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Full-Text Articles in Instrumentation
A Rotating Aperture Mask For Small Telescopes, Edward L. Foley
A Rotating Aperture Mask For Small Telescopes, Edward L. Foley
Master's Theses
Observing the dynamic interaction between stars and their close stellar neighbors is key to establishing the stars’ orbits, masses, and other properties. Our ability to visually discriminate nearby stars is limited by the power of our telescopes, posing a challenge to astronomers at small observatories that contribute to binary star surveys. Masks placed at the telescope aperture promise to augment the resolving power of telescopes of all sizes, but many of these masks must be manually and repetitively reoriented about the optical axis to achieve their full benefits. This paper introduces a design concept for a mask rotation mechanism that …
Unh Observatory Exoplanet Transit Depth Limit, Nicholas R. Larose
Unh Observatory Exoplanet Transit Depth Limit, Nicholas R. Larose
Honors Theses and Capstones
Using the University of New Hampshire Observatory, we performed multiple exoplanet transits observations on a variety of systems. Of these transits, those performed with ideal weather conditions were chosen to do extensive analysis on. The transit chosen for initial analysis was HAT-P-56b. We then used Z-Score values, along with the average mean and standard deviation collected from multiple transits to determine a minimum possible transit depth of 7.4 +/- 0.6 mmag. This value will allow UNH to access exoplanet transit observation and / or confirm potential exoplanets, thus making the UNH Observatory more research capable. A follow up threshold transit …