Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program Annual Report:

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

(National Optical Astronomy Observatory)

Program Period: January–March 2009

Ryan K. Campbell1

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Casilla 603,La Serena, Chile

1. Overview of Program Award

The 2009 National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Research Experiences for Undergradu-ates (REU) Program at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) provided an opportunityfor six U.S. undergraduate students to participate in independent, supervised research activities inastronomy, in collaboration with members of the CTIO, SOAR and Gemini scientific staff. Theprogram is supported by the rich scientific environment and research facilities of CTIO’s La Serenaoffices, as well as ready access to the national observatory facilities on Cerro Tololo itself. Together,these facilities provide a framework that introduces students to both the operations of a major ob-servatory and the capabilities of a variety of instruments while they are actively engaged in currentastronomical research. Building upon these resources, the program includes an introduction toobservational techniques and provides observing experiences for the participants, both supervisedand independent. Furthermore, the program offers a unique cultural opportunity for participantsto live in a foreign country and work alongside Chilean students who are doing similar researchprojects.

2. Participants

Six undergraduate students from the U.S., selected from a total of 15 qualified applicants fromUSA institutions, participated in the 2009 REU program at CTIO. Announcements were sent to882 college and university science and mathematics departments and career placement offices inthe U.S. and Puerto Rico. This promotional campaign targeted both the Hispanic Association ofColleges and Universities (HACU) as well as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).The program was also advertised in the NOAO newsletter and on the CTIO REU program web site2.

1 CTIO REU Program Site Director

2see http://www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/reu.html

– 2 –

Advertising for the 2009 program was accomplished in August 2008 as planned, and promotionalactivities for the upcoming 2010 program have just commenced.

The six U.S. undergraduates selected to participate in the 2009 CTIO REU program, and theirrespective projects/mentors, were:

• Tracy Becker (Leheigh University)Project: “HETE J1900: An Accreting Millisecond Pulsar”(Mentor: Dr. Timothy Abbott)

• Shannon Dealaman (Clemson University)Project: “Phase-Resolved Cyclotron Spectroscopy of Southern Polars”(Mentor: Dr. Ryan Campbell)

• Will Flanagan (University of Colorado - Boulder)Project: “Clustering around Herbig Ae/Be stars”(Mentors: Dr. Nicole van der Bliek and Dr. Jayadev Rajagopal)

• Jordan Mirocha (Drake University)Project:“GMOS Calibration to the Lick Index System”(Mentors: Dr. Bryan Miller and Dr. Gelys Trancho)

• Benjamin Moore (Xavier University of Lousiana)Project: “Evolution of the Alignment Effect in Clusters”(Mentor: Dr. Roberto de Propris)

• Danielle Nielsen(Colby College)Project:“The Search For Radio Remnants in E+A Galaxies”(Mentors: Dr. Roberto de Propris and Dr. Susan Ridgway)

In addition to the six NSF-supported U.S. participants, the 2009 CTIO summer student programalso included two Chilean participants as a part of CTIO’s Practicas de Investigacion en Astronomıa(PIA) program, who were fully integrated with REU program activities (both scientific and recre-ational) during their stay. These students, along with their projects/mentors were:

• Marcela Espinoza (Universidad de La Serena)Project: “The Search for Short Period Variable Stars in the Open Cluster NGC 6531”(Mentor: Dr Luciano Fraga)

• Jacqueline Seron (Universidad de Concepcion)Project: “The Environment of HK Ori”

– 3 –

(Mentors: Dr Nicole Van der Bliek, Dr. Steven Heathcoate )

Three REU students have continued on at CTIO, working on additional short to medium termprojects funded by their mentors following the end of the 2009 REU program. Will Flanagan isextending his research on Herbig Ae/Be stars, Shannon Dealaman is assisting Dr. Ryan Campbell,building an automatic fitting procedure for cyclotron spectra using a genetic algorithm driver, andDanielle Nielsen is returning to CTIO for a year following the completion of her undergraduatedegree to work with Dr. Susan Ridgway on Spitzer data.

2.1. Mentor selection

Each student pursued a research project guided by a staff astronomer as a mentor. The REUSite Director solicited volunteers among the CTIO, Gemini, and SOAR scientific staff, looking forpeople who would be willing to invest the time to work with a student and who had projects thatcould be completed in the time period the students were present in Chile. As in previous years,there were more than enough volunteers and projects. This year, two of the mentors (Miller andTrancho) came from the Gemini staff, and two of the mentors (Heathcoate and Fraga) work forSOAR.

