find the mass of jupiter or saturn from time-lapse motions of their satellites

• use this saturn image archive at HOU
            (use the big square images done on the yerkes 24; images exist
            for periods such as 01/12/02 - 02/28/02 though periods during 2006)

            saturn satellite viewer shows where saturn's named moons are at a
            give time and date so that you can figure out which satellite is which
            in an image

•  use this jupiter image archive at HOU

    (there is a nice set of images from 01/18/02 - 01/19/02 on the yrt10
     plus many others from more recent years)
 

    jupiter satellite viewer shows where jupiter's named moons are at
    a give time and date

 
• discover and investigate a supernova, plot its light curve (apparent magnitude as a function of time);
  find the half-life of the radioactive decayer providing the luminosity?
  you will want to use the HOU image processor (available in ETC, Physics lab 2, downloadable from T)
  because it can measure magnitudes more easily
  
  data for such a supernova project (2002) can be found here
  
  
  loads of supernova images here
  



• evidence for an accelerating universe; plot a hubble diagram from distant supernova data;
  

 
• a cluster H-R diagram (need B and V images) will tell you its distance and its age

we have some new better quality data for clusters M11 and M35 here



• find the rotation period of the sun using sunspot with FITS images from UCLA
 
• a computer model of a white dwarf star  (you will need to look up the equations for degeneracy pressure and make some assumptions about composition) and be really good at differential equations and computer programming
  



• asteroid project: find and classify asteroids in the SDSS survey to learn about asteroid colors, families, and compositions
     getting started with asteroids at SDSS
  
  
• a large number of radial velocity observations for sun-like stars (as a function of time) are here
   data is waiting to be reduced to be reduced
  
  
• find the size and shape of the moon's orbit  (data from US Naval Observatory or Astrosurf)
  
  
• find the size and shape of the earth's orbit  (data from SOHO or from Big Bear, but beware plate scale change)
  
  
• Hubble's law (spectra data; size/distance data; more data)
  
  
• GK Persei: period analysis of a rotating neutron star with ds9
  
  
• chemical analysis of supernova remnants; three color imaging; go here
  
  
• variable star projects are sketchy and will probably require hunting for data
  
  
• other projects using HOU images
  
  
• HOU asteroid search and HOU supernova search
  
  
• 
  

• Sloan Digital Sky Survey is a major repository of astronomical data with
  

(The SDSS survey will map in detail one-quarter of the entire sky, determining the positions and absolute brightnesses of more than 100 million celestial objects. It will also measure the distances to more than a million galaxies (all galaxies with g magnitude < 17.8)  and quasars.
 
• provides
• FITS images
• FITS spectra
• photometry information [magnitudes in 5 bands:

u(354.3 nm); g (477.0 nm); r (623.1 nm); i (762.5 nm); z (913.4 nm)]
• spectroscopic information (including line identification, spectral class,

redshift)
• projects for students/teachers
• how to query SDSS