[Virginia Tech Department of Physics]

Some Results from the Spring 2005 Semester of PHYS 3154 Observational Astrophysics

Images

The following images were taken by students in PHYS 3154 Observational Astrophysics during the Spring semester of 2005 using the 0.4m telescope.

NGC 4565
NGC 4051The BoxMrk 205
NGC 4565
NGC 4051, "The Box", and Mrk 205
A subset of images made by Jay Billings, Sean Cutchin, Rob Homb, and Thomas Horn as part of a "snapshot survey" of a variety of galaxies, including some Seyferts and quasars. NGC 4565 (top) is a relatively nearby, edge-on spiral. NGC 4051 (bottom left) is a Seyfert galaxy. The bottom-center image is of a small group of galaxies known as "The Box" and consisting of (clockwise from the top) NGC 4173, NGC 4169, NGC 4175, and NGC 4174. Markarian 205 (bottom right) is a quasar just to the south of the spiral galaxy NGC 4319, which lies at the center of this image (it has been debated whether Mrk205 and NGC 4319 are physically related). In all images north is up and east is to the left. Long-exposure and/or color images of these objects would be interesting.

SN2005AYSN2005J
SN2005ay and SN 2005J
These supernovae (plus three others) were observed by Ben Bladen, Steve Boscovitch, Emilie Cox, and Andrew Myers. In both images, north is up and east is to the left. SN2005ay is the bright "star" to the south and a bit west of the center of the galaxy NGC 3958; its magnitude was observed to be 15.1 (2005 April 17 04:27:18 UT, using a clear filter). SN 2005J is the star just to the southeast of the center of galaxy NGC 4012; its magnitude was observed to be 16.3 (2005 April 17 04:50:53 UT, using a clear filter). A report of these observations was sent to the International Supernova Network.

AM CVnCR Boo
AM CVn and CR Boo
These blue, variable, AM CVn type-stars are two of only a handful of such objects, thought to be close white-dwarf binaries with short orbital periods. Richard Foster, Loren Evory, Matt Joyce, and Michael Sperry monitored the variations of these two objects over the course a few days.

Reports

Students reported observations of the locations of asteroids to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center. We reported positions of 1388 Aphrodite and the Near Earth Object (NEO) 2005 AT42. A report of the observed magnitudes of 5 recent supernovae (SN2005ay, SN2005V, SN2005J, SN2005am, and SN2004dj) was sent to the International Supernova Network.

Collaborations

For the first time, one group of students collaborated with an astronomer outside Virginia Tech in doing photometry of AM CVn systems.

Presentations

At the end of the semester each student gave an oral presentation on a project they worked on during the semester. The presentations are listed below.
  1. Jay Billings "Astrometric Corrections to the Orbits of 1388 Aphrodite and 2005 AT42"
  2. Andrew Myers "Astrometry of Asteroids"
  3. Ben Bladen "Measurements of Supernovae Magnitudes"
  4. Robert Homb "Galactic Survey with a Focus on Seyfert Galaxies"
  5. Emilie Cox "Imaging and Magnitudes of Supernovae 2005ay and 2005J"
  6. Michael Sperry "Differential Photometry of BL Camelopardalis"
  7. Richard Foster "Detection in variability of AM Cvn type objects"
  8. Steve Boscovitch "Photometric Measurements of Six Supernovae"
  9. Loren Evory "Time Series Differential Photometry of the Two Short Period Cataclysmic Variable Stars AM Cvn and CR Boo"
  10. Thomas Horn "CCD Imaging of BL Cam"
  11. Sean Cutchin "CCD Photometry of BL Camelopardalis"
  12. Matt Joyce "Light Curve Construction of AM CVn Systems"
To PHYS 3154 webpage