25 replies to this topic

[oalgave]

Hey everyone,

My name is Ori and I'm a junior in High school with an avid interest in astrophotography. I am going to take class called in my senior year called AP Research (if you need clarification, a simple google search will give you everything you need) . This class has its students focus on an individual research study throughout the whole year. To put it simply, I would create/ conduct a lit review, an experiment or data section, a conclusion.  All of this would be done along the course of the year. With this being said, I am here to ask you guys for your help. I need help finding a research study that I could conduct myself. It could/ should be an existing one that someone else has done. I want to conduct an experiment/ research study that would have me use my gear (If I need anything else that is expensive, i will try and email companies or colleges that could maybe let me borrow their gear). I have: Heq5, WO GT71, asi 533mc pro, asiair pro, and a guidescope and guide cam. If you guys have any ideas of a research study that I could write a 5000 word paper on, a lit review, a data section, and other such academic assignments associated with the class, I would very much appreciate the help.

 

My idea: Try and determine the brightness change in Betelgeuse using my telescope and a photometer/ spectrometer to attach to my telescope. However, I dont exactly know what to get to do this and how to fully do it.

 

I appreciate the help from you guys. Feel free to message me or reply with any ideas!

[UnityLover]

Hey everyone,

My name is Ori and I'm a junior in High school with an avid interest in astrophotography. I am going to take class called in my senior year called AP Research (if you need clarification, a simple google search will give you everything you need) . This class has its students focus on an individual research study throughout the whole year. To put it simply, I would create/ conduct a lit review, an experiment or data section, a conclusion.  All of this would be done along the course of the year. With this being said, I am here to ask you guys for your help. I need help finding a research study that I could conduct myself. It could/ should be an existing one that someone else has done. I want to conduct an experiment/ research study that would have me use my gear (If I need anything else that is expensive, i will try and email companies or colleges that could maybe let me borrow their gear). I have: Heq5, WO GT71, asi 533mc pro, asiair pro, and a guidescope and guide cam. If you guys have any ideas of a research study that I could write a 5000 word paper on, a lit review, a data section, and other such academic assignments associated with the class, I would very much appreciate the help.

 

My idea: Try and determine the brightness change in Betelgeuse using my telescope and a photometer/ spectrometer to attach to my telescope. However, I dont exactly know what to get to do this and how to fully do it.

 

I appreciate the help from you guys. Feel free to message me or reply with any ideas!

(copy and paste from your earlier post)

I reccomend doing multiple studies, because beetlegeuse is a 400 day period. plus it wont always be visible the entire year. I reccomend doing beetleguese, mira, algol, and the kids in auriga. Cygnus X-1 Will also be great, you can see the star, see it vanish when the black hole eclipses it (or It might dim considerably), and it does that in a 3 day period. Maybe you can do 1000 words per variable? beetleguest can be caught by doing one picture a night, or 1 in the evening if you can and one later if you can.

[UnityLover]

The short period variables have the advantage of allowing you to record most of the process.

Edited by UnityLover, 03 March 2023 - 01:58 PM.

[oalgave]

(copy and paste from your earlier post)

I reccomend doing multiple studies, because beetlegeuse is a 400 day period. plus it wont always be visible the entire year. I reccomend doing beetleguese, mira, algol, and the kids in auriga. Cygnus X-1 Will also be great, you can see the star, see it vanish when the black hole eclipses it (or It might dim considerably), and it does that in a 3 day period. Maybe you can do 1000 words per variable? beetleguest can be caught by doing one picture a night, or 1 in the evening if you can and one later if you can.

would i need any special gear or devices to determine the brightness of these stars?

[oalgave]

We have an article here that might spark some ideas of your own.

