MediaWiki API result

{
    "batchcomplete": "",
    "continue": {
        "gapcontinue": "Research_Methods",
        "continue": "gapcontinue||"
    },
    "warnings": {
        "main": {
            "*": "Subscribe to the mediawiki-api-announce mailing list at <https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/mediawiki-api-announce.lists.wikimedia.org/> for notice of API deprecations and breaking changes."
        },
        "revisions": {
            "*": "Because \"rvslots\" was not specified, a legacy format has been used for the output. This format is deprecated, and in the future the new format will always be used."
        }
    },
    "query": {
        "pages": {
            "54": {
                "pageid": 54,
                "ns": 0,
                "title": "Remote Telescope Requests",
                "revisions": [
                    {
                        "contentformat": "text/x-wiki",
                        "contentmodel": "wikitext",
                        "*": "<center>\n'''!! Notice !!'''\n<br>\nThis option is no longer available to classes on campus.  \n</center>\n\n\n\n== Remote Telescope Data ==\n\n''Please allow time for us to respond to your request.''\n''This activity should be done before midterm and the second part will be at the end of the semester.''\n\n\nToday\u2019s computer technology, modern optics, and electronics allow astronomers and students to \"see\" the sky without enduring long freezing nights looking through an eyepiece.  The data we acquire are quantitative measurements of how much light arrives from fields of view that can be tiny and cover only a few stars, or vast, and cover constellations.  They can tell you the positions of moving objects, the variations in their brightness, their colors, details of the structure, and how they interact or relate with nearby companions.  Modern astronomy is evolving in the development of a new class of very large telescopes that by mid-2020's will have public data over the entire sky updated almost nightly. Smaller telescopes and instruments in space follow up on the discoveries offered by these big telescopes with closer inspection and careful analysis.\n\nIf you are interested in this future world, you can read more at websites for Gaia, a new satellite beginning to return amazing measurements of distances throughout our own galaxy, and of LSST, a \"synoptic survey\" telescope under construction in Chile.\n\n*[https://www.lsst.org/ Link to LSST at  https://www.lsst.org/ ]\n*[http://sci.esa.int/gaia/ Link to Gaia at http://sci.esa.int/gaia/]\n\n\n\nThe University of Louisville and the University of Southern Queensland operate remotely controlled telescopes at Moore Observatory near Brownsboro, Kentucky,   at Mount Kent Observatory near Toowoomba, Australia, and on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona. \nFor more than 10 years we have been acquiring data for research and student use, and we have an archive of many of the bright objects that may interest you.  \nThis semester our  telescopes in Kentucky,  Arizona,  and Australia are   operating robotically under the supervision of  professional astronomers  and can also acquire new images to meet your requests as well.  \n\nThis week your lab activity is to thoughtfully identify something in the sky that really grabs your interest.  It can be anything, but because there are limitations on what we can observe we will make a few suggestions to guide your thoughts.  With that, ask some questions yourself -- we are reversing roles here!   Why would you like to see this object, and what would you like to learn about it that a telescope image or measurement could reveal?\n\n\n== Available Resources ==\n\n\nThe observatories are described on our website at\n\n[http://sharedskies.org http://sharedskies.org]\n\n\nand you are encouraged to explore it to see about the observatories and their telescopes. The content is currently under development, and may change during the semester.\n\nThe facilities we  have access to include:\n \n* Moore Observatory in the northern hemisphere near Brownsboro, Kentucky\n* Mt. Kent Observatory in the southern hemisphere near Toowoomba, Australia\n* Mt. Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, near Tucson\n\n\nAt both observatories we have identical 0.5 meter (20 inch) diameter \"CDK20\" research telescopes operating with a CCD camera and a selection of filters. These are the primary telescopes for this program. We offer other instruments too, and we are developing the capability to  have you visit us through the web when the telescopes are in operation and to press the \"shutter button\" yourself.  For example there are \n\n* A fast wide field Shared Skies Live telescopes at Moore and Mt. Kent Observatory to take images of stars and nebulae\n* A special long-focus telescope at Moore Observatory to take images of planets.\n* Color cameras to quickly image  constellations, or comets that may span many degrees.\n* Two 0.6 meter (24 inch) \"RC24\" research telescope at Moore Observatory and Mt. Lemmon are used primarily to study planets around other stars.\n* A 0.7 meter (27 inch) \"CDK700\" telescope at Mt. Kent observatory that is currently observing extrasolar planets discovered with\u00a0 the new NASA TESS satellite.\n\n\nAlso we have a substantial improving archive of the best images  that we add to often. We will draw from it when we can to satisfy your requests.