3. Science Program

An essential component of the CTIO REU program is the opportunity students have for interaction,not only with the scientific staff of the observatory, but also with the flow of visiting astronomerswho pass through on their way to use the telescopes. The generally informal atmosphere at CTIOprovides a climate that promotes these interactions, which take place naturally at “staff-tea” (anafternoon staff meeting that occurs three times a week), at regular scientific colloquia, and in thepublic computer area that the students share with visiting astronomers. Informal meetings withvarious CTIO staff members and visiting astronomers while one or another group of students wason the mountain typically resulted in an on-the-spot introduction to an instrument or researchspecialty.

3.1. Research Projects

The primary focus of the students while in Chile was to work on their individual research projects,supervised by their respective scientific advisors and the REU Site Director. Based on the back-grounds of the students and the suite of available projects proposed, the students were each assignedto a project and advisor that was well-matched to their individual experience levels and research in-terests. Abstracts of the projects (written by the students) appear in Appendix A. At the end of the

– 4 –

program, the students wrote a scientific paper on their project (precursor to a future publication).Those papers are linked to the REU web page, and can be downloaded from:

http : //www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu 2009/REU2009.html

All of the students were encouraged to work independently, and to develop the skills and expertisethat enabled them to make judgements about the future direction and scope of their projects.Students who lacked research experience were given more direct guidance when necessary. The REUSite Director was also always available to any of the students who had procedural, administrative,or scientific questions.

At the end of the program, we organized a 2-day mini-symposium during which the studentspresented their work in 15-20 min talks, followed by 5 minutes for audience questions. The workshoptook place at the AURA auditorium (La Serena, Chile) and was attended by the CTIO, Gemini,and SOAR scientific staff and visitors.

The REU and PIA students will present their work in a poster paper form at the 215th meetingof the American Astronomical Society, which will be held in Washington, D.C. during the week of3-7 Jan. 2010.

3.2. Lunch Seminars

Apart from the official CTIO colloquia, the students attended lunch seminar series especially de-signed to reflect their level interests. The seminars were given by the CTIO scientific staff, once aweek, during lunch time - usually on Tuesdays from 12:30-2:00 pm, and covered a broad range oftopics both observational (“Cyclotron Spectroscopy of Polars”) as well as theoretical (“Age DatingStellar Populations”). Additionally, several administrative lunch sessions were scheduled. For ex-ample, the CTIO Director Dr. Chris Smith, welcomed the students to Chile with a talk on CTIO,NOAO, and life in La Serena. More information on the topics/speakers can be found in appendixB and at:

http : //www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu 2009/talks.html

3.3. Journal Club

Once a week, the students participated in a journal club, during which one of them presented ascientific paper chosen from the literature related to their research topic.

The objective of the journal club was to give the students the opportunity to research, presentand discuss a scientific paper, and lead the discussion related to it. Furthermore, this was a greatpractice for the students to search the literature, introduce a topic related to their research, andconnect it with the “big picture” and fundamental problems in astronomy. For many students,

– 5 –

Journal Club represented the first opportunity to discuss current astronomical research in a formalcontext. The papers discussed during the journal club (and the dates/speakers) are presented inappendix C.

3.4. Observing on Cerro Tololo

In addition to the focus on their individual research projects, all of the CTIO summer students hadthe opportunity to observe on Cerro Tololo, using the CTIO 1.0-meter telescope. The objective ofthe observing run was to introduce the students to observing techniques, and allow them to sampledifferent methods of observing. The observing time was requested via regular NOAO procedures,resulting in an award of eight nights of observing time with the CTIO 1.0-meter telescope (programID: 2009A-0003). This corresponded to two observing nights for each group of two students.During their observing time, the primary scientific driver aimed at obtaining BV RI phase-resolvedphotometry of southern polars, which are the magnetic subclass of cataclysmic variables known toshow large variability (up to several magnitudes) at optical wavelengths due to orbitally variablecyclotron emission. The sources are pedagogically informative: due to their short orbital periods(1.5 - 3.0 hrs), the students could actually see variability happening in real time. Furthermore,the wavelength dependance of cyclotron emission is quite complex, with emission occurring indiscrete harmonics. Thus, depending on the magnetic field of the source, some bands would showstrong orbital evolution, while adjacent bands would not. It was especially memorable to watchthe students mesh this type of theoretical detail with observational evidence as data was obtainedthroughout the night.

