Clouds, Lights, and Variable Stars: Student Research at the Michigan State University Campus Observatory

Details Clouds, Lights, and Variable Stars: Student Research at the Michigan State University Campus Observatory Clouds, Lights, and Variable Stars: Student Research at the Michigan State University Campus Observatory

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21343311l&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #433.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.302

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At the Michigan State University observatory, clouds and light pollution can make it challenging to obtain astronomical observations. However, by concentrating upon relatively bright variable stars, it is still possible to do useful photometry. We present updates on our three main variable star projects. The first involves differential photometry of RR Lyrae stars that show the Blazhko effect, a modulation of the primary light curve with a timescale of tens to hundreds of days. In the second project we are obtaining new B, V, and I band photometry of type II Cepheids in globular clusters. These data are being used not only to study the current properties of the Cepheids, but also to reinvestigate their long term period changes. Finally, we have been obtaining photometry of several bright RR Lyrae stars in the gri passbands of the SDSS ugriz filter system. These observations are being used to help calibrate the relationships between the Fourier parameters of the light curves and the physical properties of the RR Lyrae stars. The advantages to this work of combining data from the MSU observatory with data from other small telescopes will be examined. We also discuss the role that undergraduate students and graduate students have played in this research. This work has been partially supported by the National Science Foundation under grants AST 0440061, AST 0607249, and AST 0707756.

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