\n\n\n== What the Telescopes Can Show ==\n\n\nExcept the color cameras used to record wide field images of constellations and the occasional comet, the CCD cameras on the telescopes return scientific images as digital files in \u201cFITS\u201d  format. These images may be viewed in your computer's browser with some tools we will provide, or with  other software you load on your own computer.  those images require some effort to analyze, but they offer quantitative data on positions and brightnesses.  Over the next few weeks you will be using some of the software that is needed and gain experience with what it can do.\n\nIn many cases we will produce color images from these data that  may be useful if you are interested in seeing form or structure, watching craters or shadows on the Moon, following the rotation of Saturn, Jupiter or Mars, or looking for the colors of stars. The color images often are not \"true\" color but a combination of different filters to highlight some aspects of the objects of interest.   You can make them too by working with the original data.\n\nExcept for the special wide field cameras, these telescopes cover a field less than about half a degree across, the apparent size of the Moon. Each pixel resolves about 0.5 arcsecond (there are 3600 arcseconds in a degree), and measures how much light arrived at that spot in the image for the duration of the exposure. By comparing one pixel with another, you can tell how much brighter or fainter one feature of the image is compared to another. The image that you see, while visually exciting, is also a tool to measure how much light there is and where it is.\n\nSome images may be returned to you with a calibration for the position in the sky, and as you explore them you can measure the celestial coordinates of any point in the image. In this way, you can identify individual stars, clusters, nebulae, and galaxies in the images. You can follow the changing positions of asteroids and satellites of planets. You can spot a new supernova, watch variable stars, measure the separation of double stars, measure the diameter of a distant galaxy, or follow a new comet. \n\n\n\n== Filters, Sensitivity, and Spatial Resolution ==\n\n\nWith the scientific cameras  each image is taken through a filter that isolates a narrow band of the spectrum by passing the light through a filter that removes all but the part we want to record.   If you looked through one of the filters, you would see only part of the light that is collected by the telescope.  A \"blue\" filter would should light our eyes sense as blue, while an \"infrared\" filter would should light our eyes cannot see at all. Here\u2019s how we designate the filters that are usually available by the wavelengths they transmit:\n\n* Blue-Green: g' (400 to 530 nm)\n* Yellow-Red: r'(530 to 700 nm)\n* Hydrogen: H-alpha (656 nm)\n* Red-Near Infrared: i' (700 to 825 nm)\n* Infrared: z' (825 1100 nm)\n\n\nThe numbers are the wavelength of light in the spectrum, from blue light at 450 nanometers (nm) to red light at 650 nm (nm). Infrared has a longer wavelength than red, and ultraviolet has a shorter wavelength than blue. Since our telescopes respond well to \"near\" infrared light, out to 1100 nm, but not well to ultraviolet light, we observe in the bands that are most efficiently detected by the optics and electronics. \n\nA measurement with different filters allows us to determine the \u201ccolor\u201d of a star, or we can put images from blue, green, and red together to make a color image that will resemble what you would see if your eyes could detect this faint light. Images  through a filter that isolates light emitted by hydrogen gas would show few stars, and if you could \"see\" through this filter the scene would look dark red and show only the gas. You may read more about all the filters that are available here.\n\nThe faintest stars you will find in most images are about 18th magnitude. These stars are more than 10,000,000 times fainter that the brightest stars in the night sky. Typically the telescoped cover a field of about 1/2 degree, the diameter of the full Moon, but in some cases it can be smaller to see very fine detail,or larger, to get an entire constellation or a big comet. If the air is steady, the smallest detail you will see is about 1 arcsecond across. For comparison, Jupiter appears about 40 arcseconds across in our sky, and the Andromeda galaxy extends thousands of arcseconds. Some of our planetary and lunar images show detail as small as  0.3 arcseconds, the resolution limit of our telescopes in perfectly stable air.\n\n\n== Objects == \n\nWithin our solar system you could expect to see\n\n* Solar System\n** the occasional bright comet and many very faint ones\n** changing phases of the Moon, and its libration\n** craters on the Moon and shadows that move during the night\n** \"earthshine\", the light on the dark side of the Moon reflected from Earth\n** Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune moving nightly across the sky with respect to stars\n** polar caps and large features on Mars\n** satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune moving nightly\n** changing atmospheric features on Jupiter and Saturn\n** rings of Saturn\n** asteroids\n** the brighter dwarf planets like nearby Ceres and distant Pluto\n\nWithin our Milky Way galaxy you could see\n\n* Galactic \n** star birth nebulae\n** open clusters of young stars\n** active stars that erupt and change brightness\n** double stars in orbit around one another (but not so fast that