SAS-2015 the Symposium on Telescope Science
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Proceedings for the 34th Annual Conference of the Society for Astronomical Sciences SAS-2015 The Symposium on Telescope Science Editors: Robert K. Buchheim Jerry L. Foote Dale Mais June 11-13, 2015 Ontario, CA i Disclaimer The acceptance of a paper for the SAS Proceedings does not imply nor should it be inferred as an endorsement by the Society for Astronomical Sciences of any product, service, method, or results mentioned in the paper. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and may not reflect those of the Society for Astronomical Sciences, its members, or symposium sponsors Published by the Society for Astronomical Sciences, Inc. Rancho Cucamonga, CA First printing: May 2015 Photo Credits: Front Cover: NGC 2024 (Flame Nebula) and B33 (Horsehead Nebula) Alson Wong, Center for Solar System Studies Back Cover: Center for Solar System Studies (CS3) site, Landers, CA Robert D. Setphens, Center for Solar System Studies ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE v SYMPOSIUM SPONSORS vi SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE vii PRESENTATION PAPERS ON THE SPIN AXIS DISTRIBUTION OF THE HUNGARIA ASTEROIDS 1 BRIAN D. WARNER THE UTILITY OF OUTER PLANET SPECTROSCOPY 11 STEVE HILL SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATION OF THE 2014 OCTOBER 8 TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE 21 RICHARD BERRY MATHEMATICAL FIT TO THE HEXAGON ON THE NORTH POLE OF SATURN 27 TOM BUCHANAN AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNICATION WITH A DEEP SPACE PROBE 35 BRIAN CUDNIK LIGHT EMITTING DIODES AND ASTRONOMICAL ENVIRONMENTS: RESULTS FROM IN 39 SITU ERIC CRAINE PHOTOMETRIC STANDARDS FOR NON-STANDARD FILTERS 47 JOHN HOOT CITIZEN CONTINENTAL-AMERICA TELESCOPIC ECLIPSE EXPERIMENT 63 MATT PENN TRIPLE PHOTOMETER: DESIGN AND INITIAL RESULTS 69 RICHARD STANTON AMATEUR OPTICAL SETI WITH A THREE BEAM COINCIDENT PHOTOMETER 79 BRUCE HOWARD VV CEPHEI ECLIPSE CAMPAIGN 2017/18 83 JEFF HOPKINS APPLE VALLEY DOUBLE STAR WORKSHOP 91 MARK BREWER SPECKLE INTERFEROMETRY WITH AMATEUR CLASS EQUIPMENT 97 RICHARD HARSHAW iii CONCERNING THE VIDEO DRIFT METHOD TO MEASURE DOUBLE STARS 109 RICHARD NUGENT MEASURING DOUBLE STARS WITH THE MODIFIED VIDEO DRIFT METHOD 117 ERNEST IVERSON OBSERVATION OF LARGE-DELTA-MAGNITUDE CLOSE BINARIES WITH SHAPED 125 APERTURE MASKS EDWARD L. FOLEY EVOLUTION OF AN ASTRONOMY RESEARCH SEMINAR 139 JO JOHNSON CHARACTERIZING SKY BRIGHTNESS VARIATIONS: FORT COLLINS, CO AND TUCSON, 149 AZ ROGER B. CULVER CITIZEN ASTRONOMERS...YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW 155 RON DILULIO THE ASTRO-1 SPACE TELESCOPE 161 JON MORSE ORION PROJECT STATUS REPORT 165 ALBERT STIEWING THE LARI EXPERIENCE - YOUNG STELLAR LIGHT CURVES 173 MICHAEL J. COOK A TECHNIQUE OF USING HIGH-RESOLUTION RADIAL VELOCITIES TO QUALIFY 191 SHORT-ARC BINARY STAR PAIR CANDIDATES WAYNE GREEN POSTER PAPERS HOW TO MEASURE THE MINIMA OF ECLIPSING BINARIES AND THE MAXIMA OF 199 RRLYRAE LAURENT CORP EXOPLANET PHOTOMETRY OF TRES-5B USING A DSLR CAMERA 203 MIKE MILLER iv PREFACE Welcome to the 34th annual Symposium of the Society for Astronomical Sciences! This year’s agenda reflects the broad diversity of interests among SAS participants, with papers covering photometry, spectroscopy, interferometry and astrometry; instruments ranging from eyeballs to CCDs and spectrographs to radios; and projects ranging from education to citizen-science to a variety of astronomical research targets. This year we also honor the memory of Lee Snyder, the long-time President of SAS, who died in March 2015. Lee was full of years, he was enjoyed and respected by many friends and collaborators, and he left a legacy that will live on. We will miss his enthusiasm, curiosity, and his predilection for corny jokes. Farewell, Lee – it was very good to have known you. It takes many people to have a successful conference, starting with the Program Committee. This year the regular committee members are: Robert Gill Robert D. Stephens Cindy Foote Jerry Foote Robert Buchheim Dale Mais Wayne Green We thank the staff and management of the Ontario Airport Hotel for their efforts to accommodate the Society and our activities. Membership dues and Registration fees do not fully cover the costs of the Society and the annual Symposium. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our corporate sponsors: Sky and Telescope, Woodland Hills Camera and Telescopes, PlaneWave Instruments, Santa Barbara Instruments Group/Cyanogen, and DC-3 Dreams. Thank you! Finally, there would be no Symposium without the speakers and poster presenters, the attentive audience, and the community of researchers and educators who apply their small telescopes to research activities. We thank all of you for making the SAS Symposium one of the premiere events for professional-amateur collaboration in astronomy. Robert K. Buchheim Jerry L. Foote Dale Mais 2015 May v Symposium Sponsors The Society for Astronomical Sciences thanks the following companies for their participation and financial support. Without them, this conference would not by possible. Sky & Telescope Magazine The Essential Magazine of