Re: Plans for the New Year

[Oscar Saa <osaa@ctio.noao.edu>]

Happy holidays to all TASSs,
Thanks Tom for your list of the places where the cameras are going
I would like to remind you that I have offered to become a station,
with my club in Vicuņa, Chile ( near Cerro Tololo ! )
I don't think we can participate in the development/construction of
equipment but, I am sure we can be a good observing site, producing lots
of data for you guys.
We got lots of clear skies along the year, and we can complement very
well with Pretoria in the sky coverage, now, if you  could get a station
in Australia, you could have a perfect coverage for variables.

Clear skies to all !!
Oscar


Tom Droege wrote:

> First, Happy New Year to Everyone.
>
> This year should bring real data from operating stations.
>
> I am busy ordering parts to round out the production to 12 complete
> systems.  I am not sure where they will all go, but I am ordering parts
> anyway.  Possibly I will have to remake some side plates.
>
> Here is where I am pretty sure systems are going:
>
> TOM-1           Chicago, IL*
> ARNE-1          Flagstaff, AZ*
> MICHAEL         Rochester, NY*
> MIKE            Cincinnati, OH
> GLENN   Dayton, OH
> NICK            Larel, MD
> CHRIS           ??
> ARNE-2  Flagstaff, AZ
> SAREL           Pretoria, SA
> TOM-2           Chicago, IL
> TOM-3           Chicago, IL
>   XXX           XXX
>
> As one goes down the list the locations and commitment become more uncertain.
>
> I hope to complete MIKE and GLENN before spring is officially over.  By
> June 21.  It is not really a problem to complete systems, it is more a
> question of whether I will want to make any more changes.
>
> Mike Gutzwiller stopped by Thursday.  He just appeared on my doorstep.  I
> am always pleased to see any of you and you are welcome to stop by for a
> tour when you are in the area.  But you should call ahead if you want to
> make sure I am here.  (630) 879-7609
>
> We talked again about looking for planets.  Mike almost has me convinced
> that it is something worth doing with the Mark IVs.  With all those
> stations above working, and with the right weather, we could track a piece
> of sky for 6 hours or so.   We might get hundreds of exposures during this
> time, and with that sort of statistics, a dip in brightness from a
> transiting planet might be dug out of the noise.   OK, a little dip would
> not be very exciting with one Mark IV, but if we saw the same dip on
> several systems in Chicago, and one in Cincinatti, Dayton, Rochester, and
> Laurel, it would be pretty convincing.    With a few thousand stars
> measured, one might find something interesting.  So while I have not been
> very enthusiastic about putting Mark IVs so close in Longitude, for planet
> hunting it might be a good idea.  I think almost no one else is set up to
> do this kind of measurement.
>
> Tom Droege