you would see the motion) unless you come back several years later\n** variable stars that pulsate, and pairs of eclipsing binary stars that change their brightness periodically\n** stars moving slowly across the sky by comparing old and recent images\n** planetary nebulae surrounding dying stars\n** globular clusters of very old stars\n\nBeyond our galaxy there are\n\n* Extragalactic\n** nearby companion galaxies like the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds\n** clusters of galaxies like those in Virgo and Coma\n** active galaxies with blackholes in their nuclei\n** other fainter galaxies out to distances of over 100 million light years\n** quasars out to distances of billions of light years\n** the occasional new supernova in a distant galaxy\n\nHowever, what is available to see depends on the time of year (where Earth is in its orbit), where the planets are in their orbits, and whether you are using a telescope in the northern or southern hemisphere.\n\n\n\n== How to Proceed ==\n\n\nIf you are in the astronomy lab on campus and working in a small group (usually  3 students), you may make a decision as a group about what to request.  This is easiest for us too, since we have fewer requests to handle that way.  However, if you prefer you may work on your own too.\n\nThis project has two parts that are graded separately. The first part you need to do this week is to  define a problem and propose an observation.  After that, we will  find data for you in our archive, or even acquire data with our telescopes over the following weeks.  Once we have something useful, we will provide it to you and, where you need it,  assist you with understanding what it has to offer. Our expectation is to have data back to you in early April, and the last activity of this semester will be to tell us what you can find in it.  When the data are available there will be an announcement, probably a comment on the discussion forum, and the last activity page will open up on the class website too.\n\n* Step one: Decide What to Observe\n\n\nThe first big step is to decide what you would like to do.  Almost always, this is a very challenging exercise because there is so much to chose from.  There is no right answer.  Here is a guide to help you think about it.  Also, before submitting your request, we welcome a discussion on line or email if you need advice.\n\n'''What would I like to know more about that I could expect to \u201csee\u201d with one of these telescopes?'''\n\nOur telescopes  can provide data allowing you to measure how stars vary in brightness (\"variable stars\"),  to follow the motions of satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune,  track asteroids, and capture the latest new supernova or recently discovered comet. When the skies are dark and the Moon is not out, they can record faint nebulae and distant galaxies too.  We offer views of the clouds of Jupiter and the rings and atmosphere of Saturn in better detail by selecting the very best images that are not blurred by Earth's atmosphere.  Our wide field telescopes show faint nebulae and star clusters that span several degrees on the sky.\n\nUse your imagination!! Satisfy your curiosity by selecting an object or objects, and the sort of data you would like to have on it. Once you have made a decision, you have to submit your request so that we know what you want, and you have to answer questions about your request.\n\n\nFirst, check that the object of interest is  visible to us now unless you want what we already have.  Indeed, our best planetary images are ones we have selected from among thousands taken, so even if a planet is not favorably placed now we can probably offer something.  However currently the choices in our own solar system are\n\n* Observable Solar System Objects\n** Venus, still visible in the evening sky and rapidly moving closer and in line with the Sun.  \n** Jupiter, visible in the morning sky, and increasingly well placed to observe as we go into the spring season, has beautiful bands and changing detail, as well as bright satellites.\n** Moon, as always, spectacular in detail and visible to us almost any night with various craters, mountains and mare\n** An occasional comet.  Ones close to the sun and bright are difficult to work with, but fainter ones with obscure names that do not make the news are almost always around\n** Bright asteroids.  Since there are thousands we have orbits for, there are always many we can follow as they move.  Of course no detail is observable with a telescope.\n\nYou might use Stellarium, for example, to see what is in the sky now and later this spring, or the on-line tool [http://n-the-sky.org  n-the-sky.org].  [http://www.sky-map.org/ Sky-Map] and [http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinLite/ Aladin-Lite]  will let you explore images and data from professional observatories on the web. You could also use Google simply to search for more information about your proposed target. If your request is inappropriate for what we can do, we will work with you to help refine your selection.\n\nWe will  make the selection of the telescope and other resources for you based on what you tell us about your request.  For example, if it is well below the celestial equator and seen only in the southern hemisphere we will use a telescope at Mt. Kent, and if it is better seen from the northern hemisphere, we will use one of  the telescopes at Moore Observatory in Kentucky. The Moon, Jupiter and Saturn are best recorded with the special purpose planetary telescope at Moore Observatory.  