Credit:SAO

Observing Report ProjectMICROOBSERVATORY GUIDEPHYS 183 -WINTER 2022

We will be using the MicroObservatory(https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/index.html) inorder to complete a remote observing session. TheMicroObservatory is anetwork of remote small telescopes that can be controlled by the public overthe Internet. Developed by the Smithsonian Center of Astrophysics, thenetwork is currently in place in theHarvard College Observatory inCambridge, MA and the WhippleObservatory in Amado, AZ.

You will be required to use thistelescope to generate a colourimage of an astronomical object ofyour choice and submit anobserving report based on thisobservation.

You will be marked along four axes.* Whether your image processedcorrectly* Whether you filled out the technicalinformation in the observing reportcorrectly* The quality and correctness of yourresponse to the first long answer question.* The quality and correctness of yourresponse to the second long answerquestion.

Please submit the observing report as a PDF onMyCourses under the “Assignments” tab. Please alsosubmit your raw images (.FITS) as well.

A template of the observing report is also provided under the “Content” tab ofMyCourses. Any questions can be forwarded to [email protected]

To properly use this telescope, tutorial videos will be added to MyCourses. Youwill need to perform colour image processing. Software to do this is allprovided online via the MicroObservatory.

Plagiarism is completely unacceptable. All work must be cited properly inMLA or another equivalent format. Even things we learned in class should be

properly referenced. Please see the McGill policy here:https://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/academicrights/integrity/cheatingCopying from classmates who selected the same source is also not allowed.This is an individual project.Your image may take 1-3 nights to be processed by the telescope requestsystem. This means that you should submit a request as soon as possible andnot leave it to the last minute! Submitting a request should take no longerthan 10 minutes. The processing of the image should also take no more than45 minutes. Your image will arrive in your mailbox around ~1pm in theafternoon. Once you have completed your image your job is not over! Youmust still fill out an observing report. You will also still need the Stellariumsoftware package to answer 1-2 of the questions. A tutorial for Stellarium isprovided on MyCourses under the “Content” tab.

If you find that your computer is unable to use any of the software pleasecontact [email protected] as soon as possible to find a workingsolution.

Sometimes the telescope takes images that are not able to beproperly processed. If you have issues related to this please post them onthe MyCourses discussions page! This will help us resolve many people’s issueat the same time.

There are some objects that do not produce good pictures and, if there is apointing error, are very difficult to debug. If you select one of these sources,the assignment will be more challenging and less rewarding so it is best toavoid them. These are:

➢ Milky Way➢ Sagittarius A➢ Cyg X-1➢ CQ Cep➢ Eight-Burst Nebula➢ SS Cygni➢ 3c 273➢ NGC 2543