Measuring the Parallax of a Near Star With Modest Equipment and Modest Talent.

https://www.cloudyni...st-talent-r3372

 

(As a judge now for 13 years at our regional science fairs, I know that AP seniors are not modest. But that's OK.   )

 

Similarly, you might find a suggestion reading through the website of the Lunar and Planetary Observers Association.

https://alpo-astronomy.org and the very venerable American Association of Variable Star Observers https://www.aavso.org

 

Have you done anything like this in the past?

 

Best Regards,

Mike M,

I have never done anything like this. I got into AP a few month ago and I wanted to conduct my research study on something astronomy/ science related. That's why I am asking and looking to see what I can do.

[UnityLover]

would i need any special gear or devices to determine the brightness of these stars?

Just take pictures over time, exact same settings. That means dont use sliders for ISO or something, as that will give different results each time. Dont use post processing either. Short periods can have their entire period imaged in a few days with offsets. You can do this with just a DSLR, lens, and a tripod. Short exposures such as 1 second or less is reccomended. Exact brightness im not sure about, ill wait until someone who knows what they are doing comes in here with a way to measure magnitudes. I guess a way to determine it is to take widefield images of the stars, like 6*. There will be reference stars around for others to use to approximately measure magnitudes.

Edited by UnityLover, 03 March 2023 - 02:41 PM.

[oalgave]

Just take pictures over time, exact same settings. That means dont use sliders for ISO or something, as that will give different results each time. Dont use post processing either. Short periods can have their entire period imaged in a few days with offsets. You can do this with just a DSLR, lens, and a tripod. Short exposures such as 1 second or less is reccomended. Exact brightness im not sure about, ill wait until someone who knows what they are doing comes in here with a way to measure magnitudes. I guess a way to determine it is to take widefield images of the stars, like 6*. There will be reference stars around for others to use to approximately measure magnitudes.

got it, also waiting for someone who knows a lot in this to reply 

[Guest99]

The link below takes you to a website for the British Astronomical Association Variable star section, look under articles, the director Jeremy Shears is a very nice chap and is on here under Jeremysh. Look under articles for CCD photometry by Norman Walker, what photometric precision can I achieve by D Boyd. You might find a research project in the other articles.

 

https://britastro.org/vss/

[Alan S]

Hi Ori,

 

one type of project that you could do is to observe bright stars with known transiting exoplanets…you would take the light curve and ultimately you could calculate the approximate mass of the transiting object, as well as whether it was one or more objects transiting, etc.

Remember to have fun!

[oalgave]

Hi Ori,

 

one type of project that you could do is to observe bright stars with known transiting exoplanets…you would take the light curve and ultimately you could calculate the approximate mass of the transiting object, as well as whether it was one or more objects transiting, etc.

Remember to have fun!

in terms of the project, I need to make sure to find something that I could do and do a whole research paper/ study on for collage level. I will definitely look into it. Thanks for the input!

[oalgave]

The link below takes you to a website for the British Astronomical Association Variable star section, look under articles, the director Jeremy Shears is a very nice chap and is on here under Jeremysh. Look under articles for CCD photometry by Norman Walker, what photometric precision can I achieve by D Boyd. You might find a research project in the other articles.

 

https://britastro.org/vss/

thanks for the input, I will be sure to look into it!

[Chad7531]

I bet you could write a paper on equipment alone. Tracking effects/problems, camera back spacing issues, collimation issues before and after, flattener before and after, focusing techniques, comparing apertures, comparing exposure times, comparing f ratios, different types of artifacts and how to deal with them, even processing. Is that even scientific research though? I suppose it could most definitely be.

Edited by Chad7531, 03 March 2023 - 03:31 PM.

[*skyguy*]

 British Astronomical Association Variable star section ...

 

Another good site for students looking to do a school project on variable stars is the:

 

American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)

 

Start with the "Student Observation Projects" page:

https://www.aavso.or...vation-projects

 

You will need software to reduce your data. The often recommended ... free ... software is AstroImageJ:

 

https://www.astro.lo...re/astroimagej/

 

Here, you can find a tutorial on ... AstroImageJ Differential Photometry"

 

https://britastro.or...tial-photometry

 

Good Luck with you project

Edited by *skyguy*, 03 March 2023 - 03:53 PM.

