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E.R. Craine (GNAT/WRC), W.G.G. Scharlach (GNAT), A.L. Kraus (CalTech/GNAT), M.S. Giampapa (NSO/NOAO), R.A. Tucker (GPO/GNAT)
The MG1 Survey is a two year unfiltered, scan-mode CCD imaging survey of a 48-arcmin wide band centered at declination +03° 18m 20s. The MG1 survey has yielded open channel photometry of about 2.1 million stars, of which some 35,000 were identified as likely variable star candidates. Of those 35,000 only about 200 are cataloged in the GCVS. In this poster we summarize the statistics of the detections of known variable stars which were made using the MG1 data. The results will be used to improve the methods and techniques that will be employed in future GNAT scan-mode surveys. We also indicate how these data can be used to develop useful student projects. Six new scan-mode telescopes are under construction for the Global Network of Astronomical Telescopes, Inc. (GNAT), effective October 2004. Three of these telescopes are expected to become operational during the winter of 2004-05 and will be sited in Southern Arizona as a coordinated triplet of photometric CCD imaging instruments. Another existing telescope will be operational before December 2004. All four of these telescopes will be used primarily to gather low amplitude variability data on Solar-type stars in the Pleiades and M67, respectively, in a study of parameters that control the ambient radiative and particle environments of the habitable zones around such stars. Because the telescopes will operate nightly for several years there will be a huge collateral accumulation of photometric data from 24-hour long strips of the sky approximately 48 arcmin wide. Nightly bandpass photometry will be obtained for an estimated 4-6 million stars, hence yielding a large archive of data for a wide variety of interesting research projects. We would like to attract collaborators comprised of students, professional and amateur astronomers. The next two surveys to be run are the G1 Survey, at a declination of approximately +24° (one telescope and a single filter), and the G2 survey, at a declination of approximately +12° (three telescopes and two filters). The exact declinations will be chosen to maximize the number of solar-type stars in the respective fields. We outline in this poster several of the possible research projects that offer opportunities for collaboration.
This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through the NASA Astrobiology Institute under Cooperative Agreement No. CAN-02-OSS-02 issued through the Office of Space Science.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.