In preparing for the observing run on Cerro Tololo, each group of students was given a list ofsouthern polars, with RAs, Decs, magnitudes, magnetic field estimates, ephemerides, and otherrelevant observational criteria, and asked to construct an observational schedule for each of theirtwo nights, making sure to allocate time for obtaining standard calibration images such as arcs, flats,zeroes, and Landolt fields. The REU Site Director constructed a guide to planning observations,which included brief overviews of standard observing tools such as where to obtain finder charts,using skycalc, S/N calculations with IRAF(CCDTIME), and using AAVSO photometry. Balancingobservability with S/N and observational cadence concerns in each photometric band, drove thestudent object selection. Furthermore, a small percentage of the telescope time each night (20 %)was dedicated to other types of objects which were directly selected by the students. Thus, over the8 nights at Cerro Tololo we observed Herbig-Haro objects, globular clusters, planets, tracked downrecent supernovae, followed the motion of a Comet, and constructed the “Hubble Sequence” byobserving galaxies from early to late types. This exploration was augmented by Astrophotographytaken by some of the students on the summit, resulting in many beautiful shots of the southernsky. Below, we show one such photo, taken by REU student Jordan Mirocha, showing star-tracksaround the southern celestial pole, with the Magellenic Clouds clearly visible.

– 6 –

Fig. 1.— Star-Tracks around south celestial pole with the CTIO Blanco 4-m in the Background

3.5. Cerro Paranal and Cerro Armazones Trip

The REU grant provides funding for a three day field trip to a site of astronomical significance.For the 2009 program, we chose to visit Cerro Paranal and Cerro Armazones. The two sites aresituated 35 km from one another, a three hour drive from Antofagasta, through some of the mostarid (and beautiful!) terrain on Earth. Paranal is the site of the European Southern Observatory(ESO), one of the primer astronomical sites in the world, and home to the VLT - an array of four8.2-meter telescopes, which can be networked together through the technique of interferometry,and made to act as one enormous dish. The site tour was conducted by Dr. Michael West, head ofScience operations for ESO, who made the trip up to Antofagasta from the science office in Santiagoexpressly to meet our group. The observatory walkthrough was fantastic including tours of the UT3 (“Melipal”) telescope, the museum, the main offices, and the residence - ESO’s award-winningecological dormitories.

While preparing for the trip to Paranal, Dr. Sebastian Els suggested that we consider a nearbyobservatory on Cerro Armazones for overnight accommodations. Cerro Armazones is one of two

– 7 –

proposed sites for the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), to be built during the next decade.As one would expect from a prospective host for a world class facility, it is an extremely pristine anddark site. We planned the trip to coincide with new moon (Feb 27) to take full advantage of thisunique opportunity, and were stunned by the star gazing opportunities arose. An observatory guardand his dog (“Lady”) acted as our hosts, preparing us fresh bread and Asado (Chilean Barbeque),and offering tours to the summit. While there we were tasked with replacing a remote computerused for monitoring the site, with a newer model offering a bit of instrumentation experience forthe students. The corrugated cargo containers offered only rustic accommodations, but most of thestudents chose to sleep outside to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime spectacle overhead. A group picturetaken several KMs from the camp is shown below.

Fig. 2.— Group photo of the 2009 CTIO REU/PIA program taken on route to Cerro Armazones

3.6. Other Scientific Activities

During the course of the program, the students gave two 10-min progress reports (February 10and March 3), during which they presented their progress in front of the group and discussedproblems with their work. This was a great way to make sure that substantial progress was made

– 8 –

in the relevant projects, and allowed the students to practice their presentation skills (which wereimproved dramatically by the end of the program).

Also, the students had the opportunity to visit Cerro Pachon and tour the Gemini and SOARtelescopes. Dr. G. Trancho and Dr. S. Points accompanied the REU/PIA students, the REUdirector, and local engineering interns to the telescopes and gave tours of the facility introducingthe various instruments and modes of observing in each telescope.

4. Student Activities & Local Arrangements

The six U.S. REU students, together with the two Chilean PIA students shared a fully furnishedhouse on CTIO’s La Serena compound, for which they were charged a modest rent. This arrange-ment maximized the cross-cultural interaction for all of the students. The students have consistentlyrated this cultural component of the CTIO REU/PIA program to be a successful and importantpart of their overall experience.

