Binary star research using microtelescopes Miloslav Zejda, Zdeněk Mikulášek, Jiří Liška Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic Petr Svoboda private observatory, Brno, Czech Republic PRCSA, Lijiang, 15th April 2011

Binary star research using Binary star research using nano-telescopes Binary star research using microtelescopes Miloslav Zejda, Zdeněk Mikulášek, Jiří Liška Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic Petr Svoboda private observatory, Brno, Czech Republic PRCSA, Lijiang, 15th April 2011

first telescopes – diameter only several cm! Galileo & Castelli: discoveries of binaries or multiple systems: Mizar (1616), J1 Orionis – Trapez (1617) b Scorpii …

Variable stars observations (in modern history since 1596) Means: naked eye – limits – 6-7 mag, telescope + eye – 1844 Argelander telescope + photography – 1881 Draper – 14.7 mag telescope + photoelectric photometer 1892 Monck, 1907 Stebinns 1946 Kron, early 50‘s Johnson & Morgan UBV telescope + CCD – 1979 – Kitt Peak NO Prvn astrofotograi (snmek Mesce) pordil 23.3.1840 J. Draper. Kratce nato E. Becquerel a po nem J. Draper zskali fotograe slunecnho spektra. Prvn uspesny snmek (daguerotypii) hvezd (konkretne Vegy) pordili J. A. Whipple s G. Bondem 17. 7. 1850. Prvn koloidn snmek hvezd (Alkora a Mizara) pordil G. Bond 27. 4. 1857. V roce 1881 H. Draper pordil snmek mlhoviny v Orionu, na nz byly zaznamenany hvezdy az do 14,7 mag. A. Common experimentujc se suchymi deskami od r. 1879 pak pordil nekolik snmku mlhoviny (nejleps v roce 1883) na nichz ukazal, ze dlouhymi expozicemi na suchych fotograckych deskach je mozne zskat obrazy hvezd, ktere nejsou stejnym dalekohledem vizualne pozorovatelne (podrob- nosti viz (podrobnosti viz Hearnshaw, 1996).

Silicon age spread of objective measurements among many observatories and amateur astronomers increasing number of photometric measurements observing of fainter and fainter objects stars brighter than 6 mag are too bright => lack of observations of bright stars!

objections? surveys – ASAS… - monochromatic, unsatisfactory time resolution space missions – Hipparcos – good, but old, time resolution Kepler, COROT – excellent jobs, but … GAIA - ? nano-satellite – BRITE project

solution? return to Galileo‘s size telescopes => usage of micro/nanotelescopes „windows astronomy“ „balcony astronomy“ break down the prejudices suitable for amateurs and small observatories Advantages: cheap acquisition cheap and efficient practise excellent opportunity to obtain unique long sets of observations

suggestions? to equip the observers with a kit (CCD, photometric filters, nanotelescope) tell them what and how they should observe (targets, filters, time resolutions…) establish a network of observers – see for an example http://var.astro.cz

Examples of usage nano-telescopes

Minima timings of eclipsing binaries NO Pup Minima timings of eclipsing binaries P. Svoboda; 0.035m refractor CCD SBIG ST7 filter I J. Liška: RF 0.04m + CCD ATIK 16Ic  Phe DI = 0.15 mag TW Dra

Light curves J. Liška: 0.04m refractor + CCD G2-0402 SAAO 0,5m + single-channel PEP MJUO 0,6m + single-channel PEP L. C. Watson, J. D. Pritchard, J. B. Hearnshaw,P P. M. Kilmartin and A. C. Gilmore: MNRAS 325, 143–150 (2001)

P. Svoboda; 0.035m refractor, CCD SBIG ST7

P. Svoboda; 0.035m refractor, CCD SBIG ST7 HD 1438 (And) amplitude DV≈ 0.02 mag

It is worth to do it!

Thank you for your attention! In the presentation we used observations and materials from: VSES archive NYX archive personal archives of authors MNRAS 325, 143–150 (2001) NASA ADS servise webpages: http://ccd.mii.cz http://var.astro.cz http://www.astronomie2009.cz http://en.wikipedia.org and others Many thanks to organizers especially to Prof. Qian for their help and hospitality!