This page is for the
"Spitzer AGN" group from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Spitzer Teacher program.
We have submitted a proposal to use the Spitzer infrared space telescope to observe active galactic nuclei. Our first observation has been scheduled. Ground based observers are invited to participate.
Links
Spitzer AGN Blog
Post your messages here. Articles and links to other projects may be posted here.Downloading Spitzer data with Leopard. Using our data set as an example.
Observing FAQ 2
Coordinates, exposures, links and questions about how to observe our new target.Guide to Differential Photometry
For students of Jeff Adkins, a guide to reducing images to data for projects.Spitzer AGN overview page
Hosted by Spitzer Science CenterNOAO
SPITZER
GLAST
Participants
Jeff AdkinsLinda Stefaniak
Steve RappAcknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge assistance on this project from
TLRBSE
The Spitzer Space Telescope Science Center
Dr. Mark Lacy, Spitzer Science Center
Dr. Gordon Spear (GTN telescope network)
Dr. Phil Plait, Sonoma State University
Archival
Observing FAQ 1
Coordinates, exposures, links and questions about how to observe 4C 29.45.Round 1 Results
This page contains the archive from our first observation using Spitzer, including science posters.
Observations of GLAST AGN Targets
with the Spitzer Space Telescope and Ground Based Observatories
These instructions explain how to download the 7 observations of the target 4C 29.45 taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope for this project in May and June of 2005.
Download and install Leopard from the Spitzer Science Center tools page. Versions are available for Windows, Linux, Mac OSX and Solaris.
1. After Leopard is installed, start it up and click the Query button in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
2. Enter "4C 29.45" in the target name field and click "Resolve the Name." You must be online for this to work. Coordinates from NED will appear in the RA/dec windows automatically. Click OK.
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3. When the Program list appears, it may have one or more entries. Pick progam 239, PI = Jeff Adkins. Click OK.
4. When the list of AORs appears, pick the wavelength you want to download. You should also specify what to download in the lower right corner...the dat you are likely to use the most is Post BCD data, although raw images and calibration files are available if you want them. Then click on the picture of the floppy disk in at the bottom of the window.
5. Select the download type. If you have broadband you should use "Download Directly."
6. A progress bar will appear. Do not be concerned about the "Unavailable" warning. The word "Working" will pulse slowly and the words in the "Progress" box will change as the file is queued up, put into a zip file, and then downloaded. All the files you select will appear in a single zip in the download area you select. The file selector will ask for a file location. As the data is downloaded it will be placed into a new folder with a code number of some sort. Subdirectories in this folder will hold each type of data you selected.
7. The files you get once you unzip will be FITS files and can be opened with the usual graphic utilities such as Graphicconverter for the Mac. Measuring numbers and reducing the images to data is an entirely different task... more on this later as I learn to do it! (JA)