|
PMCA Home
Contact Us
CONFERENCE
Overview
Agenda
(with links to
talk slide pdfs and audio-visuals)
Posters
Pre-Conference Tours
Mauna Kea
Observing Session
ATTEND
Registration
Travel, Hotel
& Visitor Information
Family Vacation
|
Agenda
LIGHT
BUCKET ASTRONOMY CONFERENCE
Technology Developments and Research Programs
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Headquarters, Waimea, Big Island of Hawaii
31 December 2010 - 2 January 2011
Co-Chairs
Russ Genet (Calif. Polytechnic State Univ.), and Bruce Holenstein (Gravic, Inc.)
Local Hosts
Josh Walawender (Univ. of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy), and Sarah Gajardhar (CFHT)
Conference Webmaster
Cheryl Genet
Mauna Loa /
Mauna
Kea pre-conference tours - 29/30 December
Volcanoes National Park post-conference tour - 3 January
»» Talk slide pdfs
and audio-visuals ««
are linked beside the speakers on the list below
Conference Goals
The goals
of the conference are two fold. First, to explore how new
technologies can be applied to developing lightweight, low cost,
meter class “light bucket” telescopes and their instrumentation.
Second, to describe the scientific research programs that would most
benefit from telescopes which are so low in initial and operational
cost that entire telescopes or even arrays of telescopes can be
dedicated to specific research programs.
What is light bucket
astronomy?
Jacquelyn
Mitton, in the Cambridge Dictionary of Astronomy (2001),
defines a light bucket as “A colloquial
expression for a flux collector.” She defines a flux
collector, in turn, as “A telescope designed solely to
collect radiation in order to measure its intensity or to carry out
spectral analysis,” mentioning that, “No attempt is made to form an
image so a flux collector can have a more crudely figured reflective
surface than a conventional telescope.” We have extended Mitton’s
light bucket definition to include photometric CCD “imaging” with
low quality, low cost optics (typically one wave or less as opposed
to quarter wave or better optics).
Light
bucket telescopes excel in comparison with smaller aperture, more
expensive, diffraction-limited telescopes when the sky background is
a small or nearly negligible source of noise. This situation can
occur when: (1) the object being observed is very bright, (2) the
integration times are very short and hence photon arrival noise
becomes important, (3) scintillation noise becomes a dominant noise
source, (4) the bandwidth is very narrow or the light is spread out
as in spectroscopy resulting in significant photon arrival noise, or
(5) noise from the detector is dominant, as it can be in the near
infrared.
Science
programs well suited for light bucket astronomy include: many high
speed phenomena, including lunar and asteroid occultations; fast
cadence, high precision CCD photometry; near infrared
diaphragm-limiting or area photometry; low to medium resolution
spectroscopy; and polarimetry. Finally, we note that an array of a
half-dozen light bucket telescopes equipped with very high speed
photometers could, with their many two-telescope combinations,
provide images of the surfaces of nearby stars via intensity
interferometry—a quantum-mechanical effect that occurs at
sub-nanosecond timescales. Such an array would be a modern
extension of Hanbury Brown’s pioneering research, decades ago, with
his two-telescope interferometer in Narrabri, Australia.
|
|
Conference
Talks
Special Talk
Kepler: Are There Any Good Worlds Out There? Jon Jenkens
Talk slides Music
Light Bucket Astronomy
Light Bucket Astronomy, Russ Genet and Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
Visions for Large Light Buckets, Russ Genet and Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
Aberration Theory and Prototype Mirror Experiments, Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
Signal-to-Noise of Program Object Measures, Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
Innovation
Innovation and the American Amateur Spirit, Jack Hitt
Talks slides
The Other Side of Innovation, Chris Trimble
Talk slides
Meter Class Portable Telescopes
Portable Computerized 1 Meter Telescope, Russ Genet, and Reed and Chris
Estrada
Talk slides
Meniscus Mirror Portable Telescope, Olivier Guyon
Portable 1 Meter Telescope, Mike Connelley
Kilns and Slumping
Low Cost Kilns, David Davis and Andrew Aurigema
Talk slides
A Kiln for Slumping Mirrors, Olivier Guyon.
Foam Glass Composite Mirrors
Foam Glass Composite Mirrors, Andrew Aurigema
Talk
slides
Video links
Lightweight Mirror Experiments, David Davis
Talk slides Video
links
Tessellated Foam Glass Mirrors, David Davis
Talk slides
Mirror Coating Technologies
Deposition Silvering, Sagar Venkateswaran
Talk slides
Silvering and Overcoating Experiments, Bruce Holenstein, Sagar
Venkateswaran,
Mike Holenstein, and Dylan Holenstein
Talk slides
Introduction to Sol-Gel Processes, Lisa Brodhacker
Talk slides
Passive and Active Primary Mirror Support Systems
Low Cost Air Bag Mirror Support System, Steve Taylor
Talk slides
Active Primary Mirror Support Experiment, Mike Connelley
Talk slides
Low Cost Fixed and Bimorph Correctors, Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
Telescope and Observatory Control Systems
Sidereal Technology Control System Developments, Dan Gray
Talk slides
Movie
Dedicated Systems: Small Telescopes in the Era of Big Science, Josh
Walawender
Talk slides
The Case for Automated Telescopes, Josh Walawender
Talk slides
Near Infrared Aperture Photometry
Progress Report on a J/H(Ks) Aperture Photometer, Greg Jones
Talk slides
Telescope Design Considerations for Near Infrared Photometry, Mike
Connelley
Talk slides
High Time Resolution Photometry
Experiments with High Speed Cameras, Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
A High Speed Electrometer for Photodiode Photometers, Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
Methods for Time Stamping Analog and Digital Video, Frank Suits
Talk
slides
Occultation Timing Accuracy: Dependence on Frame Rate and S/N, Frank
Suits
Talk slides
Occultation Photometry
Missions for Portable Meter Class Telescopes, David Dunham
Talk slides
Lunar Occultation Theory and Practice, Bruce Holenstein
Talk slides
Observing Trans-Neptunian Objects with Portable Telescopes, Marc Buie
Talk slides
Portable Occultation Telescope Requirements, EliotYoung
Talk slides
Portable Occultation Systems for Studies of Pluto and Triton, Leslie
Young and Cathy Olkin
Talkslides
Webslides
(These are large file so please be
patient)
Special thanks to
Bruce Holenstein's friends
Jonathan and Nancy Sechrist at Makahiki Farms
for
sponsoring the special
“Dark Night Observing” roast Kona coffee
for the conference
http://www.makahikifarms.com
 |
Back to top |