Binary Stars
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This document summarizes a student's research using speckle interferometry to observe close binary star systems at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The student observed different classes of binary stars over two weekends using a 2.1m telescope and speckle camera. The speckle images were processed using a program called PS3 to extract star patterns and measure binary star separations. The results helped confirm existing orbits and characterize new candidate binary systems. Future work may include additional observations at other observatories and applying for grants to build new facilities.
Binary Stars
- 1. Kitt Peak Speckle Interferometry of Close Visual Binary Stars Presentation by: Rikita Patel Mentors: Dr. Genett and Dr. Kenney
- 2. About the research… Kitt Peak National Observatory October 2013 For two weekends Two different runs
- 3. Introduction What are binary stars? Who started this research Methods of observing binary stars (Double stars) Such as “manual” eye piece spectroscopic binaries, eclipsing binaries, and astrometric binaries, etc. What is speckle interferometry Typical speckle observation consists of 1000 images Each 20 milliseconds
- 4. Speckle interferometry Cont. Speckle interferometry observations limits are set by telescope resolution Smaller telescopes are used to concentrate on wider binaries Smaller ones are better, so we can see different distance range binary stars
- 5. Instruments Used 2.1 m telescope was used Located at south end of KPNO 1.6 and 0.8 m were evaluated as well The construction for this began in 1959 The speckle camera Magnification of 8X Very light weight Provided an overall effective focal length of about 129,6000 mm.
- 6. More about Speckle Camera Very fast compared to normal camera Think about what happens when you try to take picture of moon or stars with your phone or camera Also takes better pictures that are more clear
- 7. Hypothesis Can this method be used to measure and characterize binary stars? Speckle interferometry is an effective method to measure and characterize binary stars
- 8. Observations Preparations started over a year prior Two weekend runs Three primary positions for observation Telescope Operator (TO) Camera Operator (CO) Run Master (RM)
- 9. What Types of Stars Five different classes of double stars we focused on: Known binaries with published orbits Candidate “binaries” without published orbits Unclassified double stars Unconfirmed double stars (not ever sure about them being double stars) Special request by other astronomers
- 14. Reduction of Data PS3 – used for reduction of Data General purpose program Automatically extracts the best stars from the observation It can also align and combine the images so we can compare and contrast more accurately Processing can take hours Once started it can run unattended
- 15. Results Wanted to make sure that we follow that particular orbit Our results indicate that we are on the right “path” Distance mattered a lot Closer stars were better to observe and to work with
- 19. Conclusion Our portable speckle system with special speckle camera observed close binaries on a 2.1 m telescope The closest separation was 0.1 arc seconds Not very clearly seen We found out that using nearby and fairly bright single stars (for deconvolution) provided much better results than without a reference star The new program PS3 made the data reduction process much faster
- 20. Future Work Keck foundation Grant writing Building observatory More research at KPNO and Mt. Wilson observatory
- 23. Acknowledgements William Hartkopf and Brian Mason (shaping in observing programs) Richard Joyce and Di Harmer (provided extensive technical advice on use of 2.1m telescope) Hillary Mathis, Brent Hansey, Dave Summers, Daryl Willmarth, Ballina Cancio, Lori Allen, Mark Giampapa, Ronald Oliversen (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Olga Kiyaeva, Joseph Carro, Dr. Russ Genet, Dr. John W. Kenney III, Kitt Peak National Observatory and the team!
- 24. Special Thanks Medical University Of the Americas
Editor's Notes
- #4: Binary stars are two stars that are held by mutual gravitational force (basically they revolve around each other). This term was given by William Herschel when he discovered some of the double stars. So basically he is the one who started the research. The term “Visual” was added later. There are different methods to observe binary stars. I have done two separate researches on binary stars observation. One is using eye piece (which is manual and it was done at mount Wilson observetory in CA) and one using speckle interferometry which was done at Kitt Peak National Observatory in AZ). And today I will be talking about Speckle interferometry. Speckle interferometry is a method used to overcome normal seeing limitations by taking many very short exposures at high magnification and analyzing the resulting speckles to obtain the position angle and separation of close binary stars.
- #7: Regular CCD cameras take about a second to read out single image where as with speckle cameras are capable of making 10 millisecond exposure
- #8: Why its an affective method? (it takes away the unnecessary light projection from surroundings) SIF is efficient methods to measure lots of stars in short amount of time.
- #9: The three team members were able to work closely together in a highly coordinated manner The stars were targeted every 4 to 5 mins (leaving some interval to have steady method and to find better targets) RM chose the next object to observe from the target list (target list from the excel sheet) TO located the target (from the sky) CO finished the integration on the previous target That is how all the stars were observed Some nights were cloudy, but we got there when night were clear.
- #15: PlateSolve 3
- #16: Distance mattered a lot