Hartzel Gillespie

Project abstract

At small liberal arts colleges, where major astronomical research facilities are often unavailable, it is often difficult to make contributions to modern astronomy.  However, using Randolph College’s modern observatory along with a research grant from the College, I’ve been able to perform research on asteroid occultations, stellar spectroscopy, and exoplanet transits.  I have observed two positive asteroid occultation events, which happen when an asteroid passes between a star and an observer, blocking the star’s light.  Preliminary spectroscopy results show that a DSLR camera and a 100 line/mm diffraction grating reveal clear hydrogen Balmer lines in the spectra of type A stars, and further research will attempt to measure rotational velocities of shell stars, primarily of type Be.  A DSLR alone is sensitive enough to record the light curves of some exoplanet transits such as the HD189733b transits.

Sponsored by Peter Sheldon