech, et al) and at different ground and space based “Spin-vector distribution of asteroids – The target stars are relatively bright observatories. The project was highly the role of the YORP thermal effect“ (about 8 mag), high in the sky during successful and resulted in a number of (by J.
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  • Astronomy Magazine 2020 Index

    Astronomy Magazine 2020 Index

    Astronomy Magazine 2020 Index SUBJECT A AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers), Spectroscopic Database (AVSpec), 2:15 Abell 21 (Medusa Nebula), 2:56, 59 Abell 85 (galaxy), 4:11 Abell 2384 (galaxy cluster), 9:12 Abell 3574 (galaxy cluster), 6:73 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). See black holes Aerojet Rocketdyne, 9:7 airglow, 6:73 al-Amal spaceprobe, 11:9 Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) (star), binocular observation of, 1:62 Alnasl (Gamma Sagittarii) (optical double star), 8:68 Alpha Canum Venaticorum (Cor Caroli) (star), 4:66 Alpha Centauri A (star), 7:34–35 Alpha Centauri B (star), 7:34–35 Alpha Centauri (star system), 7:34 Alpha Orionis. See Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) Alpha Scorpii (Antares) (star), 7:68, 10:11 Alpha Tauri (Aldebaran) (star), binocular observation of, 1:62 amateur astronomy AAVSO Spectroscopic Database (AVSpec), 2:15 beginner’s guides, 3:66, 12:58 brown dwarfs discovered by citizen scientists, 12:13 discovery and observation of exoplanets, 6:54–57 mindful observation, 11:14 Planetary Society awards, 5:13 satellite tracking, 2:62 women in astronomy clubs, 8:66, 9:64 Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston (ATMoB), 8:66 American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), Spectroscopic Database (AVSpec), 2:15 Andromeda Galaxy (M31) binocular observations of, 12:60 consumption of dwarf galaxies, 2:11 images of, 3:72, 6:31 satellite galaxies, 11:62 Antares (Alpha Scorpii) (star), 7:68, 10:11 Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038 and NGC 4039), 3:28 Apollo missions commemorative postage stamps, 11:54–55 extravehicular activity