Astronomy Copyright (c) 2013 Wesleyan University All rights reserved. http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/astr_etd Recent documents in Astronomy en-us Sat, 26 Jan 2013 10:46:48 PST 3600 The Central Stellar Structures of Active Galaxies: Insights Into Black Hole - Galaxy Coevolution http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/834 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/834 Tue, 19 Jun 2012 08:43:39 PDT Alexandra Elizabeth Truebenbach Feeding the Beasts: The Environments of Low-Luminosity Active Galaxies http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/749 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/749 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:31:00 PDT Adam Thomas Michael The Shadows of Distant Worlds: Exoplanetary Transit Timing Using the Perkin Telescope http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/661 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/661 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:12:11 PDT The Wesleyan Transiting Exoplanet Program (WesTEP) has been initiated to utilize the 24-inch Perkin Telescope at Wesleyan University's Van Vleck Observatory to observe the transits of extrasolar planets. In particular, I focus on transit timing in order to search for transit timing variations (TTVs) and to refine the periods of newly-discovered planets. I conduct a variety of tests in order to maximize the photometric precision of the data, including the use of manual guiding (as no autoguiding is currently available) and defocusing; the polar alignment of the telescope is also corrected. I have observed nearly two dozen transits, including six for one planet, WASP-33b, and two transits each for four other planets. Several different data fitting and error analysis packages are considered in detail in order to determine which is the most accurate. Two planets show preliminary evidence for possible nonlinear TTVs, while we have refined the orbital periods of two other planets.

]]> Marshall Caleb Johnson AGN ON THE FRINGE http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/554 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/554 Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:35:09 PDT Karlen Shahinyan Other Worlds: Analyzing the Light Curves of Transiting Extrasolar Planets http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/419 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/419 Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:31:48 PDT Emily MacRae Leiner An Unexpected KISS: [O III]-Detected Emission-Galaxies At Intermediate Redshift http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/365 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/365 Wed, 27 May 2009 12:35:56 PDT Anna Louise Williams Baby Giants: Finding Intermediate Mass Black Holes in the Local Universe http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/339 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/339 Wed, 27 May 2009 12:34:21 PDT Hannah Ruth Sugarman H-alpha Dots: The Nature of Isolated Extragalactic Emission Line Regions http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/146 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/146 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:55:37 PDT Jessica Ann Kellar Simultaneous Observations of the Solar Limb with TRACE and SUMER http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/132 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/132 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:55:01 PDT Evan Daniel Tingle ALFALFA H-alpha: The Star-Formation-Rate Density of the Local Universe http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/81 http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/etd_hon_theses/81 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:52:41 PDT Arthur Ulric Sugden