1987

H. W. Fulbright,a member of the Physics faculty, has been devoting much of his teaching and research time to astronomical activity.

The Advanced Physics Laboratory Course,
normally taken by seniors in the Department of
Physics and Astronomy, will shortly offer
students the possibility of making simple radio
astronomy observations. Fulbright and past
seniors have constructed a computer-controlled,
steerable 8' diameter dish antenna (which was
originally used for weather satellite work) along
with a sensitive low-noise microwave receiver, a
Dicke switch unit etc.

Fulbright spent the summer at the Green Bank
Radio Astronomy Observatory helping plan and
prepare equipment for a holographic determination
of the shape of the 140' diameter radio telescope
dish. He will return to Green Bank in November
for the observations, which will involve 12 GHz
signals from geostationary communication
satellites.

1988

H. W. Fulbright, a longtime member of the Physics faculty, has recently transferred to the astronomy group as well.

The Advanced Physics Laboratory Course,
normally taken by seniors in the Department of
Physics and Astronomy, now offers students the
possibility of making simple radio astronomy
observations. Fulbright and past seniors have
constructed a computer-controlled, steerable 8'
diameter dish antenna (which was originally used
for weather satellite work) along with a sensitive
low-noise microwave receiver, a Dicke switch
unit etc.

A linear CCD detector (1024 or 2048 pixels)
has been mounted on the spectrograph of the Hees
Observatory telescope. It operates in a vacuum,
cooled by thermoelectric refrigeration. It works
well in bench tests. Computer interfacing and
programming are still under development. A
simple two-dimensional CCD (192 by 165 pixels)
has just been obtained and plans are being made
for constructing the equipment which will be
required for its use at Mees. These two CCD
projects are being carried out by Fulbright,
David Saroff (a graduate student in Physics) and
several undergraduate students.

Fulbright recently spent several weeks at
Green Bank, continuing a collaboration with Ron
Haddalena and other staff ~riembers on a project to
improve the figure of the 43 meter dish antenna.
Holographic measurements, for which the required
equipment had been built the previous summer,
were made alternately with panel adjustments.
The result, according to preliminary observations
made on standard sources, was a substantial improvement
in antenna efficiency. According to
one estimate the time required for an observation
at 24 GHZ has been reduced by a factor of two or
three.

1989

H. W. Fulbright, a member of the Physics faculty, has been devoting much of his teaching and research time to astronomical activity.

Heisel was on sabbatical Fall 1987 and worked
at Rochester on fabrication and design of a linear
CCD array that will be used as a backup to the
system under development by Fulbright and his
students.

The Advanced Physics Laboratory Course,
normally taken by seniors in the Department of
Physics and Astronomy, now offers students the
possibility of making simple radio astronomy
ohservat ions. Fulbright and past seniors have
constructed d computer-controlled, steerable 8'
diamet~r dish antenna (which was originally used
for weather satellite work) along with a sensitive
low-noise microwave receiver, a Dicke switch unit
etc.

Fulbright and underqraduate students A.
Imperial and J. Kan have recently completed
construction of a CCD system for use with the
visible-liqht Meinel spectrograph of the Mees
Observatory telescope. A thermoelectricallycooled
linear CCD with 2048 elements is used. A
simple sliding shutter built into the slit
structure of the spectrograph allows automatic
computer-cont rolled cyclic background subt.ract ion.
All computer programming required for device
control, for monitoring and recordinq of data, and
for wavelenqth calibration has been done. In
preliminary 'tests made with the collaboration of
Meisel the spectra of a variety of stars were
recorded. 1:t appears that the system should prove
effective and convenient in use.

In addition,
Forrest and Fulbriqht have obtained HI radio
line observations of bipolar nebulae, searchins
for shock disassociated material.

In c o l l a b r a t i o n with John Bally of AT&T Bell
Laboratories, Forrest and Fulbright have had two
observing runs a t the VIA ( B array) searching for
21 cm HI radiation possibly originating near
sources of high-velocity outflow. Several galactic
objects, which at 2 vm have recently been found t o
show hish surface-brishtness s t r u c t u r e s , some resembling
unipolar bubbles, were observed. The aim
was t o c o r r e l a t e s t r u c t u r e s seen in HI with those
seen in the near infrared. The objects are AFGL
2591, S 140, Cep A, HonR 2, O r i B, OH 0739-14 and
S 106. The data are p a r t i a l l y processed. Preliminary
r e s u l t s from the f i r s t three objects l i s t e d
show l i t t l e i f any H I radiation. The data from
the other three sources rendin t o be processed.
The p o s s i b i l i t y of improving the s t a t i s t i c a l qwli
t y of the Cep A and AFGI, 2591 r e s u l t s by comblning
with them archival data from e a r l i e r observations
by another investigator is being considered.

1990

H. W. Fulbright, a member of the Physics faculty, has been devoting much of his teaching and research time to astronomical activity. He became an Emeritus Professor of Physics on July 1, 1989; Prof. Fulbright plans to remain active in the Department and at the Observatory.

Professor Fulbright and two students,
N. Cowan and J. Geremia, have built a two-dimensional CCD sys
tern intended for use at Mees. It incorporates a small, inexpensive
CCD element (TI211, 192x 165 pixels), a thermoelectric cooler, and a
mechanical shutter, with operation and data acquisition under computer
control. Recently, after satisfactory bench tests, a trial at a
14-inch on-campus telescope showed that minor changes should be
made. The vacuum chamber and the shutter were made big enough
to accomodate a larger CCD.