The students worked on computers in the public computer area of CTIO’s La Serena facility. Eachstudent had a reserved work space in the computer room and guaranteed access to a computerpreviously purchased through this grant. The use of the public computer room promoted theopportunity to interact with visiting astronomers and several of the technical staff. As a result, thestudents were well-integrated in the daily work and social activities of the Observatory.

We continued to schedule formal Spanish lessons for the REU students. The lessons were optional,with most of the cost covered by the students. The biggest difficulty with the arrangements wasthat the students had different background experience with Spanish- varying from an completelack of knowledge to reasonable competence; therefore, it was challenging to gear the classes sothat all needs were met. However, due to the flexibility of the instructor, two different levels werearranged, allowing for a semi-targeted classroom experience. Besides the fact that the studentsgreatly enjoyed these classes, the experience also eased their integration into the Chilean culture.

The REU and PIA students, and the REU/PIA program in general, received excellent administra-tive support from the staff in Chile and the NOAO Central Administration Support (CAS) staff inTucson. The students encountered no problems with the logistical arrangements during their timein Chile. Student travel was carried off smoothly, although it was important that the Site Directoraccompanied the REU students (who was returning from the 213th AAS meeting) on their flightfrom the U.S. to Chile, since it was the first international flight for some of the students and anunfamiliar experience for all of them. Support for transit and accommodation in La Serena by localCTIO employees was outstanding, as was administrative support in Tucson for student payroll androutine correspondence through NOAO CAS.

– 9 –

5. Conclusions

The CTIO REU program support infrastructure in La Serena (and in Tucson) is ensuring smoothoperation of the program in future years. The 2009 program was a positive educational experiencefor all of the students, not only in learning about astronomy, but also about the nature of a nationalobservatory, about the future of the national and international astronomy facilities, and about howone lives and works in a multicultural setting. The students’ impressions of the program and theirreactions to the experience were extremely positive. Where appropriate, their evaluations andsuggestions will been incorporated into the specific comments below

5.1. Program Travel

For travel to/from Chile, and for our domestic flight to Antofagasta for our trip to Cerro Paranal,we continue to use in-house personnel to coordinate all REU logistics with a local, Chilean travelagency. Previous, as well as the current CTIO REU site director have found this to be the mostreliable and often cheapest option. The on-site availability of this logistical support enables easytrouble shooting should any problems arise. For student travel to the AAS conference, we haveelected to use a travel agent in Tucson with institutional ties to NOAO. The travel arrangementsfor the 2009 AAS meeting were done in a timely, and organized manner, and we intend to continuethis relationship in the future.

5.2. Recruitment of Chilean Students

We are very fortunate to have continuing Chilean participation in the CTIO summer studentprograms. Overall, the Chilean students have acted as very effective diplomats, and have providedthe U.S. students with an excellent introduction to Chilean life and customs. This situation is laterreversed, as our U.S. REU alumni take over the roll of guides during the AAS meeting which, forthe Chilean students, is almost always their first international trip. We feel that fostering suchinternational scientific cooperation is one of the important assets of our program, and one that willbecome an increasingly valuable tool for establishing the international partnerships that will drive21st century astronomy.

5.3. Broadening Participation

This past October, the Site Director reviewed past participation in the CTIO REU program in termsof diversity. As is often the case, while some metrics indicate our program is heading in positivedirection, others indicate that there is room for additional improvement. The good news continuesto be participation by gender, which has been evenly split over this program’s existence. Theracial/ethnicitiy numbers are less encouraging, with fully 86 % of alumni coming from Caucasianhouseholds. Hispanics (7%), Asians(6%), and African-Americans (3%), account for the remainder

– 10 –

Fig. 3.— State-by-state Student Selection of the CTIO REU Program

of the students. We have also begun to analyze our student recruitment in terms of geographicaldiversity. Roughly speaking, we have selected from each region proportional to their populations,the Southeast continues to be underrepresented vis-a-vis the rest of the nation, especially NewEngland, the West Coast, and the inter-mountain west. In Fig. 3, we present the state-by-statestudent selection data for the CTIO REU program student selection from 1995 - 2009. Finally, weanalyzed our alumni population by home institution size. This data is presented in Fig. 4, basicallyconfirms our commitment to selecting students from smaller universities which lack the resourcesto enable their students to participate in active astronomical research. Note that these statisticsdo not account for the Chilean students in our PIA program, and therefore understate the totaldiversity of our program.

