http://www.calvin.edu/observatory Deborah Haarsma, Larry Molnar, David Van Baak (Calvin College) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Title: http://www.calvin.edu/observatory Deborah Haarsma, Larry Molnar, David Van Baak (Calvin College)


1
Calvin-Rehoboth Robotic Twin Telescopes
http//www.calvin.edu/observatoryDeborah
Haarsma, Larry Molnar, David Van Baak (Calvin
College)
Pedagogical Goals
  • While students are predisposed to find Keck or
    Hubble images awesome, they tend to
    compartmentalize them along with computer
    simulations, and treat them all as a high
    technology universe relevant to success on exams,
    but separate from the universe they inhabit. Our
    twin telescope strategy is intended to overcome
    this conceptual divide by taking students
    stepwise from the starting point of direct
    experience to an ending point of data sets for
    which they feel personal ownership, yet in which
    they see rich physical implications.
    Specifically, students
  • use a slide mirror to experience the
    relationship between direct viewing in the
    eyepiece and images made with a CCD camera
  • use scientific methods carefully plan
    observations (understand hour angle, etc.),
    overcome difficulties (clouds, poorly planned
    observations), calibrate data, and interpret
    scientific information in their photos
  • gain an integrated understanding of the sky (a
    single image may show a satellite, an asteroid, a
    star cluster and a galaxy cluster)
  • experience the joy of personal exploration
    (choosing their own targets for photography) and
    discovery (both planned and serendipitous)
  • Examples of student work are in the boxes below.

Upper level astronomy lab students do imaging
projects with 5 hours observing time per target,
including mosaicing of wide fields, high dynamic
range galaxy images, and detailed color images.
The students also study the response and noise
properties of the cameras. Their images are shown
at right, beside the poster title, and in the
background (The Pelican Nebula, by Andrew Vache).
Hardware
Telescope Optical Guidance Systems 16 inch Ritchey Chretien
Guidescope Takahashi 3 inch reflector
Camera SBIG ST-10XE
Guide camera SBIG ST-237
Filter wheel filters Optec two 5-slot wheels mounted in parallel
Focal reducer Optec 0.62x
Slide mirror VanSlyke Engineering VersaPort
Dome Ashdome 10.5 ft diameter, 45" aperture
Dome automation Meridian Controls
Weather station La Crosse Technologies WS2310
Heated computer cabinet Envirosafe Technologies
X10 switches Smarthome
Timeline
  • June 2000 NSF Grant submitted
  • June 2001 NSF Grant revised and submitted again
  • June 2002 Received NSF CCLI AI grant for
    130,000, and 170,000 from Calvin College for
    matching and infrastructure funds
  • March 2003 local telescope installed in existing
    dome
  • April 2003 remote foundation poured
  • May 2003 remote dome assembled by student work
    crew
  • November 2003 remote telescope installed
  • January 2004 a student crew makes remote system
    operational
  • Remote telescope used 45 nights per semester in
    2004

Software
Telescope control Comsoft PC-TCS
Camera control Cyanogen MaxIm DL
Coordination, web interface DC-3 Dreams Astronomers Control Panel
Drivers ASCOM
Planetarium interface Software Bisque TheSky
Remote computer interface VNC
Astrometry DC-3 Dreams PinPoint
Crab Nebula, Chris Beaumont
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