[Cali]

Maybe try Algol (an eclipsing binary) for starters. - "Algol's magnitude is usually near-constant at 2.1, but regularly dips to 3.4 every 2.86 days during the roughly 10-hour-long partial eclipses. The secondary eclipse when the brighter primary star occults the fainter secondary is very shallow and can only be detected photoelectrically."

 

You may want to start out playing with the 4 The Galilean moons of Jupiter as they move around fairly quickly.

 

- Cal

Edited by Cali, 03 March 2023 - 03:46 PM.

[oalgave]

Another good site for students looking to do a school project on variable stars is the:

 

American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)

 

Start with the "Student Observation Projects" page:

https://www.aavso.or...vation-projects

 

You will need software to reduce your data. The often recommended ... free ... software is AstroImageJ:

 

https://www.astro.lo...re/astroimagej/

 

Here, you can find a tutorial on ... AstroImageJ Differential Photometry"

 

https://britastro.or...tial-photometry

 

Good Luck with you project

With the software on the photometry, would a photometry filter work (one that gives narrow band passes and such) or would i need to buy a photometry attachment to add to my telescope?

[Alan S]

in terms of the project, I need to make sure to find something that I could do and do a whole research paper/ study on for collage level. I will definitely look into it. Thanks for the input!

You definitely could do a whole project in this vein.  The University of Florida has a strong astronomy department, and I bet you could find a faculty member willing to mentor you there…and possibly even one researching exoplanets.

 

best,

Alan

[oalgave]

You definitely could do a whole project in this vein.  The University of Florida has a strong astronomy department, and I bet you could find a faculty member willing to mentor you there…and possibly even one researching exoplanets.

 

best,

Alan

I was thinking about doing something liek that but with a local professor, and ideas on how to formulate an email so that I could get to talk to them in person and like see if they could help.

[AstroVPK]

Hey everyone,
My name is Ori and I'm a junior in High school with an avid interest in astrophotography. I am going to take class called in my senior year called AP Research (if you need clarification, a simple google search will give you everything you need) . This class has its students focus on an individual research study throughout the whole year. To put it simply, I would create/ conduct a lit review, an experiment or data section, a conclusion. All of this would be done along the course of the year. With this being said, I am here to ask you guys for your help. I need help finding a research study that I could conduct myself. It could/ should be an existing one that someone else has done. I want to conduct an experiment/ research study that would have me use my gear (If I need anything else that is expensive, i will try and email companies or colleges that could maybe let me borrow their gear). I have: Heq5, WO GT71, asi 533mc pro, asiair pro, and a guidescope and guide cam. If you guys have any ideas of a research study that I could write a 5000 word paper on, a lit review, a data section, and other such academic assignments associated with the class, I would very much appreciate the help.

My idea: Try and determine the brightness change in Betelgeuse using my telescope and a photometer/ spectrometer to attach to my telescope. However, I dont exactly know what to get to do this and how to fully do it.

I appreciate the help from you guys. Feel free to message me or reply with any ideas!

You don't need a special photometer/spectrometer to do this. There is a network of standard stars - I can look up the reference and send it you later. You just have to take an image and calibrate the standard stars in the image. Easy peasy...

[AstroVPK]

Look at Thanjavur, Ivezić et al. 2021, New, improved S82 standard stars catalogue, MNRAS, 505, 5941 and the references therein. You can get a copy of the paper from http://faculty.washi...p_lsstmisc.html

[Alan S]

I was thinking about doing something liek that but with a local professor, and ideas on how to formulate an email so that I could get to talk to them in person and like see if they could help.

Have your AP research teacher help you with the email.  I’d recommend keeping it brief with just enough information to show you’re serious and have thought a little about the project…and then ask for a time to meet.

