A new telescope will be installed and equipped with advanced instrumentation for automated photometry and spectroscopy. Information on the time variability of astronomical objects is often critical to understanding the nature and evolution of stars and galaxies. This new telescope will provide a way to acquire data on a variety of time scales in an efficient manner that does not require the astronomer's presence at the telescope. This is a new capability for stellar spectroscopy whose feasibility has only recently been demonstrated. The objects to be studied include cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Members of the CV class include dwarf novae and novae. This new telescope will provide a long-term photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of several kinds of CVs. Such observations bear critically on poorly-understood evolutionary relations between the numerous CV types. The optical variability of AGNs and other kinds of high energy source will also be monitored with the new telescope. These observations will be correlated with measures at other wavelengths and with particle detector experiments. The methods to be employed in this work are charge-coupled-device (CCD) photometry and CCD echelle spectroscopy. The instrumentation will be carefully matched to the telescope and to the detectors to provide optimized sensitivity. The completed telescope will also be used extensively for student training in astronomical research, in astronomical techniques, and in low-light-level instrumentation.
A charge-coupled-device (CCD) mosaic will be constructed for use on the new WIYN telescope. This array of four custom 2048x2048 pixel CCDs will be the primary imaging detector for the WIYN Observatory. The construction of the detector/controller/software system will be shared between the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) and Indiana University. The mosaic will cover an area 96 arc minutes on a side with only 28 arc seconds separating the four CCDs. A versatile filter/shutter assembly will be constructed equipped with three interchangeable filter wheels. The controller will have a wide range of operating modes which, coupled with a broad filter complement, will accommodate a large variety of scientific programs. Special hardware and software will be used to enhance the capabilities of the system for time-resolved stellar photometry.
Electronic imaging sensors called charge-coupled-devices (CCDs) will be used to replace the photographic techniques and the single- channel electronic devices currently used in an undergraduate course of Observational Techniques in Astronomy. This change will accomplish three important educational goals: 1) it will afford the students a more realistic data collection experience, using the kinds of detectors commonly employed in modern optical astronomy, 2) it will extend the useful life of our on-campus telescope by combating the effects of the increased brightness of the night sky, and 3) it will allow students to explore the analytical techniques of image analysis which find widespread use not only in all parts of astronomy but in most other sciences as well. Two scientific-grade CCD imaging camera systems and the accompanying data acquisition and reduction computers will be purchased. The cameras will be used on two teaching telescopes on campus; a solar telescope and a 12-inch refracting night-time telescope. On the solar telescope, students will acquire time- lapse images of prominences and of active regions on the sun through a narrow-band hydrogen filter. On the night-time telescope, students will acquire images of star clusters and of variable stars to gain experience in the techniques of broad-band stellar photometry.
The transfer of material from one star to another in close ''interacting binary'' star systems appears to proceed at a highly uneven pace. The evolution of these systems depends sensitively on the average mass transfer rate. Therefore a clarification of the nature of these modulations is important to an understandingof both the origin and fate of these systems. The Principal Investigator (PI) has received NSF support in the past to modernize and automate the 16-inch telescope at Indiana University to conduct measures of star brightnesses (photometry) more accuratelyand efficiently than in the past. The PI now plans to use this equipment as well as a 40-inch telescope at US Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona to conduct coordinated observations every available clear night for three years of a sample of stars from three classes of interacting binaries: cataclysmic binaries, dwarf novae, and ''Algol'' binaries. The processes to be studied occur over timescales of days to years. The research includes tests of the ''hibernation theory'' of nova evolution, the determination of the relationship of the ''supermaxima'' to other features in the light curves of dwarf novae, and the search for activity cycles in Algol systems.
95-28169 Honeycutt, R Kent Dr Honeycutt's objective is to understand some of the known and newly-discovered changes that occur in cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) on time scales of weeks to years. CVs emit most of their light from an accretion disk surrounding the white dwarf. Accretion disks occur in a wide range of astronomical situations, including proto-planetary systems, quasars, and stellar black hole candidates as well as x-ray sources containing neutron stars. The unusual long-term changes in the brightness and in the spectrum of CVs are likely to be due to accretion disk instabilities and/or the accretion process itself. Other changes may be due to stellar activity cycles on the mass-losing component of the binary system, analogous to the solar sunspot cycle.
Observational stellar astronomy, accretion disks, cataclysmic variable stars, design and construction of astronomical instrumentation and telescopes.
