Using a Robotic Telescope for Undergraduate Astronomy Education

Details Using a Robotic Telescope for Undergraduate Astronomy Education Using a Robotic Telescope for Undergraduate Astronomy Education

Jul 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...210.8013j&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 210, #80.13; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.326

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Brigham Young University maintains a growing and healthy undergraduate astronomy major within its Department of Physics and Astronomy. This program focuses on maintaining mentored experiences that provide undergraduate students with numerous opportunities to participate in astronomical research experiences using data from various sources. All students in the program are currently required to produce a senior thesis as part of their work toward an undergraduate degree. Results from these senior thesis investigations are often significant and are incorporated into publications that appear in peer reviewed journals.
We have utilized one half of the observing time on the Tenagra II 0.8-meter telescope located in southern Arizona during the 2006 through 2007 observing season. Undergraduate students have made frequent use of the data obtained from this telescope for a variety of projects. These projects include variable star searches in open clusters, monitoring of AGNs, precision photometric observations of standard fields and open clusters, H-alpha observations and monitoring of PMS objects, analysis and characterization of CCD detector characteristics, and some time series observations of known variable stars. Some of the observations have even been used to teach students to construct color images that are useful in public outreach programs.
This poster presents a variety of results that have been obtained during approximately six months of observing time on the Tenagra II telescope. All of these observations have been reviewed and processed by undergraduate students as part of a system established to handle a continuous data flow. Many of the results presented are part of senior thesis and undergraduate class projects for students who are not part of the regular data acquisition team.
We express thanks to the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences for funding the initiative to utilize the Tenagra II telescope in support of mentored undergraduate research.

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