SCIENCE 1R1 By Shivani Eland
STAR TRACKER STAR TRACKER THE FULL SET UP DIAGRAM Bread Board Camera Stepper motor and turn table Adjustments for South Diver Weights Poles Battery
STAR TRACKER // MORE DETAIL The poles on the star tracker is so the star tracker is aimed directly south. It makes it easier to look down the pole and adjust the tracker to point directly at the visual marker I had already determined. The bread bord is equipped with an atomic clock, audrino system and a computer code so the stepper motor turns correctly to acheive the most accurate result. Switch that connects to the battery which provides the whole star tracker with power. Lever which is attached at the end of the star tracker. It adjusts to find true south. Nobs on pole helps adjust the angle Pole that supports the cam- Stepper motor that turns the The turn table and of the camera to 33 degrees. era and adjusts to correct de- gear box that then turns the turn camera stand that is gree that the camera needs table that which the camera is bolted in. to face. latched onto. The stand that the camera is screwed Battery and camera warmer Camera and Lens used to Computer Program that into. to keep the dew of the capture photos. controls camera settings camera during the night. and photos
DEATAILED METHOD 1.Identify potential targets, in relation time, position, magnitude and weather. 2. Base star tracker on the front balcony of 160 Killarney Drive, Killarney Heights. Refer to log book and separate booklet. 3. Polar Align telescope. To do this find a true south visual marker determined by Google maps, that is about 1 km away from star tracker position. To do this: *Type in Home address *Place on satellite view *Zoom as much as it will let you *Google maps orientates its self pointing north as up, so looking at the house place the cursor where the star tracker will be then use arrow keys to head directly south. Its critical to get to as close to true south as possible because the star tracker must turn as close to earths rotation as possible to achieve the best result. *Then set camera to the latitude of 33 degrees to polar align the telescope. *Then to make that the angle of the star tracker is correct, drift align the camera.to do this: Point camera to a bright star at 20 degrees on the eastern horizon, near the celestial equator. Doing this means that the east/west rotation of the mount has minimal effect, leaving the adjustments to change during the tests. The aim is for the star to stay in the centre of the field of view. Now it could either go two ways. A.The star starts to drift north.this means that the polar axis is too low, change the axis to angle up into the sky more. Adjust the latitude knob on the star tracker to suffice. B.The star starts to drift south. This means that the polar axis is too high. Change the axis to face the ground more. Adjust the latitude knob on the star tracker to suffice. 4. Plug camera with a cord with USB plug to link to computer. Computer should already have computer program BackyardEOS downloaded. 5. Aim camera at selected Star and Exo planet. 6.To take the images make sure that the camera configuration is: Operated in manual mode Auto focus is tuned off Disabled internal noise reduction RAW format Setting ISO 400 or lower Defocussed image in order to get adequate sampling of all three colours, to avoid saturation and increase total photon count-determine which side of focus gives best star images, Exposure upwards of 20 seconds to minimise scintillation effects. 7. Before actually taking the photos take three tests to minimise effects of camera imperfections. This is bias, dark and flat field calibration. To take bias frames, take 64 for frames at 1/4000s recorded in total darkness. To take the flat frames, take 64 frames in front of a white computer screen. To take dark frames, take 32 frames recorded in total darkness, at the same exposure as the light frames. 8. Take three sets of photos of the star, one set of about 30 photos one hour before the transition, one set when the transition is occurring and then one set one hour after the transition. 9. Collate photos and run through a astro photographic software (Nebulosity) that reduces the noise using the test photos taken earlier. 10. Using photometric software (Iris), measure the light intensity drop as the transit happens and then compare it to the light intensity that there was one hour before and one hour after the transit. If there was a definite drop that means an exo planet rotated around the star. 11.Rechrive data from Iris software and place into Excel software. Create a graph the maps the light curve of the planet tranist around the star. 12. Repeat test in same environment to ensure validity.
PLATE SOLVING 1 3.4 1.6 - III P NVAt-+P 10.1 ' 13 all - Take a photo of the night sky in a clear open space in which the star your aiming for is. - Use computer App Stellarium and find out what the night sky looked like at the exact time and place you took the photo. -Take a screen shot of the nigth sky and then go onto the program Photoshop. Paste the screen shot over the top of the origanl photo. Then invert the colours and line it up so the stars fit in exactly where the stars where in Stellarium. - From here you will be able to tell which star is in the section of sky you took. Write down the names of the stars and the apparent magnitude. -From doing this I found where the Exo planet and star I was aiming for and the highest and lowest magnitude of star I will able to see during my experiment. I found that the best would be around 10-12 and the limit I will be able to use would be 13-14.
- METHOD OF IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL TARGETS 111,1 11311E17=1111=121111 Use this website to research all possible Exo planet candidates by typing in your Latitude and Longitude. SC" imp tip* 2,0 OCR =tit SO T Itromuls From here, find the star with the highest magnitude tetm, gioirm otaki omt (Mg OAR C404 ;PAL MI Mil 1 47 J.; (the lower the number, the brighter it is); in this case rc.1 :VI 4 XV it is WASP-100 b with the magnitude of 10.8. V 71.61CI: 111 04141 r W; tat art ',J* 4 4 17: 4 *$' 111C Sr. ;241,4 x 11,44,44 r s: leas PA& UV r d ;641 1; p ;Ix gasmen,: 2.11: MINIM.8 M& Kn AA* un :41.7 tflst ossi VET"' %MO.., rtic )",4t "(=2" Find the time Wasp-100 b transits, and convert it from GMT time to Sydney time. -.. as-...v. rm.....wows %Tole _ amirs,f 7. -- asirimor It shows that it is transiting at 8:05:00 pm, which is utof Pa" good because it would be dark enough to see stars. WOO La* lows Ilso WC OW From here, you would research the weather but it can _ 1,44., r3virso".:42,14 be unreliable because it changes all the time. IWNIChssits.4s, rime***.r." IT API X1544 ME ms- utc..c 41# tr* C.T.P/0 Glossary rec Ts. 4., /24.00'41 1404 irw sso Pro!.r,r t-ne `,/ roomer LI* U. ZA, rim 1/43f 's tr.*: &sags * Isar au! rut% bursa Go onto Stellerium