About Us
| cometwatcher (kom'it woch' er), noun,1.
A person who searches the sky for comets and tracks their motion and
brightness. 2. A person who sacrifices sleep, food, and sanity to stay up
all night imaging comets, and utters no words other than those related to
comets.
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We are analyzing images and spectra obtained of comets
Hyakutake, and Hale-Bopp, which were spectacular visitors from the
outermost regions of our solar system. We also have observing programs of
fainter comets such as Tabur, Giacobini-Zinner, Schwassmann-Wachmann 1,
Tempel-Tuttle, Giacobini-Zinner and Meunier-Dupuoy. We are building optical image
archives, and spectral archives of
molecules in the coma at millimeter-wavelengths. The spectra will be
used to measure the chemical abundances of the comet and examine the early
history of the solar system.
Below are the current Comet Watchers and what they are working
on. Check out our Alumni
here.
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Name: Maria Womack
Major: Completed Ph.D. Physics 1991 |
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy & Director of the CometWatchers Program |
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Name: Sarah Reed
Major: Physics
Year: Senior |
Visual magnitudes
of comets, photometry, CCD imaging and data reduction,
millimeter-wavelength spectroscopy of comets, optical spectroscopy of
planets and comets. (Research in ASTR 311 course Fall 1999),
Undergraduate Research Award 2001. |
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Name: Corey Strom
Major: Physics
Year: Senior |
CCD imaging of comets and optical
spectroscopy. |
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Name: Pete Crandall
Major: Physics
Year: Senior |
CCD imaging of comets and optical
spectroscopy. |
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Name: Jeff Ward
Major: Computer Science
Year: Junior |
Computer Systems Management and Programming |
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Name: Eric Richey
Major: Computer Science
Year: Sophomore |
CCD imaging of comets and optical
spectroscopy, CCD Data Reduction, Computer Systems Management, HTML coding and design. |
© Copyright 2001 CometWatchers
Document Created On: 09/21/2001
Document Last Modified On: 09/21/2001
E-Mail us your comments and/or suggestions.
Supported by the NSF CAREER Program and the NASA/NSF HaleBopp Program.
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