Asteroid Light Curve

Project Aims

• to measure the light curve of an asteroid in order to determine its rotation period (and associated uncertainty) with measurements taken primarily at Durham supplemented by pt5m observations
• to perform modelling and to determine the shape of the asteroid

Project Notes

1. Learn how to use the telescope and CCD system efficiently

   • Attend the observing training sessions
   • Review the L1 User's Guide material to refresh your understanding of the apparent movement of objects in the night sky
   • Study the provided reference material on the telescope, CCD and the software

2. Research background material

   • Understand the aims of the project
   • Study the Web-based information linked from the provided References page
   • Revise the material covered in the "Observational Techniques" part of Level-2 "Stars and Galaxies" module
   • Read Chapter 8 (Photometry) of "The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing" by Berry and Burnell
   • Review your understanding of the photometry errors of objects on CCD images (see e.g. John Simonetti's short article (local copy)
   • appreciate the points listed on the How to get good photometric data page
   • Search out additional sources of information

3. Plan your project

   • Carefully select your target asteroid. Choose an asteroid that (a) is well-placed for the term (the higher Dec the better) and can be observed throughout the term, (b) is known to have large brightness variations and (c) has a relatively short period. Support routines are available to help you find a good target. Is there a suitable target that has observations in the AstroLab archive?
   • Study the published work on your target
   • Load the known orbit of your target into the ECU software
   • Determine the best time to observe your target
   • Estimate the likely exposure time required for your target. Ensure that your target and your comparison stars do not saturate but the exposure time is long enough to produce sufficient number of stars for the automatic astrometry routine.
   • How many observations will you need?
   • Plan your project write-up; consult the online DUO Report Format Guide and Marking Criteria

4. Write-up the "Introduction and Background" sections of your project

5. Explore the provided software

   • Understand and test the provided software for measuring the relative brightnesses of the objects on your CCD images: are the quoted errors reasonable?
   • Understand and test the provided software for determining the period of the asteroid
   • Explore the random and systematic uncertainties of the software
   • Write-up your understanding of the software

6. Make observations of your target asteroid regularly, as the weather permits, during the term (and request occasional observations with the pt5m on La Palma to supplement your Durham measurements)

   • Ideally you will be able to gather over a thousand exposures on the asteroid during the term
   • Measure the relative brightness of the asteroid using the provided software. You can automate this by developing a short Python script.
   • Write-up your results and conclusions

7. Period determination

   • Measure the period (and the uncertainty) of your target asteroid using the provided software and compare your results with published values
   • Write-up your results and conclusions
   • Supply your final light curve for the Astrolab web page

8. Determine the 3D shape of the asteroid

   • Investigate the various techniques to estimate the 3D shape of the asteroid from the light-curve and apply these to your datset
   • Write-up your conclusions

Back to the AstroLab Home Page

jrl

2020-Jun-17 13:49:04 UTC