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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2022
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Physics and Astronomy
First Advisor
David Cinabro
Second Advisor
Ed Cackett
Abstract
My thesis is intended as a practical aid to researchers as they employ Wayne State University’s Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory in their work. My research includes development of an image processing pipeline to exploit the science capabilities of Zowada Observatory. I assess and document the capabilities of the observatory while demonstrating its capabilities through a use case. Zowada Observatory is a fully robotic 0.5m telescope and imaging system located under the dark skies of New Mexico. The observatory is particularly suited to time domain astronomy: observation of variable objects such as exoplanets, supernovae, and active galactic nuclei. The observatory is capable of accurate measurements of these often faint objects with relatively small errors. RMS errors compared to SDSS catalog for 16 x 90 second exposures are less than 0.2 magnitude through 18.5 magnitude in g and r bands, 18.3 magnitude in i-band, and 16.5 magnitude in z-band. For a 3 sigma detection limit, measurements may be performed as deep as 19.5, 18.6. 18.4, and 17.1 magnitude in griz bands, respectively. I provide a color correction formula to better estimate z band measurements using measurements performed in Zowada Observatory’s installed zs, i and g filters. My color correction formula significantly improves correlation with published SDSS and APASS catalog values, which is especially important for observation of red stars. My work demonstrates Zowada Observatory's capability for precision time domain astronomy by reproducing published measurements of transit duration and exoplanet radius for Qatar 2b at 14.0 magnitude. I find measurements of fainter K2-45b at 16.4 magnitude to be more challenging and suggest strategies to improve results. Manual analysis and software packages provide alternative tools to perform these measurements: I compare results for Exofast and AstroImageJ software packages and find these useful to automating the labor-intensive manual process.
Recommended Citation
Carr, Robert Spencer, "Wayne State University’s Dan Zowada Memorial Observatory: Characterization And Pipeline Of A 0.5 Meter Robotic Telescope" (2022). Wayne State University Dissertations. 3753.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/3753