Establish Computational Analysis Infrastructure for the CCRI 16-inch Telescope.

Project Title: Establish Computational Analysis Infrastructure for the CCRI 16-inch Telescope.
Program:
CAREERS (323)

Project Image: https://support.access-ci.org/system/files/webform/project/140/440px-3C273_Chandra.jpg
Tags:
astrophysics (297), data-analysis (422), git (457), python (69), research-facilitation (442), scripting (243)

Status: Complete
Project Leader
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Project Leader:
Brendan Britton

Email: bbritton@ccri.edu
Mobile Phone: {Empty}
Work Phone: {Empty}

Project Personnel
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Mentor(s):
Gaurav Khanna (541)

Student-facilitator(s):
Vladimir Khabaev (647)

Mentee(s):
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Project Information
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Project Description:
Small observatories are most often used to reproduce classic astronomical measurements from legacy experiments in the history of astronomy. Occasionally, they make new important discoveries or develop new and novel approaches.    

In this proposal, we aim to establish the computational infrastructure to support the Community College of Rhode Island’s Meade 16-inch Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope housed at the Jacoby Observatory in Warwick, RI.  The main goal is to set up the computational analysis pipeline for the telescope CCD image and spectrographic data sets.  The data files will be processed within both UNIX and Python programming shells using the IRAF data reduction software. Remote computational resources (likely at URI) will be integrated into the computational workflow to enable fast and efficient processing. The supported student would also receive exposure to techniques in CCD image processing and analysis, and that would add to the technical skill of the student beyond script writing, and running analysis routines on remote systems. The scripts and analysis codes will maintained in a new CCRI GitHub repository. 

As some examples of the science that would be enabled upon the set up a computational analysis pipeline:

•	Redshift distance measurement of Quasar 3C273.  3C273 is a 13th magnitude quasar located in the constellation Virgo, viewable in springtime from the Northern hemisphere.  One of the first quasars to be discovered, it is the brightest in the sky, and viewable from a 16-in telescope even in light polluted skies.  With extensive observations of Hydrogen-alpha emission lines using the high resolution grating on the LHIRESIII spectrograph, and then stacking and averaging several exposures to create a spectrum, the redshift can be determined by comparison with the known value of the Hydrogen alpha reference line (6562.8 A) to determine the distance to the Quasar.

•	Bright Galaxy Rotation Curve.  With an slit angular diameter of ~20arcminutes projected onto the sky, it should be possible to align a medium-high dispersion grating (R=8000) along the axis of an edge-on spiral galaxy, such as NCG5907, to measure a dispersion of H-a emissions from HII regions located through the disk.  It would be possible to collect spectroscopic data near H-a along the edge on diameter of the galaxy, then create a spectrum based on a flat-ration curve in the order of ~200km/s Doppler-shifted emission lines.

•	Beta-Lyrae Binary Star Orbit.  β-Lyrae is a Be binary star system that exhibits bright H-alpha emission due to the presence of an mass transfer accretion disk around the Aa2 companion.  With an orbital period of 13days, the H-a line of β-Lyrae can be sampled over several nights to reveal a horn-profile that can be used to estimate the velocity of the rotating system.

•	3-D Velocity Vector of Barnard’s Star. Barnard’s Star is a 9.5 magnitude star located in the constellation Ophiuchus, and the closest start to the Sun in the Northern Hemisphere.  At a distance of 2 parsecs (6 light-years), it has one of the largest proper-motions measureable in the sky, roughly 10 arcseconds/year.  Barnard’s Star is also a halo-component star, which gives it a high (perpendicular) velocity in the hundreds of km/s relative to the motion of the Sun, a disk star.  This affords the opportunity of constructing a full 3-D velocity vector of the star relative to the Sun’s motion around the galactic center.  The project would involve using a medium dispersion grating to collect spectroscopic data of Barnard’s Star, construct a spectrum, and measure the radial velocity component of the star from Doppler shifted absorption lines in the stars spectrum.  The radial velocity data could be added to the stars proper motion on the sky to identify the stars true velocity component relative to the Sun.


