Harvey Mudd College is using a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) camera and image processing system to enable students to make a variety of observations in astronomy. The camera is attached to a recently- completed 1-meter telescope constructed by the college at nearby Table Mountain Observatory. It is being used by students to search for supernovae in external galaxies and to do photometry on galaxies and on globular clusters. Every physics major at the college must complete a research project before graduation, and the imaging system allows them to do projects in observational astronomy of extended objects in a particularly appropriate way. Harvey Mudd College will match the grant with an equal amount of funds.
