Forum der Vereinigung der Sternfreunde

Dear spectroscopy afficionados!

I am pleased to inform you that Tony Moffat (Université de Montréal) and me have been successful with a proposal for four months (!) at Teide IAC80 telescope for an investigation of the Wolf-Rayet stars WR 134, WR 135 and WR 137 (see http://www.stsci.de/wr134/index.htm for details) in the Cygnus constellation. These observations are connected to a number of professional and amateur observations worldwide. We are now looking for volunteers to go to this world class astronomy site for two weeks, at least. At www.stsci.de/wr134/pdf/2nd_announcement.pdf you will find our announcement for observations on Tenerife including some first information about our campaign and the request for interested Teide observers. We will perform consecutive first-class Echelle measurements for high-quality research.

I want to take the opportunity to remind you in our 1st announcement at www.stsci.de/wr134/pdf/1st_announcement.pdf. It contains a request for observers from their backyard observatories anywhere in the world. If you can fulfill our technical needs in spectral resolution, S/N and exposure time don’t hesitate to join us.

I consider this as an excellent opportunity for amateurs to do real science together with professionals either at a modern astronomical observatory or from the backyard. And as for our WR 140 campaign at the Mons telescope on Tenerife in 2008/09 it is again a wonderful chance to bind the international spectroscopic amateur community together, support newbies and youngsters and bring the profound amateur knowledge to professional’s attention.

Part of the ongoing discussions will take place in the ProAm ConVento Group forum of the German VdS spectroscopy section (see http://spektroskopieforum.vdsastro.de/v ... m.php?f=32, registration is necessary). This forum is directly linked to a respective mailing list. Campaign language is English. Ask, if you need help and join us.

Cheers, Thomas

Hi together, an update after one week: We presently have 12 observers interested to travel to Teide. However, six of them build one single team. Please spread the campaign information around as much as possible. Remember, we need 9 teams.

Cheers, Thomas

Hi Thomas and all,

I'm a late joiner to this topic as I've only just realised that I may now be able to contribute to the 2013 WR134/135 campaign, both from my own observatory and with a Teide visit. I cannot observe Cygnus from my present urban location but early next year I expect my rural observatory, with 14"/0.36m scope and spectrograph(s), to be back in action after four years. While I can see the WR targets from my dark sky site their highest altitude will be only 16-17deg above the northern horizon, certainly not ideal. I believe it will be worth a serious attempt as I'm at the same longitude as Japan so the temporal coverage, compared to Europe, will be excellent.

Cheers, Bernard

_________________
Quicquid Nitet Notandum

Hi Bernard:

If you can get WR134/135/137 (don?t forget the 3rd one!) from where you are that would be stupendous. I guess it
does help that we prefer data in the yellow domain rather than blue. Thus, atmospheric extinction will be less
severe. Do you think you can get 3-4 hours coverage in a good night? It is important to get more than one spectrum
spread out over time, preferably a minimum of 3 spectra for a given star spread over at least 3-4 hours, at any given
site.

Best regards, Tony

From: Bernard Heathcote (fg-spek-convento@vds-astro.de)
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2012 7:37 AM
To: fg-spek-convento@vds-astro.de (fg-spek-convento@vds-astro.de)
Subject: [fg-spek] Re: ProAm campaign in 2013 - 2nd announcement - IAC80 granted




Hi Thomas and all,

I'm a late joiner to this topic as I've only just realised that I may now be able to contribute to the 2013 WR134/135 campaign, both from my own observatory and with a Teide visit. I cannot observe Cygnus from my present urban location but early next year I expect my rural observatory, with 14"/0.36m scope and spectrograph(s), to be back in action after four years. While I can see the WR targets from my dark sky site their highest altitude will be only 16-17deg above the northern horizon, certainly not ideal. I believe it will be worth a serious attempt as I'm at the same longitude as Japan so the temporal coverage, compared to Europe, will be excellent.

Cheers, Bernard



Quicquid Nitet Notandum

_________________
Tony Moffat

Hi Tony,

Our paths cross yet again and no, I haven't forgotten WR137
Theoretically it shouldn't be a problem for me to get a four hour coverage (altitude in range 11 to 16 deg) except at the start of the campaign where it would probably be limited to three hours by the dawn light. I won't be able to give a definitive answer until the scope has been reinstalled. I think my horizon is clear but I need to check that the dome slit sill doesn't obscure the scope aperture at that low angle.

Cheers, Bernard

_________________
Quicquid Nitet Notandum

Hi together!

A brief status update: We still have 18 amateur campaign members who would go to Teide (Germany, France, Poland, Danmark, Australia). That would mean 5 to 6 teams of 2 weeks each.
We still need to collect 3 to 4 teams until the registration deadline in November 1st.

Please pass this information on to other potentially interested people around you!

Cheers, Thomas

Hi Thomas,

I'm puzzled why teams of four observers are needed, especially if you are short of people. I would have thought that, once the initial set up has been made, a team of two would be sufficient, with a 50% overlap ...a new 'assistant' observer arrives every week releasing the 'principal' observer. After one week's training the 'assistant' would become the 'principal' observer, and so on.

Cheers, Bernard

_________________
Quicquid Nitet Notandum

Hi Bernhard! You are completely right, of course. The telescope can be controled by a single person. However, I did not want to open this discussion because the registration deadline is in three weeks. And some fellows still drop in. During the last three days Daniel Verilhac from France and Bartek Gauza from IAC Tenerife dropped in. We are now 20 Teide observers. When the deadline is over we will definitely discuss this all together. And I am not the one who will force individual participants into certain teams. Why? Because I am not the chief of staff but only the organizer, so we need cooperation of the whole team. And second, because we all want to have fun at the mountain. It's expensive enough, right? But your 50% overlap is an interesting idea we should present to the gang. I know that you (and others) are eager to start the discussion and the preparations. I highly appreciate that!

Cheers, Thomas

BTW: Presently Andy Pollock (ESA-Spain / PI), Mike Corcoran (NASA-Goddard - USA), Tony Moffat (Montréal University - Canada) and me prepare a proposal for the XMM satellite for parallel X-ray observation of WR 134. More later.

Hi together!

A brief status update: We now have 19 amateur and 1 professional campaign members who would go to Teide (20 overall from Germany, France, Poland, Danmark, Australia, Spain, Portugal). Because we have two teams of four members and one team of three we still need more observers. Presently we can establish only 7 teams at best.

Please pass this information on to other potentially interested people around you! Deadline is November 1.

Cheers, Thomas