123-AstronomyReport

Astronomy Report

01/23/2015

Scott MacPhee

Renee Garifi

Sky Conditions:

Clear

Wind Conditions:

Calm

Summary:

It looks as though it is time to shut down the Musk Observatory for Team ISU Crew 147, and prepare it for the arrival of Crew 148 tomorrow. Luckily, we know that Crew 148 is jam packed with even more ISU alumni, some of whom we know well - so we are certain it will be left in good hands!

Thursday proved to be a successful final night of formal observing, having captured a transit of a third stellar companion transiting one star in the visual binary system KC07C07047. Analysis of the Jan 22nd data will be completed at a later date. The auto-guider kept the telescope on target for the duration thus the images are promising.

Data from Jan 19th appears to reveal an ingress and 2/3 of a complete transit as expected, but more work will need to be done to confirm it is a valid measurement. See attached file for the resultant lightcurve. Observations completed on Friday Jan 16th also appear to reveal the confirmation of a transit ingress.

Objects Viewed:

As it is our last night here at MDRS, we deemed it a good use of our time to set our sights on some visual astronomy objectives, including the transit event of Jupiter's Moons slated for this evening. Some sky searching will surely follow.

Starry skies,

Scott & Renee