Research

Astronomical research at the Fairborn Institute is focused on observational astrometry (position angles and separations) of known and potential binary stars. Speckle interferometry is used to observe sort-period binaries with separations below the seeing limit, while bispectrum analysis is used for phase reconstruction and the extraction of photometric magnitudes. Most current observations are of potential new, short-period, red dwarf binaries in the solar neighborhood. Undergraduate and high school students are heavily involved in all aspects of the Institute’s research and are coauthors (often first authors) of published papers.

Relative double star astrometry provides the Position Angle and Separation between the primary (brighter) and secondary stars in a double star.

If the two components of a double star are physically close enough, they will be gravitationally bound as shown in the plot of the relative position angle and separation over time.

Three students from Arroyo Grande High School use the telescope and speckle interferometry camera at the Fairborn Institute to observe a close binary pair.

Astronomy Research Seminar students using the historic 60-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson observatory for observations of double stars.

For several years, much of the student research supported by the Fairborn Institute was carried out by students from Arroyo Grande High school. Here, two students from the first class observe a double star.

High school student Eric Weise installs the Fairborn Institute’s speckle interferometry camera on the 20-inch PlaneWave Instruments telescope at the Pinto Valley Observatory in the Mojave Desert.

The Fairborn Institute’s speckle camera was installed on the 2.1-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory for two week-long runs, one in the fall and the other in the spring to obtain greater sky coverage. Many student teams were cycled in, each for a few nights.

The Fairborn Institute’s tiny silver speckle interferometry camera, lower left, was dwarfed by the 2.1-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Here, the telescope is aimed at an illuminated dome flat.

A student team from Paso Robles High School, located just a few miles from the Fairborn Institute, used the historic 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory to observe close double stars. Their results were published, as have all the observations by many other Fairborn Institute supported teams.