U.Arizona Students Will Be Astrophotographers Dec. 7 (Forwarded)

News Services
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona

Contact Information
Donald McCarthy, 520-621-4079,

Dec 04, 2003

UA Students Will Be Astrophotographers Dec. 7
By Lori Stiles

Forty University of Arizona freshmen will finish building their own unique
astrophotography tools at a Steward Observatory machine shop tomorrow afternoon
and use them on Sunday to photograph the night sky.

As part of astronomer Donald McCarthy's introductory-level Natural Sciences 102
class, students have disassembled one-time-use Kodak cameras and modified them.
Local stores donate the cameras.

For camera mounts, the students are building "barndoor trackers," two pieces of
wood hinged together.

The camera is mounted on the upper part of the tracker, and the hinge connecting
the two pieces is directed toward the star Polaris, the celestial north pole. To
keep the camera focused on the desired part of the sky as the Earth rotates, a
simple screw, turned by hand, pushes the wood pieces apart.

"Typical college students seldom build and measure anything, often out of fear,"
McCarthy said. But many jump at the chance to build a clever astronomical camera
using simple power and hand tools. With McCarthy coaching alongside, students
quickly gain confidence in using bandsaw, drill press and belt sander.

And the students are pretty proud of the results. How many people you know
photograph stars using a recycled disposable camera and $6 worth of wood and
hardware?

Students will be finishing their projects in the machine shop tomorrow at 10 –
11 a.m. and 3 – 4 p.m. Media should contact McCarthy about watching the final
construction.

Sunday night the students will meet at McCarthy's Oro Valley residence and turn
their new cameras skyward. Possible targets include constellations, the Milky
Way, zodiacal light, moving artificial satellites, meteor showers, variable
stars and other celestial phenomena. Media who wish to join McCarthy's star
party should contact him in advance.

McCarthy, who directs the UA Astronomy Camps, and astronomer Susan Kern, a
graduate of the UA now at the the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge, Mass., have published an article on how to make your own astronomical
camera. The article is online at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's
"Universe in the Classroom" site, Making Your Own Astronomical Camera.

Related Web site

* Making Your Own Astronomical Camera
http://www.astrosociety.org/educatio...0/camera1.html