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Astronomical Activities of Delta State University Students

By September 8, 2011General

Delta State and Bayou Academy students observe the meteor shower Aurigas.

Delta State University and Bayou Academy students had the opportunity to participate in a night expedition. On September 1, 2011, students enrolled in Delta State’s Astronomy course and Bayou Academy’s Physical World course observed the meteor shower Aurigas.

Aurigas rises during the late summer after midnight. Students met for the expedition at 1:00 a.m. in Walters Hall on Delta State’s campus. Telescopes were transported out of town where the skies were clear.

For two successful hours, the group observed and counted meteors. The average number of meteors per hour observed during this expedition was nine, which a very good result for Aurigas in astronomy according to Ala Gabryszewska–Kukawa, a professor at Delta State.

Students observed meteors with the naked eye, but the telescopes were used to watch some very interesting objects which could be found in the local skies that night. Some of those observations included Pleiades, an open cluster of stars located in Taurus Constellation, Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus Constellation, and the planet Jupiter with its Galileo Moons, Io, Ganymede, Europe, and Callisto.  

Expedition leader Gabryszewska-Kukawa said, “We hope that students had a really nice time with astronomy. Their observations were done successfully!”

Additional astronomy observations are being done by students enrolled in Delta State’s Advanced Astronomy course. This fall is the third campaign in which Delta State students have participated in the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).

IASC is run by NASA and concentrates on finding new asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter. Students taking part in this campaign receive sky pictures taken every night by three large telescopes located in South America.

In the past, students in this program have discovered two new asteroids and confirmed the existence of three other “Near Earth Asteroids (NEO).” Gabryszewska–Kukawa and students look forward to hunting for new discoveries during this campaign.