A new telescope will be installed and equipped with advanced instrumentation for automated photometry and spectroscopy. Information on the time variability of astronomical objects is often critical to understanding the nature and evolution of stars and galaxies. This new telescope will provide a way to acquire data on a variety of time scales in an efficient manner that does not require the astronomer's presence at the telescope. This is a new capability for stellar spectroscopy whose feasibility has only recently been demonstrated. The objects to be studied include cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Members of the CV class include dwarf novae and novae. This new telescope will provide a long-term photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of several kinds of CVs. Such observations bear critically on poorly-understood evolutionary relations between the numerous CV types. The optical variability of AGNs and other kinds of high energy source will also be monitored with the new telescope. These observations will be correlated with measures at other wavelengths and with particle detector experiments. The methods to be employed in this work are charge-coupled-device (CCD) photometry and CCD echelle spectroscopy. The instrumentation will be carefully matched to the telescope and to the detectors to provide optimized sensitivity. The completed telescope will also be used extensively for student training in astronomical research, in astronomical techniques, and in low-light-level instrumentation.
A charge-coupled-device (CCD) mosaic will be constructed for use on the new WIYN telescope. This array of four custom 2048x2048 pixel CCDs will be the primary imaging detector for the WIYN Observatory. The construction of the detector/controller/software system will be shared between the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) and Indiana University. The mosaic will cover an area 96 arc minutes on a side with only 28 arc seconds separating the four CCDs. A versatile filter/shutter assembly will be constructed equipped with three interchangeable filter wheels. The controller will have a wide range of operating modes which, coupled with a broad filter complement, will accommodate a large variety of scientific programs. Special hardware and software will be used to enhance the capabilities of the system for time-resolved stellar photometry.
Electronic imaging sensors called charge-coupled-devices (CCDs) will be used to replace the photographic techniques and the single- channel electronic devices currently used in an undergraduate course of Observational Techniques in Astronomy. This change will accomplish three important educational goals: 1) it will afford the students a more realistic data collection experience, using the kinds of detectors commonly employed in modern optical astronomy, 2) it will extend the useful life of our on-campus telescope by combating the effects of the increased brightness of the night sky, and 3) it will allow students to explore the analytical techniques of image analysis which find widespread use not only in all parts of astronomy but in most other sciences as well. Two scientific-grade CCD imaging camera systems and the accompanying data acquisition and reduction computers will be purchased. The cameras will be used on two teaching telescopes on campus; a solar telescope and a 12-inch refracting night-time telescope. On the solar telescope, students will acquire time- lapse images of prominences and of active regions on the sun through a narrow-band hydrogen filter. On the night-time telescope, students will acquire images of star clusters and of variable stars to gain experience in the techniques of broad-band stellar photometry.
The transfer of material from one star to another in close ''interacting binary'' star systems appears to proceed at a highly uneven pace. The evolution of these systems depends sensitively on the average mass transfer rate. Therefore a clarification of the nature of these modulations is important to an understandingof both the origin and fate of these systems. The Principal Investigator (PI) has received NSF support in the past to modernize and automate the 16-inch telescope at Indiana University to conduct measures of star brightnesses (photometry) more accuratelyand efficiently than in the past. The PI now plans to use this equipment as well as a 40-inch telescope at US Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona to conduct coordinated observations every available clear night for three years of a sample of stars from three classes of interacting binaries: cataclysmic binaries, dwarf novae, and ''Algol'' binaries. The processes to be studied occur over timescales of days to years. The research includes tests of the ''hibernation theory'' of nova evolution, the determination of the relationship of the ''supermaxima'' to other features in the light curves of dwarf novae, and the search for activity cycles in Algol systems.
95-28169 Honeycutt, R Kent Dr Honeycutt's objective is to understand some of the known and newly-discovered changes that occur in cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) on time scales of weeks to years. CVs emit most of their light from an accretion disk surrounding the white dwarf. Accretion disks occur in a wide range of astronomical situations, including proto-planetary systems, quasars, and stellar black hole candidates as well as x-ray sources containing neutron stars. The unusual long-term changes in the brightness and in the spectrum of CVs are likely to be due to accretion disk instabilities and/or the accretion process itself. Other changes may be due to stellar activity cycles on the mass-losing component of the binary system, analogous to the solar sunspot cycle.
Astronomy, Automation, Galaxies, Stellar Systems, Image Processing, Instrumentation, Scientific, Instrumentation, Techniques (Physical Sciences)
