H-alpha Emission Extraction Using Narrowband Photometric Filters (Abstract)

Volume 40 number 1 (2012)

Gary Walker

Maria Mitchell Association Observatory, 4 Vestal Street, Nantucket, MA 02554; bailyhill14@gmail.com

Abstract

(Abstract only) Maria Mitchell Observatory (MMO) has explored using Narrowband Photometric (<100Å) filters to substitute for spectroscopic observations. The method is thought to have significant signal-to-noise advantages over spectroscopic observations for small telescopes. These small telescopes offer advantages for projects requiring intensive monitoring where telescope time is limited on larger telescopes. RR Tau, a suspected UXOR, was intensively observed by the MMO 0.6-m Ritchey-Chrétien telescope in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the 0.29-m W28 AAVSOnet telescope from Cloudcroft, New Mexico, during the 2010 Winter and Spring seasons. Observations were made in Ha with 45Å and 100Å narrowband filters as well as the continuum at 6450Å with 50Å and 100Å filters. Ha emission was extracted with an error of 8% and compared to the change in the continuum. RR Tau exhibited a 30% change in emission while the continuum changed by over a factor of 5.