CN's+Week+of+October+29

Monday, October 29, 2007
I sent in an email to Dr. L today because I really don't know where I should proceed from spectroscopy. I also started to talk to him about that email and we started setting up a list of what I could possibly do. I received the email already actually and he told me to keep trying to look up information on V Cet, hopefully I'll get something out of this. Also, he told me to look for some possible candidates or targets that I could look at for my project after the Arizona project or if we don't go to Arizona. He also told me to contact Joe and set up an evening observing session at ND whenever he might have time. He also told me to mention the need to learn to do magnitude estimation visually, with the photometer, and with software. And I need to ask him to repeat with you what he did to create the light curve from remote telescope data of the star SZ Herc.

So I sent an email to Joe tonight. I hope he'll get back to me soon with a date. I really want to get started on some actual observing! I want to gain some experience and I know it will be fun! :) Can't wait!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Today in class I looked for some possible stars that I could base my research on. I found a chart that let's me know a good time to watch a particular type of star. Now, I'm going to look for an example of those particular types and then narrow my search down from there. I also know that the star I pick should be circumpolar, meaning in the northern part of the sky where we can view it. Also, today in class, all the astronomy kids were given an astronomy book. I brought it home and looked through the section on stars mostly. I'll probably read it more in debt later.

MY RESEARCH--

Type of Star Observing Frequency Cepheids every clear night RR Lyrae stars every 10 minutes RV Tauri stars once per week Mira variables once per week Semiregular once per week Cataclysmic Variables every clear night Symbiotic stars* once per week R CrB stars*- at Max once per week R CrB stars- at Min every clear night Eclipsing Binaries every 10 minutes during eclipse Rotating stars every 10 minutes Irregular variables once per week Suspected variables every clear night

http://www.aavso.org/publications/manual/chapter5.shtml
 * Information from:**

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!! Black cats, withches, pumpkins, and ghosts!!! AHHH!!!

So, today I received an email from Joe. He said that he’s trying to set up an observing time for us sometime next week so I can begin to gain some experience. He also said he has a book to give me that will help me with all my variable star questions, so that should be useful. In class, Dr. L brought all the astronomy kids together and said that we need to try and set up a time where we can meet with Joe at least once a week on regular basis. We’re shooting for Wednesday’s at around 8-10. He asked me to send Joe an email since I’m in contact with him right now. So I sent Joe an email asking if there was a possibility that I could bring along 7 more people next week and if we could set up a weekly time when we could meet. I said we would prefer Wednesday nights if that was alright with him.

So, I couldn’t really do much in class today. First, Dr. L had a little talk with us. Then I sent the email to Joe. After that, I tried to write on this here page, but it kept erasing so I kept rewriting it. Now I have learned. I have written this out in a word document, so if it fails me again.. NO WORRIES! J Go me! Yup, sorry that wasn’t really that fun to read right there!

Thursday, October 31, 2007
Today I emailed Joe asking if we can visit sometime other than Wednesday next week because, 4 out of the 7 people wouldn't be able to go on Wednesday. I also started to try and look up some different stars according to the chart I have for Tuesday. It really didn't go so well for me and I found one star. I need to ask Dr. L how you can figure out what star is classified under one of these types of stars because I'm a little confused on that part.

Mira star - R Leonis

Friday, November 1, 2007
TYLER VISITED ME TODAY!! YAY!! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

R CrB stars - XX Cam, SU Tau, UV Cas, U Aqr, RY Sgr, MV Sgr, UW Cen, V854 Cen, R CrB, RS Tel, GU SgrR CrB stars - XX Cam, SU Tau, UV Cas, U Aqr, RY Sgr, MV Sgr, UW Cen, V854 Cen, R CrB, RS Tel, GU Sgr RV Tauri - R Scuti and RV Tau Symbiotic stars - CH Cygni Cataclysmic Variables (outbursts on star’s surface or accretion disk, or stellar explosion)