Speckle Interferometry of 30 Close Double Stars

Abstract:

Speckle Interferometry uses millisecond exposures to overcome limitations caused by atmospheric scintillation to allow the resolution of double stars below the seeing limit. It has become an accessible tool with the production of low-cost, high-speed CMOS cameras. Using two robotic observatories, one in Texas and one in California, speckle data was collected on over 30 close double stars, with separations ranging from 1.2 to 6 arcseconds. The software Anydesk was used to remotely control the observatory computers and perform the speckle image acquisition. Autocorrelation and bispectrum analysis were performed using the SpeckleToolBox (STB) software. The research was conducted as a proof of concept showing that students could be involved in the entire research process from setting up and running both local and remote telescopes, to analyzing the data and publishing their work. Results of the data collection and analysis will be presented here.