Every summer for more than a decade we have been fortunate at Kitt Peak to have a few talented undergraduates from around the country come and work with members of the scientific staff. The program has evolved over the years and is currently run as a site program of the NSF funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. Participants in the 1998 program were the following:
Caption: The summer of 1998 saw nine undergraduates come to Tucson as participants in either the NSO-Tucson or KPNO REU programs. Shown are (left to right), Lynn Carter (KPNO REU and the University of Illinois), Michelle Stark (KPNO REU and Michigan State University), Jacob Taylor (NSO REU and Harvard University), Alicia Soderberg (KPNO REU and Bates College), Avi Mandell (KPNO REU and Vassar College), Amy Smith (NSO REU and Davidson College), Christopher Burke (KPNO REU and Yale University), and Patricia Van Lew (NSO REU and University of Wyoming). Not pictured, Jenna Burroughs (KPNO REU and Baker University). The research activities of the NSO REU students were described in the September Newsletter. In the article below we report on the work of the KPNO REU students.
Christopher Burke (Yale) worked with Ken Mighell on the reduction and analysis of Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 images of the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Christopher constructed a color magnitude diagram from photometry of the stars in the images that reaches two magnitudes below the main sequence turnoff. Additional analysis has demonstrated that the Ursa Minor dwarf is similar in age to the Galactic globular cluster M92; i.e., as old as the Milky Way.
Jenna Burroughs (Baker) worked with Doug Geisler on a project that also involved reducing and analyzing HST WFPC2 data. Jenna studied globular cluster systems in two distant giant elliptical galaxies, NGC 1129 and UGC 9799. Analysis is continuing on these data with the goal of comparing the results to various theories of globular cluster and elliptical galaxy formation scenarios.
Lynn Carter (Illinois) worked with Mike Belton and Nalin Samarasinha on an investigation of the nature of active regions on the nucleus of Comet Halley. Using photometry from various space missions and ground-based observatories, Lynn created a model of the changing rate of water production observed from five active regions of the nucleus. Properties derived from this study include the physical sizes and variations in chemical composition of the five regions. Her results have already been presented at the DPS meeting this past October.
Avi Mandell (Vassar) worked with Nigel Sharp processing multi-band images of Messier objects as part of a large project to generate a complete set of "true-color" images of this entire catalogue. The resulting images will be useful not only for educational purposes (they will eventually be available through NOAO), but also for various scientific projects as well.
Alicia Soderberg (Bates) worked with Caty Pilachowski on a search for binaries in the Globular Clusters M3, M13, M15, and M92. The properties of binary systems found in these clusters will be used to improve our understanding of the frequency of occurrence, radial distribution, and ultimately the formation mechanisms of globular clusters. Alicia reduced multi-object spectra of giant stars in the clusters (several epochs were obtained) and then searched for candidate binaries by identifying stars with significant changes in their relative velocities between observations. The spectra were obtained with the Hydra spectrograph on the WIYN telescope.
Michelle Stark (Michigan State) worked on two projects. The first, with Buell Jannuzi, focused on mapping the redshift distribution of galaxies (using spectra obtained with the Hydra spectrograph on WIYN) in the fields of quasars that have been observed spectroscopically with HST. This is part of a larger program to compare the distribution of absorption line systems with other structures, including large-scale structures traced by normal galaxies. Michelle also developed an independent project to study several variable stars during the summer students' observing time on the 2.1-m, 0.9-m, and Coudé Feed telescopes. Working with several of the other students, Michelle carried out monitoring observations, and then completed the data reductions and construction of light curves for the stars. Her continuing analysis has allowed her to determine the periods of several previously unmeasured variables, correct the classification of one variable, and find a new one. Further analysis of the variable star work is in progress.
In addition to their research projects, the students also participated in several observing runs at the KPNO 2.1-m, 0.9-m, and Coudé Feed telescopes making imaging and spectroscopic observations. The observing runs were coordinated by Nigel Sharp, but the observational plans were generated by the students and included a wide range of projects and experiments. Other official activities included a trip to SAC Peak and the VLA; a lecture series; and tours of instrumentation facilities at NOAO and the University of Arizona Mirror Lab. Unofficial activities included road trips to the Grand Canyon and Mexico.
If you would like to meet our now former research assistants, most will be presenting results (from their REU work or senior research projects) at the AAS meeting in Austin, Texas, January 1999 and I encourage you to stop by their posters for a chat.
Buell Jannuzi