Physics students travel to Kitt Peak to observe Milky Way
Released: December 13, 2006
Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona
Hands-on experience is often the best way to connect classroom material to real-world scenarios by providing opportunities to expand knowledge.
Physics majors Travis Fischer of Hartford and Eric Phillips of Greenfield at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater recently traveled with Associate Professor, Physics Department Chair and UW-Whitewater Observatory Director Paul Rybski to Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to complete observations of the Milky Way and other galaxies. The National Science Foundation's Kitt Peak National Observatory is the first national observatory of the United States and has the world's largest collection of optical telescopes.
Twice a year, UW-Whitewater students have the opportunity to participate in the one-week trips as part of the physics undergraduate research program. Rybski said the program allows physics majors to confront real-world research demands and experiences, both on and off-campus, as they prepare themselves for careers in physics and astronomy.
Fischer and Phillips worked on two projects while at the observatory, observing in two shifts. Both participated in the calibrations of a special, low-noise, scientific-grade four mega-pixel electronic camera with a 0.9 meter aperture reflecting telescope. The first project, initiated by Rybski, was a statistical survey of star populations in the spherical stellar halo surrounding our galaxy, the Milky Way. The students also undertook research, initiated by Rybski and Assistant Professor Robert Benjamin, to find the closest analog in a distant barred spiral galaxy to what is currently understood to be the structure of the Milky Way.
"This trip is not a vacation for the students, as the goal is to get students involved with data acquisition, reduction and analysis," Rybski said.
Students attending the trip can present their research in different ways, including a platform or poster presentation at a national meeting, and may culminate in a reviewed publication in a national journal.
"What we are doing is real science, and undergraduate research is becoming an expectation of those students who wish to attend prestigious graduate schools," Rybski said.
Students stay in a house set aside for observers, keeping late-night hours to coincide with observation times.
"I normally use what is provided by the school, but this telescope was much better. I was using high-grade instrumentation and got great hands-on experience as a supplement to my research," Phillips said.
The trip is made possible by UW-Whitewater's participation in a consortium of 10 universities and colleges that operate a state-of-the-art meter-class telescope and data acquisition system at Kitt Peak. Funding for the trip is provided by faculty research grants, as well as undergraduate research support.
For more information on the Kitt Peak and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, visit http://www.noao.edu/ or contact Paul Rybski at rybskip@uww.edu or (262) 472-5766.- Patti Schenker,schenkerpl07@uww.edu
