World Year of Physics 2005           

Shapley Astronomy Program at FSU:

                                                                      American Astronomical Society

 

(1) On Wednesday, January 26, 2005, Dr. A. G. Davis Philip of Union College will present a public lecture starting at 7:30 pm at the Shaw Auditorium entitled: "Large Optical Telescopes: From the Soviet 6-meter to the VLT in Chile and Plans for OWL" (2) Dr. Philip will also give a Colloquium on Friday, January 28, 2005 starting at 1:00 pm in room 303 of the Lyons Science Building entitled: "Astronomical Photometry with CCDs: Turning a Small Telescope into a Large Telescope and the Large Telescopes do the Previously Impossible" (3)In preparation for Dr. Philip's Colloquium, FSU Professor John Mattox will present a lecture in the FSU Planetarium on Monday, January 24, starting at 1:00 pm and ending with a question/answer session at 1:40 pm. It is entitled: "Astronomical Telescope in the Past and Present"

Abstracts:                           "Large Optical Telescopes: From the Soviet 6-meter to the VLT in Chile and Plans for OWL": Shaw Auditorium at 7:30 pm on 1/26/2005 From 1980 - 1982 I was the first American observer to use the Soviet Union's six-meter reflector in the Caucasus. The first part of the lecture will detail the experiences of those observing runs and other observing runs at Palomar, the MMT and Cerro Tololo in Chile. Since the 1980's the number of large telescopes has increased dramatically and now the six-meter is no longer even in the top ten of the list of the largest telescopes. The second part of the talk deals with the new large telescopes that have been built and are being planned. Currently the largest single telescopes in the world are the two ten-meter Keck telescopes in Hawaii. In Chile the European Southern Observatory has constructed a set of four, eight-meter telescopes which now takes over the top spot. There are plans under consideration for construction of telescopes up to 100 meters in diameter (OWL). Combined with the new techniques of CCD observations and adaptive optics these telescopes are now making measurements not even imagined a few decades ago. "Astronomical Photometry with CCDs: Turning a Small Telescope into a Large Telescope and the Large Telescopes do the Previously Impossible": 303 Lyons Sciences Bldg at 1:00 pm 1/28/2005 In the 1980s a new instrument was developed which has revolutionized observational astronomy - the Charge-Coupled-Device. A small chip of silicon acts as thousands of individual photometers to take highly detailed pictures of areas on the celestial sphere. Unlike the photographic plate, which has a distinctly non-linear response to incoming photons, the CCD has a linear response over a range of many magnitudes. In my work I have been able to do photometry on globular clusters with a 1-meter telescope that would have taken a 4-meter telescope previous to the CCD. Stars in the centers of globular clusters can be measured accurately, something that could not be done with the older methods. Large telescopes are now able to construct cluster color-magnitude diagrams of clusters and stars in external galaxies. The Hubble Space Telescope is taking pictures of galaxies that formed soon after the Big Bang. In the talk I will start by describing how a CCD works and then give examples of applications of the device to astronomical projects. "Astronomical Telescope in the Past and Present": FSU Planetarium at 1:00 pm on 1/24/2005 This lecture is intended for FSU Students and other members of FSU community who wish to be fully prepared to hear Dr. Philip's Colloquium on Friday, 1/28. Dr. Mattox will discuss Astronomical Telescopes, beginning with the work of Galileo, and following the evolution of astronomical telescopes over time to the modern era. He will discuss the use of film and photoelectric detectors with telescopes, setting the stage for Dr. Philip's presentation on the use of Charge-Coupled-Devices with telescopes on Friday. He will also briefly discuss telescopes for observation of electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths longer and shorter than light. For more information about the Shapley Lecture and Colloquium at FSU please contact Professor John Mattox (phone 672-1652).