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Photo above by Todd
Bush |
Appalachian State
University's Dark Sky Observatory is the research facility used
by faculty and their students to conduct observational research
in astrophysics. Established in 1981, the observatory is located
about 20 miles northeast of Boone at an elevation of a kilometer.
Far from major cities, its dark skies provide a good setting for
digital imaging and spectroscopy done in stellar and extragalactic
research projects. With the planned opening of the Visitor Center
a new public access program will bring viewing opportunities to
everyone in our region.
We thank local
photographer and amateur astronomer Todd
Bush for providing the wonderful image at left, during a special
evening at DSO. The Milky Way streams from the top of the 32-inch
telescope's dome. You can even see the dark dust lanes in the Milky
Way. Thanks, Todd! |
Dark
Sky Observatory receives award from North Carolina Space Grant for
GRB/Exoplanet project
After becoming
a new member of North
Carolina Space Grant during last year's program expansion, ASU
applied for funding for a new telescope project at its Dark Sky
Observatory.
That project,
Development of a Gamma Ray Burst Optical Afterglow Response
Telescope with Background Exoplanet Search Mode, received
a New
Investigations award of $20,000.
A special telescope
will be assembled at Appalachian State University’s Dark Sky
Observatory to observe the afterglow of gamma ray bursts (GRBs).
Those events are observed by NASA’s Swift
satellite which automatically notifies a network of ground-based
telescopes to observe the visible-light event that follows the gamma
ray burst. Since only a few bursts happen per week the telescope
will spend its idle time (while waiting for a GRB notification),
searching for exopolanets (planets around other stars), by looking
for drops in brightness when those planets come between us and their
parent star.
Construction
has just started, with the installation of a Paramount, borrowed
from UNC-CH's PROMPT
project, as shown at right. A Celestron-14 telescope will be used
on this mount. The NC Space Grant funds primarily funded the purchase
of an Apogee CCD camera, DFM Engineering filter wheel, and filters.
Related to this
project, undergraduate major Adam Blythe Smith received one of the
two PROMPT summer student fellowships. Adam will be at UNC-CH this
summer learning the basics of GRBs, the PROMPT system, and how to
implement the new system at our observatory.
Undergraduate
student Nathan Bergey is also working the project, with his summer
funding coming from NC Space Grant.
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Observatory
Engineer Lee Hawkins and undergraduate Nathan Bergey install the
Paramount for the NC Space Grant GRB/Exoplanet telescope. Click
on image for larger version.
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