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ptsouth97

@ptsouth97

12 followers 17 following 51 posts Reputation 56.56

ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Mar 4, 2019, 11:32 AM UTC

Swan Song

Figure 1. Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Credit: (Johnson 2005) Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born on the Fourth of July in 1868 in Lancaster Massachusetts to George Roswell Leavitt and his wife, also named He…

19 upvotes 2 replies $0.01
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Mar 3, 2019, 5:33 PM UTC

Using Stellarium to Control a Telescope

One of the most awesome features of modern amateur telescopes is that they can connect with a computer to allow control by a wide assortment of software. Planetarium software is particularly cool bec…

12 upvotes 1 replies $0.00
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Mar 2, 2019, 1:23 PM UTC

Binning

Figure 1. Examples of binning. Credit: Templeton & Beck 2014 Binning groups pixels together which has the effect of making the group appear as a bigger single pixel as shown in figure 1 above (Te…

12 upvotes 2 replies $0.01
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Mar 1, 2019, 9:05 PM UTC

Image calibration

Image calibration is simply the removal of the anomalies from the camera sensor and imperfections in the optical pathway. When taking astronomical pictures, this helps make the image "pretty." When d…

17 upvotes 2 replies $0.02
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Mar 1, 2019, 3:41 AM UTC

New twist on classical novae

We've all heard of a supernova, but what about classical novae? These close astronomical cousins are similar in many ways. They both involve a close binary system with a white dwarf and a main sequen…

95 upvotes 1 replies $0.01
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Feb 28, 2019, 1:44 AM UTC

Jupiter-sized exoplanet detected

David et al. 2019 recently reported the detection of exoplanet V1298 Tau b. The first part of the name (i.e., V1298 Tau) represents the 1298th variable star found within the Taurus constellation boun…

349 upvotes 2 replies $1.26
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Feb 27, 2019, 1:26 AM UTC

Multipolar Planetary Nebula

No, planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets. Instead, these are low and intermediate mass stars in the senior citizen phase of their lives. After they have puffed off their outer layers, th…

230 upvotes 2 replies $0.84
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Feb 25, 2019, 2:13 PM UTC

Mysterious "bullets" from V Hya

Figure 1. The carbon star V Hya displaying a "bullet", a collimated jet-like emission from its center of mass. Credit: Sahai et al. 2016 V Hya is a carbon star on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). S…

315 upvotes 4 replies $0.53
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Feb 24, 2019, 12:03 PM UTC

Linearity testing

Figure 1. CCD bucket analogy. Credit: Howell 2006 Each pixel of a CCD sensor is like a bucket, but instead of collecting rain water, these buckets collect electrons that are generated by the incoming…

380 upvotes 2 replies $0.61
ptsouth97
@ptsouth97 Feb 23, 2019, 2:34 PM UTC

TECMO

One of my goals this year is to build a remote observatory for astronomical imaging equipment: The Elizabeth Crosby Memorial Observatory (TECMO). This blog will be dedicated to covering the activitie…

413 upvotes 4 replies $0.99