Astronomy http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ DC3 Dreams Software Developers of ACP Observatory Control Software http://www.dc3.com/ PlaneWave Instruments Makers of the CDK line of telescopes http://www.planewaveinstruments.com/ Woodland Hills Camera & Telescopes Providing the best prices in astronomical products for more than 50 years http://www.telescopes.net/ SBIG Astronomical Instruments – Diffraction Limited Pioneers in the field of astronomical CCD imaging hardware and software http://www.sbig.com/ vi Symposium Schedule Time Subject Presenter/Author Thursday June 11: Workshops 0800 - 0900 Registration 0830 - 1200 Small-Telescope Spectroscopy Dr. John Bally lunch break 1330 - 1630 Speckle Interferometry Dr. Russ Genet & Dave Rowe Friday June 12: Technical Papers 8:00 Registration 8:30 Welcome Bob Buchheim 9:00 On The Spin Axis Distribution of the Hungaria Brian Warner Asteroids 9:20 The Utility of Outer Planet Spectroscopy Steve Hill 9:40 Transmission Spectra of Earth's Atmosphere Richard Berry 10:00 Mathematical Fit to the Hexagon on the North Tom Buchanan Pole of Saturn 10:20 –10:40 Coffee Break 10:40 Amateur Radio Communication with a Deep Brian Cudnik Space Probe 11:00 Light Emitting Diodes and Astronomical Eric Craine Environments: Results from in situ 11:20 Photometric Standards For Non-Standard Filters John Hoot 11:40 Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse Matt Penn Experiment noon – 14:00 Lunch Break 12:30 lunch Discussion group #1 (Main hall) the “Spectro-gang” 14:00 Triple Photometer -- Initial Results Richard Stanton 14:20 Amateur Optical SETI with a Three Beam Bruce Howard Coincident Photometer 14:40 VV Cephei Eclipse Campaign 2017/18 Jeff Hopkins 15:00 Sponsor Infomercials Dinner break 1900 “Evening with the Pros” Saturday June 13: Technical Papers (Astrometry & Campaigns) 8:15 Welcome Bob Buchheim 8:30 Apple Valley Double Star Workshop Mark Brewer 9:00 A high-resolution radial velocity study of short-arc Wayne Green binary star candidates 9:20 Student Work in Speckle Interferometry on Richard Harshaw Amateur Class Telescopes 9:40 Concerning the Video Drift Method to Measure Richard Nugent Double Stars 10:00 Measuring Double Stars with the Modified Video Ernest Iverson Drift Method 10:20 –10:40 Coffee Break 10:40 Evaluation of Shaped Aperture Masks Edward L. Foley 11:00 Evolution of an Astronomy Research Seminar Jo Johnson 11:20 Trends in Sky Brightness Variations: Fort Collins, Roger B. Culver CO and Tucson, AZ vii 11:40 Group Photo noon – 14:00 Lunch Break 12:30 lunch Discussion group #2 (Breakout Room) “wish list” for a commercial spectrograph 12:30 lunch discussion group #3 (Main Hall) the “photometry gang” 14:00 Citizen Science Ron DiIulio 14:20 The ASTRO-1 Space Telescope Jon Morse 14:40 Orion Project Status Report Albert Stiewing 15:00 The LARI Experience - Young Stellar Light Curves Michael J. Cook 15:20 Good Night and Good Luck 17:30 Banquet 19:00 Banquet Speaker Dr. John Bally viii Presentation Papers ix x Spin Axis Distribution of the Hungaria Asteroids via Lightcurve Inversion Brian D. Warner Center for Solar System Studies – Palmer Divide Station / MoreData! 446 Sycamore Ave. Eaton, CO 80615 [email protected] Robert D. Stephens (MoreData!), Daniel Coley Center for Solar System Studies Landers, CA Abstract In the past decade or so, the influence on small asteroids of the YORP (Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii- Paddack) effect, which is the asymmetric thermal emission of received sunlight, has been firmly established. The two strongest pieces of evidence are the nearly flat distribution of rotation rates of small asteroids and the distribution of spin axes (poles). YORP theory says that the spin axes, barring outside influences, are eventually forced to low obliquities, i.e., the poles are located near the north or south ecliptic poles. This would seem natural for objects with low orbital inclinations. However, for objects with high orbital inclinations, such as the Hungarias, there are some questions if this would still be the case. The authors and other observers have accumulated dense lightcurves of the Hungaria asteroids for more than a decade. The combination of these dense lightcurves and sparse data from asteroid search surveys has allowed using lightcurve inversion techniques to determine the spin axes for almost 75 Hungaria asteroids. The results confirm earlier works that show an anisotropic distribution of spin axes that favors the ecliptic poles and, as predicted for the Hungarias, a preponderance of retrograde rotators. 1. Introduction In addition to their role in the formation of the Solar System, the Hungarias have played a more In general, the Hungaria asteroids are a recent, critical role in a play whose plot timeline dynamical group within the commonly-defined inner extends from the early days of the Solar System to boundary of the main belt asteroids at 2 A.U, having millennia yet to come. orbital elements of 2. Shedding Some Light Semi-major axis: 1.78 < a < 2.0 AU Eccentricity: e < 0.18 The Hungaria have several characteristics that Inclination: 16 < i < 34° made them ideal for study, especially when using modest telescopes on the order of 0.2-0.5 m diameter.