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phxjeff
Citizen Sky Workshop I
The Citizen Sky Workshop I in Chicago last week went well. A special thanks to Rebecca Turner for doing an outstanding job on coordinating Workshop I. She is a real pro at this.
Also a big thank you to the Adler staff for helping make everything go smoothly.
Bob Stencel provided us with an excellent overview of epsilon Aurigae and even I learned a few new things. Great job Dr. Bob!
In addition to any posting on the AAVSO web site of the two Workshops I held, I will be posting the two PowerPoint Presentations on the Epsilon Aurigae Campaign web site.Read more
July 2009 Photometry of Epsilon Aurigae
It appears that through the end of July 2009 epsilon Aurigae is still very bright.
The following is from data submitted to the Campaign for July 2009.
Richard Miles
Golden Hill Observatory
Location: Stourton Caundle, Dorset, England
Latitude/Longitude/Altitude (ASL): West 2.405 deg, North 50.931 deg
Sky & Telescope - First Contact
The Sky & Telescope web site has an article on Robin Leadbeater's spectroscopic observation of first contact. Note: you can now download Dr. Stencel's S&T article at no cost.
Good work Robin!
Jeff Read more
First Contact
What is meant by first contact?
Basically it's the start of the eclipse. The point where the eclipsing body first touches the primary star's image and starts a decrease in the primary star's brightness as seen from Earth. But it's not so simple. With epsilon Aurigae, first contact appears to be wavelength dependent. This means that the longer (red and visual bands) wavelengths will start to show an eclipse before the shorter (blue and ultraviolet bands) wavelengths. Read more
DSLR Spectroscopy
While there has been some discussion about using a DSLR camera for photometry, and there will be a Workshop devoted to it, those with DSLR cameras may also find using them for spectroscopy an interesting and rewarding challenge.
During the first Workshop in Chicago, part of the Workshop will be devoted to low resolution spectroscopy using a DSLR camera with a Star Analyser spectrograph ($200). As with DSLR photometry, no modifications are needed for the camera, save a means of attaching the Star Analyser (easy). You can even do it on a tripod without a telescope.Read more
August 7, 2009 Workshops
The Hopkins Phoenix Observatory will be presenting two workshops on Friday, August 7. One will be on spectroscopy of epsilon Aurigae and the other on Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera photometry of epsilon Aurigae.
The spectroscopy workshop will provide an introduction to spectroscopy. There will be a discussion on what spectroscopy can be done with a minimum amount of equipment and expense. For those people wishing more, a review of the Lhires III spectrograph and its use for high resolution spectroscopy with some tips and tricks will be presented. Spectroscopy is exciting and easier than you may think.
