David Higgins

1
The A Lazy Astronomer

• David Higgins

2
Some Caveats

• Im not an amateur scientist.
• Dont ask me too many questions about the
  science.
• Im an amateur observer.
• Ask me all the questions you want on how to
  observe.
• So why do I do it or Whats in it for me?
• What benefits mankind benefits me.
• The challenge
• Recognition

3
In the beginning (2000)

• There was this enormous telescope in the
  Australian Geographic Shop

4
The Fad!

• Have telescope will look at interesting objects
  in the sky!
• However.
• Interesting things were hard to find
• Cant see much with a small scope
• Is this all there is? Is there nothing more?

5
Its Got to be easier

• More cash and a goto Scope.

6
The Fad continues!

• Have telescope will look at interesting objects
  in the sky!
• Interesting things were easy to find
• Can see much more with a nice big scope
• Public Nights (the robotic scopes tended to be
  the centre of attention)
• However.
• One Galaxy or nebula looks like the next just
  grey smudges. Clusters, well they were just a
  bunch of stars.
• Is this all there is? Is there nothing more?

7
Something Practical

• I felt the need to do something useful this is
  a science after all!

• Occultation's (Lunar, Graze and Asteroidal)
• Not as easy as it looks
• My data had to be accurate
• Its real science

Im hooked
8
An Opportunity Knocks

• Service Observer positions on offer at Mt Stromlo
  Observatory
• MicroFun (MicroLensing events in the Galactic
  Bulge)
• Training offered
• Observing Techniques
• Setup and Use of the 74 Cassegrain
• Setup and use of Large Format CCD
• Auto-guiding (ST-5)
• Image Capture and analysis (including manual
  check for pointing pattern matching against the
  finder image provided.

And we even got paid..
9
Occulations are no longer enough

• After Stromlo..
• There's more science out there within the reach
  of the average amateur
• The obvious areas..
• Pretty Pictures (Science?)
• Variable Stars (everyone's doing it)
• Exotic areas such as Gamma Ray Bursts
• Supernovae hunting

10
Tried Pretty Pictures
Hubble can do better why compete?
11
Variable Stars and special events

• AAVSO Variables
• Everyone's doing it but there are many targets
  that no-one are monitoring!
• AAVSO bulletin 70 targets in need of
  observation (mostly southern stars)
• Special Events
• Gamma Ray Bursts like GRB030329 (but they dont
  come around that often.)

12
More Science Options

• Minor Planet Astrometry
• Chance at discovering something!
• Where were amateurs really needed in the Minor
  Planet world?
• New target follow-up
• NEOs
• Comets
• Good chance of making ones own discoveries
• Photometry (that nasty word in the amateur world)
• Give it a whirl but there arent too many people
  to assist

13
Minor Planets - The hunt is on

• A Survey out of the question
• FOV was way to small
• New object confirmation and NEO follow-up was
  rewarding
• Get published in lots of MPECs and a few IAUCs
• Confirmation of new comets (many of them beyond
  the reach of most amateurs).
• Many amateur setups are far more powerful than
  most are willing to admit.
• How do I join the club?

14
The MPC club

• Joining the club is relatively easy but can be a
  time consuming process
• Prove you can make appropriate observations
• Take a series of observations of a couple of NON
  bright numbered planets over a number of nights
  and submit your astrometry
• If its accurate youll get an Observatory Id.
  If its not, fix the problem and keep trying.
• The MPC staff are the judges not you.
• E14 (Hunters Hill Observatory) was assigned in
  November 2002
• In 2003 and 2004 more than 1,000 Astrometric
  observations of NEOs were reported to the MPC
  with an average accuracy of /- 0.05 with
  residuals averaging 0.5 in RA and Dec.

15
The basic setup and procedure

• A GOTO tracking Telescope (though there are
  amateur drift setups that have proven to be very
  successful and productive)
• Fast download, medium size CCD mounted at no more
  than 3/pixel resolution (ideally between 1-2)
• Method
• Proper planning
• Where and when is it visible
• What is your observing strategy, ie 3 x 15 x 30
  second integrations or 3 x 90 x 6 second
  integrations (how faint and how fast?)
• Track and stack the first set. Is the target
  visible? Stay on it or move to the next target.
• Measure and report

16
Are amateurs needed in this field anymore?

• Yes and no..
• Very few professional telescopes look inside the
  Solar System.
• The weather at the sites that do look for Solar
  System bodies is not always suitable (cloud, wind
  etc).
• Professional Scopes
• Sometimes breakdown or go in for maintenance.
• Restrict themselves to certain parts of the sky
  (ie not close to the sun).

17
Discovery

• My very first discovery
• 2004 HJ48
• Discovery breeds more
• 2004 JY6
• Other discovery avenues Spacewatch FMO
• 2005 UL1

Do I own real estate now?
18
A shift in my priority

• Minor Planet Astrometry was a lot of hit and
  miss work.
• Astrometry wasnt terribly challenging anymore.
• There are a lot of observers (around 100 active
  Pro/Am Observatories returning data at any given
  time)
• Needed to find an area that needed more observers

Minor Planet Photometry (oooooh theres that
nasty word again)
19
Minor Planet Photometry

• Started in 2002
• Have completed a lot of Minor Planets (at least
  first pass) and 10s of thousands left to do.
• Collaborations with other Amateurs and
  professionals, local and abroad.
• No discoveries as such but we did resolve a lot
  of rotation periods.