Each year, the Site Director distributes an evaluation questionnaire to the REU students. Theyare asked to complete the questionnaire anonymously, and are assured that the results will only be

– 11 –

considered following the termination of the program. The main purpose of this evaluation processis to help the Site Director determine what parts of the REU program curriculum worked well orpoorly, in order to improve the program in following years. It also provides a way to measure theimpact of the program on the students, and the degree to which they enjoyed their Chilean REUexperience. In line with our efforts to broaden participation, beginning this past year we havestarted including an optional section, aimed at tracking ethnic, racial, geographical, and socialdiversity. It is our hope, that such information will help guide us toward a more egalitarian futureprogram.

Fig. 4.— Bar graph of CTIO student selection by home institution size, with 5000 student bins

– 12 –

A. Student Project Abstracts

The following are abstracts of the REU/PIA students’ research projects, written by the studentsthemselves. The student’s research papers are available on the 2009 CTIO REU Program webpage3.

A.1. Tracy Becker: HETE J1900: An Accreting Millisecond Pulsar”

HETE J1900.1-2455 is an accretion-powered millisecond pulsar in a low mass X-ray binary system.Studying these objects provides detailed information about the central neutron star, with goodconstraints on mass and radial velocity. The systems are also of interest due to their disks thatemit optically only during the outburst state of the system. Here I present spectroscopic dataof HETE J1900.1-2455, that were obtained with the Blanco Telescope at CTIO June 22 June27, showing variable HeI, HeII, H-α, and Bowen Blend emission. I also present a background ofaccretion-powered millisecond pulsars and low mass X-ray binaries and what the study of theseobjects, including HETE J1900.1-2455, provides for the scientific community.

A.2. Shannon Dealaman: Phase-Resolved Cyclotron Spectroscopy of Southern

Polars

We reduced and modeled phase-resolved cyclotron spectroscopy of four AM Her stars: MN Hya,HU Aqu, VV Pup, and QS Tel. Two of the four spectra were taken during a low state, andthus showed a good cyclotron signature while the other two (taken during high state) were tooheavily contaminated by atomic emission lines to allow for proper modeling. Using a Constant-Lambda code (Schwope et al., 1990) we modeled the two usable sources, deriving orbitally variableparameters for both, and analyzing the harmonic motion of HU Aqr. The models produced forMN Hya gave parameters with a magnetic field strength between 44 MG and 43.4 MG, a plasmatemperature between 4.1 keV and 5.6 keV, a log Λ of 4.2± 0.3, and a viewing angle set between 83.0◦

and 70.0◦. For HU Aqr: a magnetic field between 36.0 MG and 37.6 MG, a plasma temperaturebetween 15.0 keV and 15.5 keV, a log Λ of 4.0 ± 0.3, and a viewing angle between 89.5◦ and 70.5◦.This was the first attempt to model MN Hya with a constant lambda code and the first harmonicmotion model of HU Aqr.

A.3. Will Flanagan: Clustering around Herbig Ae/Be Stars

We carried out a survey of clustering around Herbig Ae/Be stars. Much of this survey used datafrom the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) catalogue, supplemented by the Andicam camera

3see http : //www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu 2009/REU2009.html

– 13 –

aboard the 1.3 meter telescope on Cerro Tololo, the ISPI and Mosaic instruments aboard the Blanco4 meter telescope, and the OSIRIS and SPARTAN instruments aboard the 4.1 meter SouthernAstrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR). We are studying the stellar populations around theseyoung stars in order to better understand the clustering of young stellar populations, such as theirinitial mass functions (IMFs), and to better understand the stars themselves, such as their infraredexcess from circumstellar disks.

A.4. Jordan Mirocha: GMOS Calibration to the Lick Index System

In the eld of extragalactic astronomy, the study of globular cluster systems is an powerful methodof reconstructing the evolutionary histories of galaxies. The age and metallicity of a cluster arethe primary values of interest, serving as tracers of its star formation history in addition to themerger history of its parent galaxy. By comparing the stellar absorption features of unresolvedextragalactic globular clusters to those of the Lick standard stars, ages and metallicities of theunderlying stellar populations can be determined. This project aims to collect and reduce as manyobservations of Lick standard stars done with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) aspossible, and make them available in a web database for download. Doing so will limit time spenton standard star observations and leave more time for science, while increasing overall convenience.