Project Information Subsection
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Project Deliverables:
This project will develop and establish the computational infrastructure (scripts, tools, GitHub repo, remote resources) needed to support the research and hands-on training operations of the CCRI 16-inch telescope.

Project Deliverables:
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Student Research Computing Facilitator Profile:
-- experience with Linux 
-- experience with scripting 
-- experience with python
-- some experience with remote server access 
-- interest in astronomical observation and tools
 

Mentee Research Computing Profile:
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Student Facilitator Programming Skill Level: Some hands-on experience
Mentee Programming Skill Level: {Empty}
Project Institution: Community College of Rhode Island
Project Address:
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Anchor Institution: CR-University of Rhode Island
Preferred Start Date: 06/01/2021
Start as soon as possible.: No
Project Urgency: Already behind3Start date is flexible
Expected Project Duration (in months): 3 months
Launch Presentation: https://support.access-ci.org/system/files/webform/project/140/Kabaev_SPIDAR_ProjectLaunch.pptx
Launch Presentation Date: 07/14/2021
Wrap Presentation: https://support.access-ci.org/system/files/webform/project/140/Kabaev_SPIDAR_Final%20%281%29.pptx
Wrap Presentation Date: 11/10/2021
Project Milestones:
- Milestone Title: Milestone #1
  Milestone Description: background review; GitHub setup; computational resources access; launch presentation
  Completion Date Goal: 2021-07-01
  Actual Completion Date: 2021-07-14
- Milestone Title: Milestone #2
  Milestone Description: Set up image and spectroscopic data IRAF analysis using Linux shell scripting 
  Completion Date Goal: 2021-08-01
  Actual Completion Date: 2021-10-30
- Milestone Title: Milestone #3
  Milestone Description: Test pipelines; enable version control via GitHub; wrap-up presentation.
  Completion Date Goal: 2021-08-31
  Actual Completion Date: 2021-11-10

Github Contributions:  (https://github.com)
Planned Portal Contributions (if any):
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Planned Publications (if any):
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What will the student learn?:
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What will the mentee learn?:
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What will the Cyberteam program learn from this project?:
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HPC resources needed to complete this project?:
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Notes:
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Final Report
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What is the impact on the development of the principal discipline(s) of the project?:
Other than the development of a useful educational resource for Astronomy -- no other significant impact on the discipline of the project. 

What is the impact on other disciplines?:
Other than the development of a useful educational resource for a STEM area -- no other significant impact on other disciplines. 

Is there an impact physical resources that form infrastructure?:
Yes; the project developed a data processing pipeline for CCRI's small observatory.

Is there an impact on the development of human resources for research computing?:
Yes; the student facilitator enjoyed his engagement with CyberTeams and is open to the possibility of computational work/facilitation as a career option. 

Is there an impact on institutional resources that form infrastructure?:
Yes; the project developed a data processing pipeline for CCRI's small observatory.

Is there an impact on information resources that form infrastructure?:
The project involved the use of AWS Cloud resources; this experience was a first for CCRI on the potential of the Cloud for IT Infrastructure.

Is there an impact on technology transfer?:
None.

Is there an impact on society beyond science and technology?:
None.

Lessons Learned:
Many computational projects at smaller institutions like Community Colleges may not be best served by large complex HPC clusters. The Cloud could be a very interesting option for such institutions, especially if occasional use of the resource is envisioned. The downside, of course, is the utilization cost -- which can be hard to predict precisely in advance. 

Overall results:
This project developed, established and tested the computational infrastructure (tools, remote resources) needed to support the educational and hands-on experience operations of the CCRI 16-inch telescope. The computational resources were set up in the AWS Cloud through assistance from the URI Cloud Team.