Journal of Astrophysics Research done by Zoe Lee

Main Idea 1: To analyze the 2007 spectra of RW Aur A, and its calibration star
CMC601790, which is also known as TYC 2359-105-1

 For the first month and a half of the research, my main task consisted of
using IDL, and its associated software, ATV, to analyze both the main star and
the calibration star. The main star was part of a binary star pairing, and the
calibration star had many features similar to Vega, a star commonly used as a
comparison to other stars.
a. The parameters being measured were air mass, cycles, coadds,
divisor, integration time, sky counts, sky counts/second, object
counts, and object counts/second. There were also aperture sizes that
reflected the
b. From these parameters, sky counts/second, object counts/second,
mean, standard deviation, and fractional error were calculated.
c. Sky counts per second was sky counts divided by integration time.
d. Object counts per second was object counts divided by the integration
time times the divisor.
e. Mean was the average of each filter’s objects per second.
f. Standard deviation was respective to the same measurements as the
mean.
g. Fractional error was calculated by dividing the standard deviation by
the mean.
 I analyzed over 300 data files, with scores of them being faulty, such as the
one below.
a. This observation had the star being measured cut out of the observed
area by the slit of the telescope. The slit of the telescope is the
entrance aperture to the spectrographic optics. The reflective plot
containing the slit is meant to use the star’s light to get spectra, and
eliminate extraneous light from the background (aka the cosmic
radiation from space) in order to obtain accurate images of the star to
be measured photometrically. However, sometimes, due to movement
of the slit over time by the telescope operator, it overlaps with the star
itself. The measured star (RW Aur A) was the left hand star in the
binary pair.
 Fig 1: Incorrect Photometry Set-up

b. The following observation was a correct measurement of the

calibration star.

Fig 2: Correct Photometry Set-up

 The measurements underwent photometry, as shown by the below figure,
with marked circles.
o For photometry, the little yellow dots are the data points themselves,
and the white line is the mean curve of the data. For the limit of the
green circle, one wants to choose a point where the data points all
start to congregate around the mean curve.
o There are three circles to separate the areas into the outer sky level,
the inner sky level, and the estimation of the stellar image.
 Fig 3: Aperture Photometry Set-up

 After this, I used the following formula.

Fig 4: Flux Calculation Formula

 I did a cross-calibration in Spex, which is as follows.

a. This is not the exact spectra, as the spectra I found will be used in
a research paper, or a similar publication, but it was something
similar to what follows.

Fig 5: Cross Calibration of a Random Star, not RW AUR A

Main Idea 2: Use data from a 2018 observation of both the aforementioned
stars and create new spectral graphs based on this data
 On November 29th, I sat in on this observation, which was delayed from a
previous day in October. The telescope that the observations are done from
are from the IRTF on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Although it’s in Hawaii, a
tropical place, the high altitude of the telescope creates low temperatures.
This can often lead to freezing over on the telescope. This is what happened
on the October date of observation that we had previously planned.
a. The November 29th observation took place from roughly 4:45 to 7:45
am EST, well before the sun rose in Hawaii.
b. I got to observe both the “Big Dog” and “Guide Dog” software in the
observation. This showed both the guidance software of the telescope,
as well as what the telescope was actually seeing.

Screenshots of this observation follow:

Fig 6: Big Dog telescope at Mauna Kea- main telescope

 Fig 7: Guide Dog telescope at Mauna Kea- guide telescope

I followed my professor’s spex guide to get the calibration spectra. Steps

included:
 Use Xspextool to get the “arcs”, “flats” and “wavecal” files for each star in SXD
(short wavelengths).
a. Do this using the centers of the apertures, selecting spectral orders, and
tracing the arcs and flats.

Fig 8: Locating the Center of the Apertures

 Fig 9: The Flats and the Arcs of the Spectra
**note: these are of the LXD spectra, as flats and arcs normally only appear
briefly during processing

 After extraction, merge the orders vertically with “xcombspec”.

Fig 10: All Spectral Orders Stacked on Top of Each Other

 Use “xtellcor” to smooth out any irregularities in the spectra by removing

features introduced by the earth’s atmosphere, and to normalize the spectra
by converting data into an absolute flux scale of W/m^2/micron .
 Merge the orders with “xmergeorders” as well as cleaning out noisy bits with
“xcleanspec”.
 Use “xmergexd” to get the final spectra.
 Fig 11: Final Spectral Flux and Final Signal/Noise Ratio

 Repeat all of above for LXD (long wavelengths).

Pictures follow many of the steps, all of which are taken from my professor’s
Spex manual. For more detailed info of these steps, please refer to the
mentioned Spex manual attached on the page of my website dedicated to this
research.

Conclusions:
I completed the spectra on December 19th, 2018, under my professor’s
guiding hand. It was then sent off to his astrophysicist peers who were
helping to analyze the stellar spectra of RW Aur A. They were able to use it to
get spectral lines of many different trace elements and molecular
compounds.

This was the end of my research for the semester. There may be an
opportunity for me to do this in the future too for future class credit if my
schedule conflicts with the astrophysics 1 class.