C2023 A3 - October 14, 2024

BYU Astronomy Research Group Joins the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC)

As of January 2021 BYU will be a member of the ARC Consortium (Link to Consortium) with access to the ARC 3.5-m telescope and the 0.5-m ARCSAT telescope.  The primary use of the ARC 3.5-m telescope time is for graduate student projects.  This provides a wide array of instrumentation that is currently being used to study objects in the solar system all the way to studies of the large scale structure of the Universe.

Other BYU Astronomy Facilities

In addition to our telescope time from the ARC consortium, we operate a number of our own astronomical facilities

West Mountain Observatory (West Mountain)

This is our mountain observatory at about 6600 ft above sea level.  This consists of three telescopes: 0.9-m, 0.5-m, and a 0.32-m. It is a 40 minute drive that ends in a 5 miles drive up a dirt road. The mountain itself can be seen from campus. We don't provide any tours of this facility.

Orson Pratt Observatory

The Orson Pratt Observatory is named for an early apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It is our campus telescope facility and contains a wide variety of telescopes for student research and public outreach. We operate a 24" PlaneWave telescope in the main campus dome, plus a 16", two 12", one 8", and a 6" telescope on our observation deck.  The telescopes are all fully robotic. Beyond this we have a large sections of telescopes used on public nights.

Royden G. Derrick Planetarium (Planetarium)

This is a 119 seat, 39" dome planetarium with acoustically treated walls to allow it's use as a lecture room. Recently we upgraded to an E&S Digistar7 operating system with 4K projectors.  The planetarium is used for teaching classes, public outreach, and astronomy education research projects.





Selected Publications

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Broad-line Reverberation in the Kepler-field Seyfert Galaxy Zw 229-015
By Michael D. Joner, Eric G. Hintz, C. David Laney, and J. Ward Moody (et al.)
Abstract: The Seyfert 1 galaxy Zw 229-015 is among the brightest active galaxies being monitored by the Kepler mission. In order to determine the black hole mass in Zw 229-015 from H beta reverberation mapping, we have carried out nightly observations with the Kast Spectrograph at the Lick 3 m telescope during the dark runs from 2010 June through December, obtaining 54 spectroscopic observations in total. We have also obtained nightly V-band imaging with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope at Lick Observatory and with the 0.9 m telescope at the Brigham Young University West Mountain Observatory over the same period. We detect strong variability in the source, which exhibited more than a factor of two change in broad H beta flux. From cross-correlation measurements, we find that the H beta light curve has a rest-frame lag of 3.86(-0.90)(+0.69) days with respect to the V-band continuum variations. We also measure reverberation lags for H alpha and H gamma and find an upper limit to the H delta lag. Combining the H beta lag measurement with a broad H beta width of sigma(line) = 1590 +/- 47 km s(-1) measured from the rms variability spectrum, we obtain a virial estimate of M-BH = 1.00(-0.24)(+0.19) x 10(7) M-circle dot for the black hole in Zw 229-015. As a Kepler target, Zw 229-015 will eventually have one of the highest-quality optical light curves ever measured for any active galaxy, and the black hole mass determined from reverberation mapping will serve as a benchmark for testing relationships between black hole mass and continuum variability characteristics in active galactic nuclei.
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Heart of the Orion Nebula
By Michael D. Joner and C. D. Laney (et al.)
Abstract:
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Optical Light Curves of the High Mass X-Ray Binary 4U 2206+54
By J. L. Bugno, E. G. Hintz, and M. D. Joner
Abstract:
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Calibrating the P‐Factor in the IR Baade‐Wesselink Method for Classical and Dwarf Cepheids
By C. David Laney and Michael D. Joner
Abstract: The Baade‐Wesselink method using VJK photometry was shown by Laney and Stobie (1995) to yield apparently precise results, free of obvious systematics with phase, surface gravity and microturbulence. Here we extend the empirical calibration of the p‐factor [1] to a maximal sample of galactic classical Cepheids. HADS or ‘dwarf Cepheids’ have been shown to follow the same PL relation (at least for high‐metallicity objects), and a HADS sample is therefore added in order to extend the period range and examine the variation of the p‐factor with period. The derived pulsation parallaxes give a slope of 0.07±0.02, in good agreement with the calculations of Nardetto et al. [2]. Applying this period vs. p‐factor relation to 68 galactic pulsation parallaxes gives a slope for the galactic PL relation in good agreement with the LMC PL relation.
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A Period Analysis of the δ Scuti Variable GSC 03973-01698
By E. G. Hintz, J. L. Bugno, and M. D. Joner
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Tests of broadband photometric consistency for standard stars, the Hyades, and M67
By Michael D. Joner, Benjamin J. Taylor, and C. David Laney (et al.)
Abstract: New South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) BV(RI)(C) measurements of 19 Hyades stars and 11 M67 stars are reported. The zero points of the new color indices conform closely to those of SAAO data reported in a previous paper. In addition, the new M67 measurements of (V - R)(C) and (R - I)(C) are compared to data published previously by Taylor, Joner, and Jeffery. The results support conclusions drawn by those authors that the scale factors of their data are correct and that a scale factor problem exists in measurements published by Montgomery, Marshall, and Janes. The new values of B - V are used with Tycho data in tests of extant Hyades and M67 measurements and of the accuracy of the SAAO B - V system. A problem encountered previously with the Hyades B - V zero point is resolved, and an extant Hyades relation between B - V and (R - I)(C) is re-zeroed. A satisfactory zero point is also obtained for M67, and published photomultiplier values of B - V are reduced to that zero point, averaged, and tabulated. It is found that the zero point of B - V data published by Sandquist is satisfactory. However, tests of B - V measurements made by Montgomery et al. suggest that those data are not on a single zero point. Finally, the scale factor of the E region B - V system is found to be satisfactory, but a well-supported interim conclusion is drawn that E region values of B - V should be corrected by about - 9 mmag. It is suggested that this conclusion be tested by using instrumental systems that have not yet contributed to the testing process.