The Michigan State University campus observatory and its 60-cm Boller & Chivens telescope will be refurbished and modernized. This will enable an expansion of programs in research, education, and outreach. The research will involve undergraduate, graduate, and summer Research Experiences for Undergraduate students at every stage.
Research will emphasize long-term photometric studies of pulsating variable stars. The revitalized campus observatory will allow the undertaking of studies of these stars that require months or even years of observing time, filling a niche not easily matched at many other facilities.
The refurbished telescope will also be used for observing as part of college courses. Classes of astrophysics majors and classes of non-science majors will use the telescope in different ways. The program of public outreach that has attracted more than 30,000 visitors to the observatory since 1986 will be continued. The collaboration with Abrams Planetarium, one of the major astronomy outreach facilities in Michigan, will be expanded. In cooperation with the staff of Abrams Planetarium, the PI and collaborators will produce a planetarium program designed to show schoolchildren what goes on at an observatory.
Approximately 20% of the research time will be made available to qualified members of the astronomical community.
This award is being funded jointly by the Division of Astronomical Sciences and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities.
