Extending Marias Legacy

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Extending Marias Legacy

• November 2/3, 2007
• Gary Walker
• Vladimir Strelnitski

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Who was Maria Mitchell?

• Born in Nantucket in 1818
• Daughter of Quaker Family
• Father (and quakers) believed in girls Education
• Taught Maria Astronomy, Mathematics
• Maria taught herself Celestial Mechanics
• Discovered a Comet from the roof of Pacific Bank

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Contd

• Awarded Gold Metal by King of Denmark
• First Women Member of the National Academy of
  Arts and Sciences
• First American Woman Astronomy Professor (at
  Vassar)
• No Lectures
• Learn by doing, Ask questions, Do Research
• Crater Mitchell was named in her honor
• In 1903 the MMA was founded to continue her Legacy

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Dorrits GirlsStart of REU

• Dorrit was Director for 21 years
• Started giving women opportunities in Science
• Summer Student Research Program funded by NSF
• Many plates taken with Cooke-Clarke Telescope
• Introduction to Variable Stars, Outreach
• Sarah Beck, Barbara Welther, Andrea Dupree, Janet
  Mattei, Karen Meech, and John Briggs
• Based on this model, NSF launched in later years
  REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates)
  Program
• With NSFcame more Boys (now 2/3 girls, 1/3 boys).

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Enter Vladimir Strelnitski CCD Era

• MMO Fell behind in the early 90s
• Dr. Strelnitski appointed director 1997
• Remarkable Story of REU Success
• Begged and purchased TimeLowell, Kitt Peak
• Collaborated with colleagues
• Digitized MMO Plate Stacks
• 66 Students Studied in Summers
• 11 Years of AAS presentations, Publishable Papers
• Reviewed by NSFNational Model of Undergraduate
  Research
• 6 PhDs already and tens more in the Pipeline

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The CCD Era

• 3 Year Grant ProcessPREST 2006
• 300,000 for 20 Inch Telescope and CCD
• Grant based on Rich History of E/PO _at_ MMO
• Bought Used 24 Inch RC and Moved it from Ft
  Davis,TX
• Installed on Nantucket, April 2007

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0.6 Meter24 Inch RC Telescope

• Facilitated by the Successful PREST Grant
• 3 Student Research Projects Summer 2007
• Open Nights Monday, Wednesday Friday
• Telescope is used every clear nightall night
• Significant Backlog from Professionals
• OversubscribedLimited by Weather

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Vestal Street Telescope Plan

• Based on the Good Fortune to buy a Used Telescope
• Refurbish the Vestal Dome and Observatory
• Plane Wave 17 CDC--Takahashi EM500 GoTo Mount
• Outfit it with CCD Camera, Filters
• Research at 14th Mag instead of 15th
• Allow 2 students to observe at the same time
• Some Projects do not need the 24 Inch Scope

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2007 REU Projects

• On the Non-Equilibrium Population Distribution of
  E-Methanol in Dark Clouds -- Emma Wollman
• 12 Meter ARO Kitt Peak Radio Telescope
• Compare Observations to Current Models on
  Methanol Pumping
• Signs and Statistics of Turbulence in Orion KL
  Masers -- David Yourdon et al.
• Statistical Study of OH and H2O Masers
• Showed that Strong Supersonic Turbulence Present

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2007 REU Projects

• On Rotational Velocities in the Circumstellar
  Disk of MWC349--Naama Dror et al.
• Modeled the non Keplerian velocity pattern in
  circumstellar disk observed with the
  Submillimeter Array
• Optical Monitoring of a Sample of Gamma-Ray
  Blazars at MMO--Jessica Donaldson et al.
• Monitored 10 Blazars for optical variability
• Simultaneous Observations in other bands

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2007 REU Projects

• Short Time Scale VRI and Ha Monitoring of MWC349
  Paul Aliotta et al.
• Studied over 2 months
• Control Observations by Ft Davis Observatory, TX
• Slow drift in Ha and R detected explained by
  variations of the temperature of the central
  source
• On the Classification of V3798 SgrDavid Sliski
  et al.
• BVRI _at_ MMO, Harvard Plates, FDO, NM Skies
• FOSC FAST Spectrometers

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The Thrill of Discovery -- and the Agony of
Arne-facts (Artifacts)

• Exo Planet HD 190228
• Supernova
• Very Fast Blazar Variability
• Strong variability of NWC349

• Saturated Comp Star
• 15th Mag Asteroid
• Micro Condensation on CCD
• TBD

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Possibilities

• Band vs Temp issue with Ha Filter
• Off Band Filter657.5 vs 656.3
• CCD Condensation
• Filter CondensationRemove Fans
• Real effect in the source Circumstellar Lumps
  (CiSL) ??
• Other

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Conclusions

• Dorritts Girls and Boys are Alive and wellNext
  Gen
• MMO will have 2 Research Telescopes CCDs
• Tools in place for next Decade of REU
• Open to Collaboration on Projects
• Send your students-- Please Visit
• 100th MMO Aniv./Joint MWC349/AAVSO/Meeting Oct
  08

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• There once was an astronomer from Nantucket
• Whose dream was to have a Light Bucket
• After a 3 Year Selection
• And and AAVSO Connection,
• His Research Tools now rival Tim Pucket