Objects that cover a wide area of sky may be better seen in the wide field telescope or even the color cameras, but most requests will be directed to the 20-inch \"CDK\" telescopes. You are welcome to request a specific telescope and if it is available and appropriate we will try to use it for your data.\n\n\n* '''Step 2: Register  Your Request''' \n\nComplete the simple form at the link below.\n\n\n[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftQ4tmet7KEqVbofOas7DxGRclERBHfPPZCMkXYZEs__JYKw/viewform?usp=sf_link Telescope Data Request]\n\n\nWe use your responses to schedule our telescopes, so please complete it  while you are in the lab.  Make a note to yourself of your request, and keep some notes about what you responded since they will help you complete the second part later. If you are working with others we only need one on-line request.  In the comments section, if you note who is working together it will simplify sorting out the requests and responses later.\n\n\n\n\nFor this lab we need the following from each student.\n\n\n* '''Step 3: Respond on the Answer Sheet for This Lab.\"''' \n** Object you have selected by an identification we can use with the telescopes.\n** A brief statement of what that object is.\n** Where is it in the sky?  Correct celestial coordinates are an ideal response.\n** Is it observable now during the night from either southern or northern hemispheres.\n** Which telescope do you think would be useful for this.  Explain your answer, or if you do not know which telescope, tell us what would affect the choice of telescope based on your choice of object.\n** Provide a concise statement of what you expect to learn about your selected object from whatever data we can offer.\n** Your preferred email address so that we can respond to you if needed\n** The names of the other students working with you on the same object\n\nFor this lab it will help us a lot if you put your '''preferred email address''' on the form you submit to the assistant, and list the names of those who are working with you on this.  Should groups re-organize later in the semester or you find your self working with someone else, this will insure we can get data to you.\n\nAfter you have submitted the request, then each student should  answer the questions asked here on the usual lab response form and  give them to the lab assistant.    He may have an immediate suggestion about your choice and you probably should discuss it with him before you get to this last step.  Remember that we need both the answers from you on the usual lab sheet, and the completed web submission from your group while you are in class today.\n\n\n== What Happens Later ==\n \n \nOnce your data are available we will respond by email or your class teaching assistnat will provide material for you. there will be another activity in class   for you to use in completing the second part of the work.  Expect it a few weeks before the end of the semester, or before if the weather is good to us. This second part is due by the end of the semester and is regarded as a separate lab activity.  You should make notes on what you have asked for here today to use at that time."
                    }
                ]
            },
            "71": {
                "pageid": 71,
                "ns": 0,
                "title": "Remote Telescope Results",
                "revisions": [
                    {
                        "contentformat": "text/x-wiki",
                        "contentmodel": "wikitext",
                        "*": "\n<center>\n'''!! Notice !!'''\n<br>\nThis is part of an activity that is no longer available to classes on campus.\n</center>\n\n\n== Retrieving Your Data ==\n\n\nThe data we have available in response to your requests are on the server website at\n\n<center>[http://www.astro.louisville.edu/shared_skies/archive/ http://www.astro.louisville.edu/shared_skies/archive/]</center>\n\nYou may be asked for a username and password to use the astrolab data, and if so enter\n\n*User: xxx\n*Password: xxx\n\nall in lower case.\n\n\nHowever we encourage you to use the open archive of public data and select from it the best material to support your interests.\n\n\n\n<center>[http://www.astro.louisville.edu/shared_skies/archive/select/ Open access selected data]</center>\n\n\n\nImage files ending in \"fits\" must be downloaded to view in AstroImageJ, ds9, or Aladin.   Other files may be viewed on the web.\n\nFind an image file  and ''right click'' on the name. Save the data to your own computer for use later. The \"fits\" files are astronomical image data types and usually very large so download will be slow. ImageJ is generally useful for all types of images, but you may find that ds9, which shows only astronomical FITS images, is a tool you like as well.  Use what works best for you.\n\n\n== Using AstroImageJ ==\n\n\nAstroImageJ allows you to view files of all types. It is particularly good for working with all astronomical image data. You can experiment with it -- the difficulties of software are part of the lab experience!\n\nAstroImageJ is installed on the computers in the astronomy lab. If you prefer, to run  a version on your notebook you may click below to go to the link\n\n<center>[http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/astroimagej/ http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/astroimagej]</center>\n\nfor a version you can download to run on Windows, Apple, or Linux computers.