Accommodating the planetarium experience to members of the deaf or hard-of-hearing community has often created situations that are either disruptive to the rest of the audience or provide an insufficient accommodation. To address this issue, we examined the use of head-mounted displays to deliver an American Sign Language sound track to learners in the planetarium Here we present results from a feasibility study to see if an ASL sound track delivered through a head-mount display can be understood by deaf junior to senior high aged students who are fluent in ASL. We examined the adoption of ASL classifiers that were used as part of the sound track for a full dome planetarium show. We found that about 90% of all students in our sample adopted at least one classifier from the show. In addition, those who viewed the sound track in a head-mounted display did at least as well as those who saw the sound track projected directly on the dome. These results suggest that ASL transmitted through head-mounted displays is a promising method to help improve learning for those whose primary language is ASL and merits further investigation.

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.

We present the results of a three-continent multisite photometric campaign carried out on the Algol-type eclipsing binary system Y Cam, in which the primary component is amultiperiodic delta Sct-type pulsator. The observations consist of 86 nights and more than 450 h of useful data collected mainly during the Northern winter 2002-2003. This means that this is the most extensive time series for such kind of systems obtained so far. These observations were collected mostly in the Johnson V filter, but they also include, for the first time, nearly complete binary light curves in simultaneous Stromgren uvby filters together with a few Crawford H beta data obtained around the orbital phase of the first quadrature. A detailed photometric analysis is presented for both binarity and pulsation. The results indicate a semidetached system with the secondary filling its Roche lobe. No significant contribution from a third body is found. The residuals from the computed binary solution were then used to investigate the pulsational content of the primary component. The frequency analysis of the out-of-primary-eclipse data leads to a set of eight significant and independent pulsational peaks in a well-defined region of the frequency domain. This means that this is the largest set of excited modes discovered so far in the pulsating component of such kind of systems. The possibility of aliasing problems during the present run or short-term time-scale amplitude variations in some of them was investigated with null results. Indeed the results indicate that f(1) and f(3) form a frequency doublet with a beat period of P(beat) = 17.065 d. Our results confirm the frequencies already detected by earlier authors and show the presence of some additional significant peaks. The observed amplitudes during the present run are also consistent with those derived from older data sets. We perform a preliminary mode identification for most of the frequencies on the basis of the collected multicolour photometry, the observed frequency spacings and the mode visibility in eclipsing binaries.

The regularity of the orbits of comet Halley has made possible the determination of its visits backwards in time through the Middle Ages to antiquity. Computer models have provided correlations between reports of comets back to the second and third centuries BC and astronomical records of the Babylonians and Chinese. So far the earliest probable sighting is the return of 240 BC, confirmed by Chinese observers. Thus far ancient Greek records, which do not contain systematic diaries of heavenly events, have not been considered in this connection. One famous event recorded by Greek philosophers and historians is the fall of a meteor in northern Greece in 467/6 BC. At the time of the meteor, a comet was visible. This coincides with the retrodicted appearance of comet Halley in the summer of 466 BC. Using computer models we examine the probable path of comet Halley on that return and find it is consistent with reports about features of the observed comet. The philosopher and scientist Anaxagoras is said to have predicted the fall of the meteor. One ancient source corrects this confusion and allows us to see how the Greeks combined theory and observation in this case.

Context. Short-period high-amplitude pulsating stars of Population I (delta Sct stars) and II (SX Phe variables) exist in the lower part of the classical (Cepheid) instability strip. Most of them have very simple pulsational behaviours, only one or two radial modes being excited. Nevertheless, BL Cam is a unique object among them, being an extreme metal-deficient field high-amplitude SX Phe variable with a large number of frequencies. Based on a frequency analysis, a pulsational interpretation was previously given. Aims. We attempt to interpret the long-term behaviour of the residuals that were not taken into account in the previous Observed-Calculated (O-C) short-term analyses. Methods. An investigation of the O-C times has been carried out, using a data set based on the previous published times of light maxima, largely enriched by those obtained during an intensive multisite photometric campaign of BL Cam lasting several months. Results. In addition to a positive (161 +/- 3) x 10(-9) yr(-1) secular relative increase in the main pulsation period of BL Cam, we detected in the O-C data short- (144.2 d) and long-term (similar to 3400 d) variations, both incompatible with a scenario of stellar evolution. Conclusions. Interpreted as a light travel-time effect, the short- term O-C variation is indicative of a massive stellar component (0.46 to 1 M(circle dot)) with a short period orbit (144.2 d), within a distance of 0.7 AU from the primary. More observations are needed to confirm the long-term O-C variations: if they were also to be caused by a light travel-time effect, they could be interpreted in terms of a third component, in this case probably a brown dwarf star (>= 0.03 M(circle dot)), orbiting in similar to 3400 d at a distance of 4.5 AU from the primary.