CN's+Week+of+December+3

Monday, December 3, 2007
At the beginning of class, I tried to look for some short-period variable stars. I really didn't get that far and I didn't that extensive of a search because Dr. L had a talk with us about our final. Our final is basically a milestone report that we have to turn in on the day of the final. I believe it's suppose to be posted here on wikispace. I don't know where else we would put it. So I asked him some questions on what exactly we are suppose to put in the milestone and I just gave him some suggestions on what I thought he meant and turns out I'm heading in the right direction! Apparently, when I updated the Variable Stars main page I did some information on what my Milestone should contain.

I came up with somewhat of an outline of what would be featured in my milestone. 1. What are variable stars? 2. The types of variable stars ---3. Comparison Star--- (maybe) 4. Different ways of observing 5. What is a light curve? How exactly do you create one?
 * photometry, visual, and remote
 * spectroscopy (possibly, but I probably won't deal with spectroscopy anymore so we'll see about this one)

I'll see what else I might be able to add to it tomorrow during class! Right now, I'm tired and need to get off my computer!!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Found a website with a list of variable stars! With this list, I can find variable stars that have a short period with varying in brightness. It's pretty easy to read, but some of the stars aren't really "popular" I guess, so I don't know really what kind of star I should look for. Also, I need to find out if these stars are in the northern hemisphere where I'd be able to see them or not. But here's the lovely site!

[|List of Variable Stars]

So I tried to think of some more stuff for my milestone that I could put into my outline. I thought of a few more things and I made it a little more detailed compared to my last one that I made yesterday. I should probably talk to Dr. L about it, because I'm not certain if I have everything that really needs to be in it or not..

__Milestone Outline__

I. What are Variable Stars?

II. Types of Variable Stars --a. Intrinsic i. Pulsating ii. Eruptive --b. Extrinsic i. Eclipsing ii. Rotating

III. Comparison Stars/Magnitude Estimates --a. Need two: faint and bright

IV. What is a light curve?

V. Different Observing Techniques --a. Visual --b. Photometric --c. Remote/CCD

VI. Observing --a. Star Charts --b. Date, Time, Star, Mag, Chart, comp star

I added some more to my outline, not much but a little bit. So I'm going to put it up again! :] I emailed my outline to Dr. L to try and get some feedback on my outline. I asked if i should include spectroscopy in different observing techniques, because I won't ever really work with it and I don't have that great of understanding of how you would go about doing spectroscopy observations, but I guess I could figure it out for my outline.

Milestone Outline I. What are Variable Stars? II. Types of Variable Stars --a. Intrinsic i. Pulsating ii. Eruptive --b. Extrinsic i. Eclipsing ii. Rotating III. Comparison Stars/Magnitude Estimates --a. Need two: faint and bright --b. Can’t be variable --c. Interpolate IV. What is a light curve? V. Different Observing Techniques --a. Visual --b. Photometric --c. Remote/CCD VI. Observing --a. Star Charts --b. Date, Time, Star, Magnitude, Chart, comparison star

Thursday, December 6, 2007
I got an email from Dr. L with some feedback about my outline. He told me to make a milestone map. He said I have to provide a list of precise descriptions of what a person must be able to do. An example he gave me was that instead of "types of variable stars" make it something along the lines of "give an account of the types of variable stars, and be able to find an example of each type online." He told me that I need to provide topic areas, but provide a precise statement of what I or anyone needs to be able to do. ("Give an account, explain, list, distinguish between, use or employ", etc., are examples of the way such precise statements might begin.)

At first I didn't understand what he meant in the email, but now I think I'm getting an idea of what he wants. Instead of saying "comparison stars/magnitude estimates" I could say "Explain what a comparison star is and how to use it. Use the comparison star to find Magnitude Estimates."

I just sent Dr. L another email to see if I'm heading in the right direction. I'm hoping I am and I hope he gets back to me soon so I can figure out how to change the rest of them in the way that he's asking me.

I got an email from Joe about the meteor shower observation night. He said anytime Friday would be good. He said he'd get back to me with a time that would best to observe the shower that night. He said I could look at times, too. So I did. I was looking at [|this website] to find out information. It said something about the best time would be 0100 LST. And I don't know if that is on Friday morning of on Saturday morning. So I sent Joe some information including the website to see what he thinks.

Friday, December 7, 2007
I received an email from Joe about observing the Geminid meteor shower next week. We are definitely not going to watch the shower at 1:00am on Friday, because that would be ridiculous to do on a school night. So I sent him an email back about doing it sometime on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights.

I got an email from Dr. L talking about the milestone report. He said it has to tell someone what they are suppose to be able to do in the heading and then we are suppose to explain it with that topic. I redid my milestone map to better fit what he was talking about. I believe I am doing it right now. Here's my redone milestone map. I emailed it to Dr. L to get some feedback on it! Hopefully it's good! :)

Milestone Outline

I. Explain why a star might be variable.

II. Explain the types of variable stars and be able to find an example of each type online. .a. Intrinsic ....i. Pulsating ....ii. Eruptive .b. Extrinsic ....i. Eclipsing ....ii. Rotating

III. Explain what a comparison star is and how to use it. Use the comparison star to find Magnitude Estimates. ....a. Need two: faint and bright ....b. Can’t be variable ....c. Interpolate

IV. Explain a light curve and be able to discern the different parts of a light curve.

V. List the different types of observing and be able to use each type. .a. Visual .b. Photometric ....i. The telescope like object… (find out what it isJ) .c. Remote/CCD ....i. Online ....ii. Reserve and access at NMSO ....iii. Recognize and identify other names for a star .d. Spectroscopy ....i. Interpret how ?? (confused what to put here)

VI. Give an account of how you would go about actually observing a variable star. ....a. Star Charts ....b. Date, Time, Star, Magnitude, Chart, comparison star