\n\nOnce AstroImageJ has started, select \"File\" from its menu, \"Open\", and find the images you have downloaded. You might review your work other lab activities  to see what the different controls will do.\n\nAstroImageJ offers many image processing options, and allows you to build color images from individual images in each color. You could also use Aladin or SAOImage ds9 for viewing images, but they are less versatile for processing the images and making measurements.\n\n\n== Using SAOImage ds9 ==\n\nSAOImage DS9 is an astronomical imaging and data visualization program that is widely used for research.  It is installed on the lab computers and you may find it the best way to view and measure astronomical FITS files.  It is free software, and can be installed on Mac, Linux and Windows computers if you prefer to run it on your own.  It is not a web application, and the files you use it with must downloaded to your computer first.  For more information if you are working outside the lab, go to this link\n\n<center>[http://hea-www.harvard.edu/RD/ds9/ http://hea-www.harvard.edu/RD/ds9/]</center>\n\n\n== Using Aladin ==\n\n\nAladin is ideal for viewing most fits files because it handles astronomical coordinates, and also allows you to overlay images from different sources. However, it does not do image processing particularly well, and if you want to modify an image a lot you may need ImageJ. The link to Aladin is\n\n<center>[http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/aladin/ http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/aladin/]</center>\n\nUse \"File\" and \"Open local file\" in the Aladin menu to view an image you have already downloaded. You may install Aladin on your computer. It is safe, free, and reliable.\n\n\n== In the Lab ==\n\nAlthough the software will run on your notebook or home computer, and the data are available over the network, we ask that you do the work in the lab so that the assistant can help, and you can discuss your ideas with other students.  You must submit your results in the lab that day.  \n\n\n== What to Do ==\n\nIf you submitted a request for data, we have tried to get it for you this semester.  In some cases the requests could not be met because the objects were too bright (a very bright star for example), or too close to the Sun to view at this time.  Also requests for objects in the solar system would usually duplicate our scheduled recording of the bright planets and asteroids.  For these lab activities we have combined our most recent data in the archive indexed by object name, and dates.  You can access any data in the archive by following the link given above.\n\nLook at what is available, think about what you asked for, and decide what question you want to explore.  If you did not submit a request, or if the data you hoped for are not available, think over the possibilities, pose a new question, and use what you have.\n\nYou might begin by comparing the data with what you can find on the Internet too, perhaps in Wikipedia or an image search, but remember that the focus should be on the data from our telescopes.  It will be quite different from the pretty pictures you may get from the Hubble Telescope or press releases from ESO.  \n\nTo give you some ideas, here are questions you might seek answers to:\n\nIn Messier 1, there are two central stars.  Which one is a Pulsar? Does it have a different color from the other one.  Why are the filaments red?  Why is the fuzzy nebula \"gray\"? If this is the remnant of a supernova that occurred in 1054 AD, what is its 3-dimensional shape (you are only seeing it projected onto the sky)?\n\nIn NGC 7662, what 3-dimensional shape could make the object look like this?  There are images taken in filters isolating light from hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen.  Is there a difference in where these features appear in the nebula?  Measure how large NGC 7662 is in diameter on the sky (an angle), and look up its distance with help from Google.  See if you can figure out how large in diameter it must be compared to our solar system.  (Your assistant may help if you get stuck.)\n\nFor the Pleiades, Messier 45, how would you decide the distance to the stars, and how will that distance affect their appearance in the images?\n\nFor the Moon, look for famous named craters.  Find Copernicus, Tycho, Plato, Mare Imbrium, the lunar Appenines, and Sinus Iridum.  How big are they?  That is, how many kilometers across are they?  Why are shadows longer for craters and mountains close to the \"terminator\", the line that divides the light and dark sides.  Are the craters that are near the top or bottom (north or south) really oval, and if not, why do they appear to be oval? How did the floor of Mare Imbrium or of Plato become so free of craters?  Find other images of the Moon on the web and compare them to this one.  Can you see more or less of the Moon toward the edges of the disk?  Why is that?\n\nThis unit is an open ended inquiry. Start with the data we have provided and see where it takes you. Describe what you did and your conclusions in your response.  Remember that typically discovery-based science generates new questions, and you may suggest other inquiries as part of your conclusion. Even if you work in small groups in the lab, each student must submit their own work at the end of the lab period."
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}