20
Lightcurves
21
Software

• It is a hey-day for user friendly software
  development (have you ever tried to install
  IRAF?), new advancements in observational
  techniques, automated data reduction and
  analysis.
• Remote control and automation
• ACP4, MPO Connections, AstroPlanner, The Sky,
  MaxIm DL/CCD
• Observation Planning
• AstroPlanner, ACP Planner/Scheduler
• Image calibration
• MaxIm DL, AIP4WIN, MPO Canopus
• Data extraction
• Astrometrica, MPO Canopus and Photored, AIP4WIN,
  MaxIm DL
• Data analysis
• MPO Canopus (including Minor Planet H-G and Shape
  modelling), Binary Maker 3
• Making measurements less painful (particularly
  photometry)

22
The remote observatory (2002)

• Benefits
• Sit in the warm, dry comfort.
• No bugs or moths.
• Do more than just sit on the telescope.
• Spend more time with the Spouse.
• Problems
• Set up and demount each night.

23
Getting Serious (2003)

• I needed
• A permanent setup.
• To gather more light
• Bigger telescope.
• Bigger camera.
• Introduce Automation (software was already
  available)
• More targets.
• More and better utilisation of Observing time.
• No all nighters (for me that is).

24
The Observatory (2003)

• Basic Garden shed with modified roof mount to
  allow it to roll on and off.
• Fits in any backyard no matter how small
• Dont be deceived by this 90 panorama shot.
  Garden is 5m x 13m
• I now have a permanent setup for the scope

25
The along came a Grant

• I needed
• a larger camera with fixed cooling to improve my
  photometry
• a camera supported by the automation software
• money to buy said camera
• By accident I stumbled onto the Gene Shoemaker
  NEO grant through The Planetary Society.
• I applied in 2004/2005 (Amateurs can apply for
  grants just like the ones the Pros apply for)
• Did I have what they were looking for?

26
Applying for a Grant

• What is involved?
• Read the grant conditions very carefully. They
  will have criteria and you will need to meet them
  all.
• Know what you want, why, what results you expect
  to achieve with the grant and how that will meet
  the grants conditions.
• Write a proposal and justify why you should be
  entitled to a grant ie why you and not someone
  else.
• It is a competitive process. You are competing
  for this money from both Professional and amateur
  sources.
• The Risk
• Understand that paying grant money to an amateur
  is a risk ie will it actually be used for what it
  was intended? Why then should they entrust money
  to you?
• The Reward
• I won the grant got the camera.

27
More about grants

• What did I have to offer?
• I had 2 years solid experience in the field the
  grant was aimed at and data to back me up.
• I had a semi automated setup i.e. I wasnt
  constrained by observing time
• Observatory had a published track record (number
  of hours open, type of work, quality of work)
• I met all the criteria
• I was already known to most of those on the
  allocation panel
• I had to compete against 24 other proposals only
  8 got up including mine.

28
Grant money New opportunities

• The Observatory could now be fully automated.
• More targets
• More observing time
• New observing work to fill the holes when MP
  Photometry was not suitable.
• Large volume Variable Observations
• Periodic SN survey of southern galaxies
• ExtraSolar planet hunt via Gravitational
  Microlensing

29
The Automated Observatory

• Start with an Observing Script
• Auto Point, Platesolve and correct pointing (ie
  centre object)
• Find a guide star then start autoguiding
• Select filter
• Autofocus as required
• Start imaging
• Download image, solve, update pointing
• Move to next target or next iteration of current
  target

30
Binary Asteroid Photometric Survey

• The search for Asynchronous Binary Asteroids (and
  the occasional Synchronous one)
• Discoveries galore (6 binaries to date)
• Lots of publications -Icarus, CBET, Minor Planet
  Bulletin

31
Variable Stars and Sn Search

• 50-60 Variable stars imaged a night (bracketed
  exposures 15, 60, 240 seconds)
• Serendipitous discovery of 3 eclipsing binaries
  in MP Photometry images and 1 yet to be
  identified Variable.
• Working on an automated photometric reduction
  process.
• 80-100 Galaxies imaged a night (120 second
  exposures)
• Simple blink processing to find any SN

32
MicroFun (Ohio-State University)

• Gravitational Microlensing(the search for extra
  solar planets)
• Imaging the galactic bulge
• Crowded field photometry. In this case the Pros
  want your calibrated images to measure
  themselves.
• Average target at Imag 16. Long exposures
  required
• Imaging at f/10 on a 3.5m focal length scope is
  problematic without good tracking (0.5
  resolution per pixel)

33
Occultation moves up a gear

• Occultation goes Video with GPS Time Insertion
• Precision to 0.04s and no personal error

34
Rewards

• Minor Planet named in my honour for completing
  more than a 1000 NEO astrometric observations -
  (32750) DaveHiggins
• Discoveries
• 2 Main Belt Asteroids,
• 1 NEO,
• 5 Variable Stars (4 EW Binaries and 1 suspect
  multi mode RR Lyrae)
• 6 Binary Asteroids (though I have been on the
  CBET for many more)
• Directly Assisted Professionals (and appear in
  their papers)
• BinAstPhotSurvey
• Arecibo Radar Observation Support
• Shape modelling and YORP studies
• CARA Comet Observations
• MicroFun
• AAVSO
• Grants!

35
Where to from here?

• Encouraging Amateur participation in Science
• Swinburne Astronomy Online Course
• Spectroscopy?
• Cheap wide field survey with a digital SLR
  (cant let Terry Lovejoy get all the southern
  comets)
• Another telescope, more cameras, more coverage,
  more data.
• I want one of these ..

36
Dreams

• A Meade 20 RCX on MaxMount being beta tested by
  Jason Ware in the US.
• This is what grants are for but at approx 50,000
  AU it might be a stretch for an amateur to
  expect! (Im still trying to convince my wife.
  Trust me - I can make it fit in my current
  observatory)