Research Activities and Projects in Space Physics Lab Prof. Dr. Mohd. Zambri Zainuddin Makmal Fizik Angkasa Jabatan Fizik

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Research Activities and Projects in Space
Physics LabProf. Dr. Mohd. Zambri
ZainuddinMakmal Fizik Angkasa Jabatan Fizik
Makmal Fizik Angkasa
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa

• Experiment and research fields
• Stellar Spectroscopy
• Astronomical Photometry
• Sky Brightness
• Seeing Measurement and Optical Quality
• Sunspot Monitoring
• Visibility of Moon Crescent
• Astronomical Adaptive Optics
• Robotic Telescope Mounting

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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Stellar Spectroscopy
What is spectroscopy?

• Spectroscopy pertains to the dispersion of an
  object's light into its component colors (i.e.
  energies).
• By performing this dissection and analysis of an
  object's light, astronomers can infer the
  physical properties of that object (such as
  temperature, mass, luminosity and composition).

Spectrograph and CCD camera

• Equipment
• Spectrograph
• Telescope
• CCD Camera
• Calibration Source

Telescope
Calibration source
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Stellar Spectroscopy
Data Acquisition Technique
Capturing the image
Calibrating the spectra
The detector and spectrograph is attached to the
telescope during the spectroscopic observation.
Processing the spectra
Lines identification and measurements such as EW,
temperature and radial velocity.
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Astronomical Photometry
Definition
The measurement of the brightness of the light
source or other radiation within particular
wavelength bands and of how this brightness
varies with waveband and time.
STV

• Experiments conducted in this fields
• Sky brightness
• Seeing measurement and optical quality

Filter wheel

• Equipment
• Telescope
• CCD Camera
• STV
• Filter Wheel
• Light meter

CCD and filter wheel were used in the photometric
observation.
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Astronomical Photometry
Sky Brightness
Observation technique to measure the brightness
of the sky near the horizon.
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Astronomical Photometry
Seeing Measurement and Optical Quality

• Astronomical seeingis a measure of how close
  of a double star can be resolved on that night.
  It is usually expressed in arcseconds.
• Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM)
  technique is employed in measuring the seeing
  level where a two hole mask is placing over the
  telescope aperture. This will put the optics
  slightly out of focus to create two close but
  distinct star images, and the motion of one image
  relative to the other is then measured.

The configuration of two hole mask in DIMM method
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Astronomical Photometry
The 3 dimensional stellar profile graph is
displayed on the monitor screen of STV and seeing
value is calculated during the observation.
SEEING (DIMM) Exp96ms Sep 1.33s
FWHM3.2s
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Astronomical Photometry
Optical Quality Measurement

• Measures the optical image quality independent
  of seeing and drive problems.
• Observation technique by taking many very
  short exposures and reporting the best stellar
  widths it measures. The assumption is that drive
  errors are insignificant over short exposure
  times.

A 3D graph of the star profile is displayed in
real time during the observation.
The optical quality is measured from the ratio of
the peak brightness in an image to the total
number of counts in the stellar spot.
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Sunspot Monitoring
20 July 2000 Time 1159 am RSN 342
21 July 2000 Time 1205 pm RSN 401
Sunspot monitoring device
11 August 2000 Time 1046 am RSN 176
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Visibility of moon crescent
Observation Technique
Moon Calculator softwareprogram for moon data
which very useful to know information about the
moon such as the position of the moon and sun .
Jamadilakhir 1421
Photos of moon crescent taken using SLR camera at
f/6.3
The 4-inch refractor mounted on the 12-inch
telescope Meade is ready for taking the photos of
moon crescent using the SLR camera whenever it
can be seen.
Rejab 1422
Syaaban 1421
Observation form
Rabiulawal 1423
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Laporan Kenampakan Hilal 2003
  Data Kenampakan Hilal 2003 (Muharam-Syabaan)  
Tempat Baitul Hilal, Teluk Kemang, Negeri
Sembilan. Longitud 1010 51 Timur Latitud 20
27 Utara
Tekanan 1005Pa
Peralatan yang digunakan Teleskop Meade LX200
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Visibility of moon crescent
Data of moon crescent for 2000/2001.
 
 
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Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Astronomical Adaptive Optics

• Adaptive optics is a means for real time
  compensation of the image degradation caused by
  turbulence in the Earths atmosphere.
• Inhomogeneities in the air refractive index
  produces by the turbulence can affect the image
  quality of ground-based telescopes.

• Main components
• Deformable mirror- correcting the instantaneous
  wave-front distortions.
• Wave-front sensor- measuring the scattered laser
  light to correct the wave-front aberrations on
  the target object.
• Real time computer

Schematic layout of LGS system for an
astronomical telescope
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Astronomical Adaptive Optics
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Robotic Telescope Mounting
Paramount ME, robotic telescope mounting just
arrived at our lab.
This 10 minutes unguided image of Horsehead
nebulae was taken with C14 and SBIG ST9E at f/7 .
Some of the features offered in this type of
mounting.
C14
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gkasa
Makmal Fizik Angkasa
Thank you