A.5. Benjamin Moore: The Evolution of the Alignment Effect in Clusters

The purpose of the research contained herein is to determine whether there is evidence of prefer-ential orientation of galaxies within clusters at some point during their evolution by processes ofhierarchical accretion. Previous papers have produced mixed results with Binggelli in 1981 support-ing, but a 2007 survey of the Coma cluster producing negative results. The images analyzed hereincame from the database of Hubble Space Telescope archival data. They underwent two-image pho-tometry by Source-Extractor, before a photometric redshift analysis by HyperZ determined whichof the objects extracted were members of the cluster and neither fore- nor background objects. Oneof these clusters was selected, CL0024, and articial galaxies were inserted in order to assess theaccuracy of the ellipticity calculations produced by SExtractor. The insertions were accomplishedby the use of a pair of IRAF packages. Through the IRAF package GALLIST a range of fauxgalaxies between ellipticities 0 and 7 and luminosities of absolute magnitude between -23 and -15inclusive were created. The IRAF package MKOBJECTS then created a copy of the image ofCL0024 in the I-band integrating the objects from gallist. The resultant images were then passedthrough SExtractor in order to determine the utility of the program.

– 14 –

A.6. Danielle Nielsen: The Search For Radio Remnants in E+A Galaxies

We present the first results of an on-going investigation on the radio properties of E+A galaxies, tounderstand the role of AGN feedback in the quenching of star formation in post-starburst galaxies.We stack radio images from the FIRST, NVSS, WENSS and VLSS surveys in order to search forresidual star formation, nuclear activity and ancient radio lobes in these galaxies. In all cases wesee no evidence of signal in the stacked images. We derive upper limits to the mean emission fromE+A galaxies at 1.4 Ghz, 325 Mhz and 74 Mhz using FIRST/NVSS/WENSS/ VLSS stacks of10,000 white dwarfs and creating 10,000 stacks equivalent to our E+A stacks to estimate the meanerror by Monte Carlo simulations. Our first results indicate an upper limit to the star formationrate of 0.5 solar masses per year in E+A galaxies, suggesting that star formation is these galaxieshas been terminated.

B. Lunch seminar Series

• Tu. Jan. 13: Dr. Chris Smith - “CTIO and NOAO”

• Tu. Jan. 20: Dr. Ryan Campbell - “Polars”

• Tu. Jan. 27: Dr. Chris Miller - “Galaxy Morphology”

• Tu. Feb 10: Dr. Ryan Campbell - “Progress Report #1”

• Tu. Feb 17: Dr. Roberto De Propris - “Galactic Archeology”

• Tu. Feb 24: Dr. Craig Harrison - “Age Dating Stellar Populations”

• Tu. Mar 01: Dr .Ryan Campbell - “Progress Report #2”

C. Journal Club Papers

• Th. Jan. 15: Ben Moore - “Galaxy Orientations in the Coma Cluster”, Torlina, L., DePropris, R., & West, M. 2007, ApJ, 660, 97

• Th. Jan. 22: Danielle Nielsen - “In Search of Dying Radio Sources in the Local Universe”,Parma, P., Murgia, M., de Ruiter, H.R., Fanti, R., Mack, K.-H., Govoni, F. 2007, A&A, 470,875

• Th. Jan. 29: Tracy Becker - “Optical Photometry and Spectroscopy of HETE J1900.1 -2455”, Elebert, P., Callanan, P.J., Filippenko, A.V., Garnavich, P.M., Mackie, G., Hill, J.M.,Burwitz, V. 2008, MNRAS, 383, 1581

• Th. Feb. 12: Shannon Dealaman - “Spectroscopic Observations of the Eclipsing Polar MNHya”, Ramsay. G. & Wheatley, P. J. 1998, MNRAS, 301, 95

• Th. Feb. 19: Jacqueline Seron - “Search for HH objects and Emission Stars in Star FormationRegions IV ”, Magkian T.,Yu., Movessian, & Nikogossian, E.G. 2008, Astrophysics, 51, 7

