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
Round 1 Archive Page
This page contains the archive of information from our first Spitzer Space Telescope project.
Posters Completed, Results Posted Online
Our posters were presented at the 207th AAS in Washington, DC during January 2006.
JPG versions of the posters are here:
Research results: AGN Spectral Energy Diagrams of GLAST Global Telescope Network Object 4C29.45 (Session AAS#207, 24.11)
Education/Outreach: Using Space Telescopes Observations in a Classroom Setting (Session AAS #207, 215.04)
The pdf versions of the documents are quite large. Contact us if you want to print an original poster from the final production files.
PDF versions of Round 1 posters online
Note: These are high-resolution files which are are around 17MB each...don't download over a slow connection. Try downloading (right-click, save source file) them and opening them without your browser if you experience memory issues.
IRAC Observation COMPLETED
The Spitzer Space Telescope observed our target with
the IRAC camera on
Jun 09 2005 18:32:49.000 UT
11:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time on the day of June 9, 2005
MIPS Observation COMPLETED
The Spitzer Space Telescope observed our target!
May 14 2005 10:40:36.400 UT
3:40 AM Pacific Daylight Time on the night of May13th /morning of the 14th
Early Results
ESPACE Academy students Brielle Hinckley and Joanna Catiller and Sean Hyland used a remote control telescope from New Mexico Skies on March 3, 2005. Observing time was provided by a grant from the Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education program, to photograph GTN 7 with a 2 minute exposure. Here is a representative image of the target object:
The arrow indicates the target, GTN 7. Compare this with the finder chart provided by the GLAST project:
It is easy to see we have properly identified the target and that it is bright enough to measure. These students are working on this project right now and will be collecting data right up until the observing window for Spitzer. We are interested in your observations as well, so if you would like to participate, please let us know.
Downloads:
Starry Night Ephemerides for targets (based on observing from San Francisco, California). These files are zipped. When decompressed you will find 8 text files, consisting of emphemerides for the beginning and ending of the Spitzer observing window for each of our 4 targets. Only nighttime ephemerides are included since we are planning to attempt simultaneous observations with the Spitzer. The text files can be read with any word processor or web browser.