DU ECU (Explorer et Comprendre l’Univers)

Student Observations Collaboration and Database

Introduction

Paris Observatory offers astronomy evening classes for anyone willing to acquire knowledge and experience in astronomy. The class is called “DU-ECU” and offers evening courses in astronomy at first year of university study level throughout the year to people with a scientific high school degree. The students age ranges from 20 to retired elders. In summer, two 4-night stays at the OHP (Haute-Provence Observatory, UAI code 511) are undertaken to familiarize students with telescopic observations at T120 (ccd imagery), T80 (eye piece observation) and T152 (spectroscopy). In addition, observations with the IRIS robotic telescope are carried out throughout the year. A database was created to share all images taken by the students since 2015. The full description of the database and how to access it is described at the end of this document.

Goal of the collaboration

The goal is pedagogic : we are not aiming for the recovery of a apparent mag 20 asteroid (which is possible with the T120 telescope but requires skills the students do not master).
The goal is to provide the students with a much bigger picture than the observation itself. By involving them in an international collaboration (whatever the level and what it means in practice), they will realize the benefit of data sharing and the advantage of different longitude and/or latitude of observation.

In practice

The first step is to be able to share images. This is done, from the DU-ECU perspective, thank to DU-ECU PADC database. All observations performed since 2015 are available. Search might be performed by query or by browsing the data (see ObsCore Target query).

Simultaneous observation from similar longitude but different latitude might allow us to measure the parallax of a Near-Earth asteroid coming close to the Earth (see e.g. list here).

On the opposite, an observation from a different longitude allow us to follow an asteroid or comet for more than one night.

Request

We are looking for partners around the world to develop such a pedagogical collaboration. In practice, this involves at least one of the following options :

• share the images : this is obvious. Images may be raw or reduced. Again the goal here is pedagogic
• simultaneous observations : this is feasible only for observatories located on similar meridian as Observatoire de Haute Provence (IAU code=511).
• follow-up of the same object : the idea here is to observe the same object and allow a (more or less) continuous observation. For example, the observation of a comet might start in Asia or Oceania, then take place in France, then in America, over one of more days. Alternatively, the observations might happen over several weeks or months : the idea is to show the students that Solar System object are subject to magnitude change because of e.g. simple celestial mechanics or physical processes (for comets especially).
• other ? Ideas welcome :-)

Contact

If you are interested, please contact us.