• Th. Mar. 5: Marcela Espinoza - “Search for Short-Period Variable Stars in the Open ClusterNGC 2301”, Kim, S.-L., Chun, M.-Y., Park, B.-G., Lee, S.H., Sung, H., Ann, H.B., Lee,M.G., Jeon, Y.-B., & Yuk, I.-S., 2001, A&A, 371, 571

– 15 –

• Th. Mar. 12: Will Flanagan - “Proper Motions of the HH 47 Jet Observed with the HubbleSpace Telescope”, Hartigan, P., Heathcote, S., Morse, J.A., Reipurth, B.,& Bally, J. 2005,AJ, 130, 2197

• Th. Mar. 19: Jordan Mirocha - “Herbig Ae/Be stars - GMOS Spectroscopy of the S0 GalaxyNGC 3115”, Norris, M.A., Sharples, R.M. & Kuntscher, H. 2005, MNRAS, 367, 815

D. Publications from the REU/PIA Program

Since last year’s annual report, there have been several additions to the publication record resultingfrom CTIO REU/PIA research projects. These are listed below, with REU/PIA students’ nameshighlighted in bold text. For a complete, periodically-updated list of publications related to CTIOREU projects from 1995 to the present, refer to the CTIO REU/PIA program web page4.

1. Campos, M. A.; Ridgway, S.; Lacy, M., 2009, American Astronomical Society MeetingAbstracts, 21342114C

2. Cartier, R.A.; Smith, M.G, 2009, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts,21342112C

3. Crow-Willard, E.; Miller, C.J., 2009, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts,213421808C

4. Lynch, E., 2009, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 213424208L

5. Mares, P.J.; de Propris, R.; Harrison, C., 2009, American Astronomical Society MeetingAbstracts, 21341613M

6. Misra, A.; Gomez, P., 2009, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 21344817M

7. Plunkett, A.; Schuler, S.C., 2009, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts,21340616P

8. Schenker, M.; Kafka, S.; Schmidtobreick, L., 2009, American Astronomical Society MeetingAbstracts, 21343411S

4at http : //www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu pubs/ctioreu pubs.html

– 1 –

1. Science Program

An essential component of the CTIO REU program is the opportunity students have for in-

teraction, not only with the scientific staff of the observatory, but also with the flow of visiting

astronomers who pass through on their way to use the telescopes. The generally informal atmo-

sphere at CTIO provides a climate that promotes these interactions, which take place naturally

during afternoon “tea-time” (which is an informal staff meeting and journal club) three days a

week, at regular scientific colloquia, and in the public computer area that the students share with

visiting astronomers. Informal meetings with various CTIO staff members and visiting astronomers

while one or another group of students was on the mountain typically resulted in an on-the-spot

introduction to an instrument or research specialty.

1.1. Research Projects

The primary focus of the students while in Chile was to work on their individual research

projects, supervised by their respective scientific advisors and the REU Site Director. Based on

the backgrounds of the students and the suite of available projects proposed by the scientific staff,

the students were each assigned to a project and advisor that was well-matched to their individual

experience levels and research interests. Abstracts of the projects (written by the students) appear

in Appendix A. At the end of the program, the students wrote a scientific paper on their project

(precursor to a future publication). Those papers will be linked to the REU web page1, and can

be downloaded from:

http : //www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu 2008/REU2008.html

The students were encouraged to work independently, and to develop the skills and expertise

that enabled them to make judgements about the future direction and scope of their projects.

Students who lacked research experience were given more direct guidance when necessary. The REU

Site Director was also always available to any of the students who had procedural, administrative,

or scientific questions.

At the end of the program, we organized a 2-day mini-symposium, entitled “The Universe as

seen by the Students”, during which the students presented their work in 15-20 min talks. The

workshop took place at the AURA auditorium (La Serena, Chile) and was attended by the CTIO,

Gemini and Las Campanas scientific staff and visitors. The student’s powerpoint presentations are

available on the 2008 REU/PIA web page, under:

http : //www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu 2008/symposium2008.html

1papers not appearing in the 2008 page are currently in a pre-print form to be submitted in a refereed journal and

have been embargoed by their authors

– 2 –

The REU and PIA students will present their work in a poster paper form, at the 209 meeting

of the American Astronomical Society, which will be held in Long Beach (CA) during the second

week of January 2009.

