Astrometry Field Research

Students will work with a PRHS instructor, Cuesta College staff member, and the Institute for Student Astronomical Research (InStAR) personnel to collect scientific observational data on double stars. After researching double stars via an online seminar, students will work in teams to select a double star from the Washington database maintained by the US Naval Observatory. Students will collaborate with experts from around the US via online meetings as they plan a research paper on a binary star. Images will be collected from a network of robotic telescopes set up around the world (Las Cumbres Observatory). The data will be analyzed to determine the separation and angle between the double stars. A formal paper will be submitted for publication in the Journal of Double Stars  Observations at the end of the course. 

After the paper has been drafted, students travel to Mount Wilson Observatory to spend two nights meeting astronomers, touring the historic facility, and using the 60-inch or 100-inch telescope, the same used by Edwin Hubble to determine the size and shape of the universe. This observatory is a world renowned location and students will be treated to a guided tour, a conference of leading scientists, and an opportunity to share their own research on double stars.