[Alan S]

Ori,

I should add that NASA has an established citizen science program on exoplanet research. And since you have your own telescope, you can make observations to contribute. See here for example:
https://exoplanets.n...watch/overview/

[mikemarotta]

You might find interesting a topic running now about Spectroscopy.

https://www.cloudyni...o-spectroscopy/

 

I suggest the topic because it touches on TRANSIENT ASTRONOMY, the observation of short-term events. Variable stars such as the classic Algol are one kind, but asteroids and comets are also included. The rubric is that we tend to think of astronomical events as playing out over millions of years. But there are many kinds that have shorter time frames. One of them might fit your requirements.

 

Best Regards,

Mike M.

Edited by mikemarotta, 04 March 2023 - 05:06 PM.

[Cali]

I was thinking about doing something liek that but with a local professor, and ideas on how to formulate an email so that I could get to talk to them in person and like see if they could help.

Here is a list of Faculty & Researchers at University of Florida astronomy department, including EMAIL addresses. Go ahead and make contact. The absolute worst thing that can happen is that someone says, "No".

 

- Cal

[Keith Rivich]

Hey everyone,

My name is Ori and I'm a junior in High school with an avid interest in astrophotography. I am going to take class called in my senior year called AP Research (if you need clarification, a simple google search will give you everything you need) . This class has its students focus on an individual research study throughout the whole year. To put it simply, I would create/ conduct a lit review, an experiment or data section, a conclusion.  All of this would be done along the course of the year. With this being said, I am here to ask you guys for your help. I need help finding a research study that I could conduct myself. It could/ should be an existing one that someone else has done. I want to conduct an experiment/ research study that would have me use my gear (If I need anything else that is expensive, i will try and email companies or colleges that could maybe let me borrow their gear). I have: Heq5, WO GT71, asi 533mc pro, asiair pro, and a guidescope and guide cam. If you guys have any ideas of a research study that I could write a 5000 word paper on, a lit review, a data section, and other such academic assignments associated with the class, I would very much appreciate the help. 

 

My idea: Try and determine the brightness change in Betelgeuse using my telescope and a photometer/ spectrometer to attach to my telescope. However, I dont exactly know what to get to do this and how to fully do it. 

 

I appreciate the help from you guys. Feel free to message me or reply with any ideas! 

Spectrometry and Photometry are two completely different things. Look up "differential photometry". With your equipment you quite good data. Good luck!

Edited by Keith Rivich, 04 March 2023 - 06:59 PM.

[Rabbanah]

Hey everyone,

My name is Ori and I'm a junior in High school with an avid interest in astrophotography. I am going to take class called in my senior year called AP Research (if you need clarification, a simple google search will give you everything you need) . This class has its students focus on an individual research study throughout the whole year. To put it simply, I would create/ conduct a lit review, an experiment or data section, a conclusion.  All of this would be done along the course of the year. With this being said, I am here to ask you guys for your help. I need help finding a research study that I could conduct myself. It could/ should be an existing one that someone else has done. I want to conduct an experiment/ research study that would have me use my gear (If I need anything else that is expensive, i will try and email companies or colleges that could maybe let me borrow their gear). I have: Heq5, WO GT71, asi 533mc pro, asiair pro, and a guidescope and guide cam. If you guys have any ideas of a research study that I could write a 5000 word paper on, a lit review, a data section, and other such academic assignments associated with the class, I would very much appreciate the help. 

 

My idea: Try and determine the brightness change in Betelgeuse using my telescope and a photometer/ spectrometer to attach to my telescope. However, I dont exactly know what to get to do this and how to fully do it. 

 

I appreciate the help from you guys. Feel free to message me or reply with any ideas! 

Ori, you mention that the project could/should be something that someone has done. Going a different direction, it might be interesting to do something with proper motion. You don’t have enough time to track something like Barnard’s star on your own, but you could use the information and data that is out there and then add your one small subset to that data. Do a sort of comparison to where those studies have left off to where it is now.