Scientific highlights

In reverse chronological order. Note: MCBA is Michael Ashley, CSB is Colin Bembrick, BDC is Brad Carter, JBWC is Jack Cochrane, PM is Peter Mitchell:

• 18-Dec-1995 Ian Price (University of Newcastle; Stromlo Vacation Scholar), Brian Schmidt, MCBA--Observations continue on the supernova project.
• 23-Aug-1995 Bruce Grossan, MCBA--Work commences on using the APT for a gamma ray burst detection experiment, in a collaboration between the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Grossan, Perlmutter), and UNSW (Ashley, Storey). Supernovae observations continue. An image was taken of Comet Hale-Bopp, currently at about 10th magnitude.
• 1995 Andrew Jacob--An experimental program to test a new H alpha filter concept.
• 20-Apr-1995 Brian Schmidt, MCBA--Observations commence for a supernova search. Over 800 galaxies can be observed in two nights (40 fields per night, each field is observed for two consecutive 300 second exposures, each field contains on average 10 galaxies).
• 04-Mar-1995 to 20-Apr-1995 MCBA, Oliver Prouton, and CSB--Observations of the Delta Scuti variable star FG Vir were made as part of an international campaign coordinated by Michel Breger in Austria. 8000 images were taken over 163 hours of observations over 44 nights, using 60 second integrations separated by 15 seconds. An rms accuracy of 0.003 magnitudes was reached during each 60 second V-band observation of the 6.5 magnitude star. This accuracy was achieved by defocussing the APT so that images were 15 pixels across, thereby reducing the effect of intrapixel sensitivity variations. The advantage of the APT for this observation is that bright standard stars could be measured on the same exposure. A subset of the images is being used for an undergraduate experiment in image analysis by Michel Breger in Austria.
• Nov-1994, Joe Liske, MCBA, BDC, CSB, PM--Observations of geostationary objects for a Lockheed contract.
• 1994, BDC, MCBA, CSB--Time-resolved photometry of a flare star--part of an international multi-observatory campaign.
• 1994, MCBA, BDC--High-speed imaging of Jupiter during the Shoemaker-Levy 9 collision. Nothing detected, but 40,000 blurry images obtained!
• 1994, Takehiko Wada, Ohno, Munetaka Ueno, MCBA, BDC, CSB-A 20cm infrared (JHK) camera was strapped to the side of the APT and used for 2.5 months to take images of the Galactic centre and LMC for a MACHO experiment.
• 1994, BDC, MCBA--Observations of stars in open clusters for variability.