1.2. Lunch Seminars

Appart form the official CTIO colloquia, the students attended lunch seminar series especially

designed to reflect their level interests. The seminars were given by the CTIO scientific stuff or

visitors, once a week, during lunch time - usually on Thursdays from 12:30-2:00pm. The topics

ranged from technical (e.g. “ Light polution”) to scientific (e.g. “Microquazars”) to more practical

(e.g. “So You Want To Be An Astronomer”). More information on the topics/speakers can be

found at http : //www.ctio.noao.edu/REU/ctioreu 2008/talks.html, and in appendix B.

1.3. Journal Club

Once a week, the students participated in a journal club, during which one of them presented

a scientific paper chosen from the literature related to their research topic.

The objective of the journal club was to give the students the opportunity to research, present

a scientific paper, and lead the discussion related to it. Furthermore, this was a great practice for

the students to search the literature, introduce a topic related to their research, and connect it with

the “big picture” and fundamental open questions in astronomy.

The papers discussed during the journal club (and the dates/speakers) are presented in ap-

pendix C.

1.4. Observing on Cerro Tololo

In addition to the focus on their individual research projects, all of the CTIO summer students

had the opportunity to observe on Cerro Tololo, using the CTIO/SMARTS 1m telescope. The ob-

jective of the observing run was to introduce the students to observing techniques, and allow them

to sample different methods of observing, as dictated by various projects which had differnt scien-

tific objectives. The observing time was requested via regular NOAO procedures; eight nights of

observing time with the 1.0m telescope were awarded (program ID:2008A-0003). This corresponded

to two observing nights for each group of two students. The TAC was extremely supportive of the

proposal, giving it one of the highest grades of the semester. During their observing time, each

group obtained data for two different projects: photometric monitoring of open star clusters, an

– 3 –

ongoing program as a part of the WIYN Open Cluster Study2 and all sky photometry of open

star clusters for determination of cluster fundamental parameters via color-magnitude diagrams3.

In addition, the students conducted daytime experiments aiming at measuring the linearity of the

CCD and its saturation level. The above observing projects provided an ideal educational oppor-

tunity for undergraduates aspiring to professional careers in astronomy. Determination of cluster

properties and exploring stellar properties via variability is classic, fundamental astronomy, and as

such creates vital foundations for an undergraduate’s preparation for more advanced studies. Fur-

thermore, the scientific content of the projects is well within the grasp of an undergraduate’s state

of intellectual development at this early stage in her/his astronomical career. The scientific content

is interpretation of CMD’s and variable star light curves in the context of stellar and Galactic

evolution.

1.5. Other Scientific Activities

During the course of the program, the students gave two 10-min progress reports (January

10 and March 5), during which they presented their progress in front of the group and discussed

problems with their work. This was a great way to make sure that substantial progress was made

in the relevant projects, and allowed the students to practice their presentation skills (which were

improved dramatically by the end of the program).

An essential benefit to the students who participate in the CTIO REU program is that they

find themselves in the heart of an international astronomical community. We try to maximize

this experience by arranging visits to other observatories and get guided tours by local scientific

staff, learning about different instruments on various telescopes. This year, the students had the

opportunity to visit three major international observarories (other than Cerro Tololo) which are

located in Chile: 1) the students visited Cerro Pachon and tour the Gemini and SOAR telescopes.

Drs P. Gomez (Gemini) and S. Points (SOAR) accompanied the students and the REU director

at the telescopes and gave tours of the facility introducing the various instruments and modes of

observing in each telescope. 2) The students also visited Las Campanas observatory, where the

Magellan telescopes reside. Host to that trip was Dr. M. Roth (the director of Las Campanas) who

gave a tour of the facilities and labs at the mountain, talked about the history of the observatory

and various instruments and answered to student’s questions. 3) Furthermore, the students visited

the ESO observatory on Cerro Paranal in nothern Chile. The ESO science director, Dr. Michael

West gave a tour of the ESO VLT telescopes and facilities introducing the different observing mode

of the European observatory.

Finally, we organized a viewing of the March 20 total lunar eclipse at the Cadias observing

point, about 15 km east of La Serena. The students were accompanied by the director and their

2WOCS - see http : //www.astro.ufl.edu/∼ata/wocs/ - science contact: Dr. S. Kafka

3as a part of the WOCS collaboration; science contact: Dr. C.P. Deliyannis, Indiana University

– 4 –

mentors, and observed the phenomenon using binoculars. During the eclipse they explored by

naked eye the rich southern sky.