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Showing posts with label robotic telescopes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label robotic telescopes. Show all posts

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Don’t Underestimate Tiny Telescopes

In a period of ever-larger observatories, you may imagine that there's no longer a place for small-aperture ground-based telescopes. However, small ground-based telescopes have been in charge of the disclosure and portrayal of around 250 exoplanets so far — and these are the objectives that are particularly valuable for exoplanet science, as they are more effectively followed up than the swoon revelations made by telescopes like Kepler.

The KELT-North telescope in Arizona.  Courtesy Vanderbilt University
The KELT-North telescope in Arizona. 
Courtesy Vanderbilt University.

The Kilogree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) comprises two telescopes — one in Arizona and one in South Africa — that each has a 4.2-centimeter opening. Altogether, KELT watches around 70% of the whole sky hunting down planets traveling brilliant hosts. Furthermore, it's as of later discovered a significant intriguing one: KELT-16b. In a publication led by Thomas Oberst (Westminster College in Pennsylvania), a group of researchers introduces their find.

KELT-16b is what's known as a hot Jupiter. Utilizing the KELT information and follow-up perceptions of 19 travels, Oberst and colleagues assess KELT-16b's sweep at about 1.4 circumstances that of Jupiter and its mass at 2.75 circumstances Jupiter's. Its balance temperature is a burning 2453 K — brought about by the way that it circles so near its host star that it finishes each circle in an unimportant 0.97 days!

This brief period is amazingly irregular: there are just five other known traveling exoplanets with periods shorter than a day. KELT-16b is circling near its host, making it subject to extraordinary light and solid tidal powers.

In light of KELT-16b's circle, Oberst and colleagues gauge that the planet started a runaway inspiral by the age of 1 billion years. Presently, at ~3.1 billion years of age, KELT-16b is circling at a sweep of a little more than 3 stellar radii over its host's surface. The creators appraise that KELT-16b's proceeding with internal winding could end in the planet's annihilation by tidal powers in as meager as an additional 550,000 years.

Artist’s impression of a transiting hot-Jupiter planet. The recently  discovered KELT-16borbits so close to its host that it zips  around it in less than a day! - NASA/ESA/G. Bacon (STScI)
Artist’s impression of a transiting hot-Jupiter planet. The recently discovered KELT-16b orbits so close to its host that it zips around it in less than a day! 
NASA/ESA/G. Bacon (STScI)

This exceptionally lighted world makes for a particularly valuable focus because of its brief period (which implies we can watch many travels) and brilliant host (which implies follow-up perceptions are more advantageous and have a vast flag-to-clamor proportion). Specifically, with follow-up perceptions of KELT-16b from missions like Hubble, Spitzer, and in the end the James Webb Space Telescope, we can take in more about open inquiries in exoplanet air forms — like how warmth is exchanged vertically through the air, or what occurs at the day-to-night eliminator line on such a profoundly lighted planet.

What's more, by studying KELT-16b, we can want to increase our general knowledge of hot Jupiter arrangement and movement. The simplicity of watching this planet and the abundance of data it can give will probably make it one of the top considered exoplanets. KELT-16b has a ton to show us before it's torn and separated!

Article Source: Thomas E. Oberst et al 2017 AJ 153 97. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/153/3/97
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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Cobb Astro Park

On Saturday afternoon, January 30, 2016, The Cotuit Library hosted a talk entitled "The Sky Show" for the general public presented by Barnstable High School astronomy teacher, Michael Gyra and one of his students, Albert Brox III. The presentation started with Mr. Gyra showing a PowerPoint presentation displaying impressive pictures of occasional stargazing and observing sessions he and his astronomy students put on at Sandy Neck beach located in Sandwich, Massachusetts. Mike also displayed a series of astronomical slides and shared interesting facts about them. A few that stuck out were the distance of astronomical objects and the gravitational lensing. One of Mike's former students, Kevin Harrington is graduating from Umass with a double major in Astronomy and Neuroscience. Kevin was part of a team who identified 8 new sources (early galaxies) through gravitational lensing.

Cobb Astro Park - Photo by Mike Gyra
Cobb Astro Park - Photo by Mike Gyra.

What I found to be the most impressive part of the talk was what Mike and a team of others accomplished on the campus of Barnstable High School. The center courtyard at the High School was a forgotten space for many years, overgrown with weeds and basically ignored. Over the span of 11 years, since 2004, Mike and his team (as well as help from students) transformed the courtyard into the Cobb Astro Park. The park features gardens, murals, mosaics, marble sculptures, a labyrinth, and an observatory. The park has an unmistakably Greek Esque decor, with Doric columns all around its perimeter, an amphitheater, statues of Poseidon and The Winged Victory, an interactive sundial, and murals depicting the Parthenon and astronomical constellations.

Albert Brox III Controlling  the 14" Telescope in the David B. Cole Observatory - Photo by Mike Gyra
Albert Brox III Controlling  the 14" Telescope in the
David B. Cole Observatory - Photo by Mike Gyra.

Located at the center of the park is the David B. Cole Observatory, which features a retractable roof, a computer control room, and houses a Celestron 14" telescope equipped with a CCD camera system for imaging celestial objects. This brought us to the last part of the presentation. Mike's student, Albert, took over the lecture to display his collection of images of deep-sky objects he had taken through the observatory's telescope. Albert Brox III, a sophomore at the high school had imaged deep-sky objects M42 - The "Great Orion Nebula", M13 - The "Great Hercules Globular Cluster, and my personal favorite of his images, M1 - The "Crab Nebula" in the constellation of Taurus, a supernova remnant from a supernova first recorded by Chinese astronomers in AD 1054. Albert acquired and processed all of the images himself with astronomy imaging processing software such as MaximDL and Gimp. The amazing part of this story is that Albert has only been imaging for a little over half a year since the observatory became operational in July of 2015.

M1 - The "Crab Nebula" Imaged by Albert Brox III
M1 - The "Crab Nebula" Imaged by Albert Brox III.

I was fortunate to meet and speak with Mr. Gyra and Mr. Brox after the talk about their accomplishments and how inspiring they were and how nice it was to hear of a high school participating in great depth with astronomy education. Mike and I also discussed a plan about Insight Observatory and Barnstable High School collaborating on astronomy projects with his astronomy classes for the next school year.

A sincere thank you to Mr. Gyra and Mr. Brox for sharing their interests and passion for astronomy with the public. Also, a special thank you to the Cotuit Library for their continuing series of talks on the subject of astronomy.
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