Mar 1, 2006
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7:03 started, Steve Layman introduced David McDavid. and turned the
floor over to him.
He told us that he was a grad student here in the mid 70s and has found
his way back. Dr. Salgado of Norfolk State is setting up the Robotic
Rapid Response Telescope at Fan and Dr. McD is the UVa liaison for the
project.
The purchasing situation is difficult and frustrating but the project
is moving forward.
(see page 2 of the PDF)
(see page 3, he changed pages quickly on me)
This is the second of the NASA minority grants. The first one
refurbished the planetarium there at Norfolk State. They have gotten
another one (this one) maybe 120K/year.
A minor degree program has been started fall of '04, part of the grant
was a partnership with Goddard. Jay Norris is the Goddard contact. NS
(Norfolk State) students were to go to Goddard and work on Swift data.
Swift is a GRB instrument and was NASAs answer to doing the job all in
one unit. Scientists can sign up to get emails when Swift detects a
GEB. By the time the RRRT is operational, unfortunately, Swift will be
ceasing operations. GLAST is due to come on line to replace it, thank
goodness.
NS has had a workshop each summer for K-12 with Goddard personnel
helping out. The Back Bay AS is being instrumental as well.
NSFs grant happened in 05.
(Page 4)
Dr. Salgado knew that the tidewater area wasn't a good site for the
RRRT and talked to Bob Rood about Fan Mtn. Dr. Rood gave them
permission to construct RRRT. Norris knew that Dave McD. was interested
in the polarization changes of GRBs and contacted him to get him
interested in the project.
(MOU = Memorandum of understanding)
Dr. McD. is the UVA part-time RRRT-Scientist.
CAS can assist by arrangement with the Oversight Committee. Part of the
telescope time goes to UVA, and some of that might be CAS time. We
should all think about what things we might suggest for observations.
They could only afford the 24" and plan to do polarimetry studies of
the GRBs, but this will be probably limited to the brighter bursts. The
polarity is subtle and needs long exposures to tease reliable data out
of the noise background.
Routinely the RRRT will be doing something useful all the time so that
it will be ready and available full time to chase the bursts as they
happen.
The dome will be a 16' Astrohaven clamshell design. They've drilled
cores to determine the bedrock proximity and suitability of the site.
UVA is leasing the footprint to NS and the plans have to go through the
VA state architectural review committee. The Dome has arrived already,
and it's the first thing to arrive and will be one of the last things
needed!
(Page 7)
The scope might well be ready in May. Hopefully it'll have a building
to sit in! There may be some headaches involved in getting the scope to
meet specs, the camera to work properly and such. It may take till 2007
to get it all working right.
(Page 8)
A good off-the-shelf CCD camera from SBIG was chosen, integrated with
Bisque's software. It'll be a good place to start.
(page 9)
The control software will be a challenge. The Sky will control the
scope and CCDSoft will run the camera. A server in the observatory will
coordinate the 2. A client software setup in Norfolk will handle the
remote user input. It'll take some experimenting to make it all work
together. Somebody from UVa will have to babysit the system for a
couple years. This software area is one where CAS members can probably
be of great help. Dr. McD would like to pick Rob Capon's brain and any
others of us who have experience with Bisque. Practical level help with
the control software, Paramount controls and particularly the
observatory suite is much needed.
(Page 10)
The polarimetry will use 2 doubly refracting calcite plates. A "Savar"
plate will create double images with different polarities.
(Page 11)
This is the references page. Links to GRB info sources etc.
At 7:55 Dr. Dave took questions.
One of the problems at this point is that it's a long drive to Fan for
the NS people. Dave ends up being the coordinator on the weekend for
the Norfolk contingent in addition to his weekday duties. There is one
person from NS who is interested in the programming of the remote
client software hook-up and the socket connection to the internet.
Tim Puckett (who has discovered 100 SNs) has started a company building
robotic telescopes and he will be a help with the uncertainties of
doing things robotically. Fairbourne Observatory has figured out how to
get a university to buy a telescope, Lou Boyd has been doing this for
25 years of so.
There is a dedicated connection to the server where it's the fastest
way to get a signal from your computer to the observatory. The socket
will shave a few milliseconds in the response time.
At 8:11PM Steve L. took the floor and showed us the CaK scope which the
club has purchased. Send an email around the group to borrow it if you
need to. John Avellone will have it first.
- 47 paid members!
- $ 2,594.61 in the exchequer (allows for the binocs purchase)
- Dues are past due, see Larry
- See Larry also for magazine subscriptions.
- 1 group night 3/24, possibly a group for Mar 10th.
- Judging at Piedmont Regional Science Fair, Mar 9th. There is a
pressing need for judges.
- Saturnalia at Ivy Creek on Saturday evening, setup at 6:30 PM.
- Mar 25, Messier Marathon at Susan's
- Apr 28, Open House at Fan Mtn.
- There's a door prize at the Messier Marathon for folks who view 50 of
the M-objects.
- The coffe cups and t-shirts are coming!
- Executive council Mar 12 at McCormick.
- Spring at Bear Mtn. April 2-4. 1 cabin ($85/nite) is reserved, great
dark sky site.
- April meeting, Kelsey Johnson, The most extreme modes of star
formation in the universe.
- May meeting, Jack Koester on antique telescopes.
- May 6, Astronomy day, probably at Ivy Creek.
- June, possibly NRAO, possibly at Larry's office, TBA.
- Retreat at Bear Mtn, Aug 25-27. Keep tuned to emails.
Steve then (829PM) started a 10 minute topic:
"Astronomical League Observing Awards"
As a member of CAS we each have a membersip in the AL.
www.astroleague.org/observing links to:
www.astronomyclub.org/whatsup has observing info.
There are numerous clubs in AL which one might sign up for. One is
binocular, one is even a naked eye club. All have learning something
about astronomy as a key.
At 8:38 Steve raffled off a Meade Moon Filter, Dean Wilder won the
drawing.
At 8:41 the meeting adjourned.
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