Nyrölä Observatory

Petri Tikkanen

Jyväskylän Sirius ry

Jyväskylän Sirius ry, Finland

Astronomical associationFounded 1959230 members, 2 observatoriesOne of the most active astro clubs in Finland

62 N25 E

Nyrölä ObservatoryCountryside amateur observatory20 kms Northwest of JyväskyläTop gears: large robotic telescopes

and CCD-imagerVery dark siteActive group of observers

Present Equipment Meade LX200 telescopes

16 and 10 inch models SBIG ST8XE CCD-imager

AO-7 active optics device BVR filter set

Optec TCF-S focuser Optec f5 focal reducer Watec N100 video camera

GPS time inserter 256 kbps Internet, 2Mb/s

From pretty pictures ...

Moon

Planets: Jupiter and Saturn

M1 - Supernova remnant

M51 – The Whirlpool Galaxy

Sunflower Galaxy M63

NGC 6951 and two supernovae

NGC3786 and SN2004bd

Galaxy clusters – Stephen’s Quintet

to Scientific Observing Programs

Kataklysmic variables (AAVSO, VSNET, CBA)

Gamma-ray bursters (AAVSO) Blazar monitoring (WEBT, GTN) Asteroids (MPC) Asteroid light curves (Helsinki university) Jovian moons (Armagh university) Exoplanets (transitsearch.org) Comets (NASA STSP) Triton (TritonWatch)

Eclipsing dwarf nova IY UMa

WZ Sagittae superoutburst 2001

Over 8500 images taken at Nyrölä 7-10/2001

SDSS 173008.38+624754.7

Light curve from Oct 22, 2001

Mercury transit May 7, 2003

Lunar eclipse of November 8/9, 2003

Long lost NEO asteroid Hermes 2003-10-18 21:15 - 22:19 UT

Asteroid hunting

Minor planet (22978) Nyrölä

Discovered at Nyrola on March 15, 1999 Diameter about 15 kms

Asteroid Light Curves

From the light curves it is possible to compute the 3-D model of the asteroid

Collaboration with University of Helsinki

Several amateurs are helping to provide the light curveshttp://www.astro.helsinki.fi/~jtpesone/harras.html

Binary asteroid (1089) Tama

Eclipse

Transit?

Comets

C/2002 T7 (Linear) 1.1.2004

Small Telescope Science Program

Observing comet 2P/Tempel1 for NASA Deep Impact mission

Observing campaign for advanced amateurs and professional observatoties

http://deepimpact.astro.umd.edu/stsp/

26.8.2000. Nyrölä40cm Meade LX200,

R-filter

9.9.2000. Nyrölä40cm Meade LX200,

R-filter

Images of comet 2P/Tempel 1

Mutual events of Jovian moons

Callisto occults Europe Jan 16, 2003

Light echo of V838 Monocerotis

1989 - DSS2R

Eksoplanet HD 209458b

SAO 107623Spectral: F8Distance: 153 lyMagnitude: 7.65RA: 22h 03m 10s Dec:+18°53'03"

Pegasus

Exoplanet transit

Observation of Sep 15, 2000

HD209458

866 images with 10 s integration

Final light curve

This observation inspired transitsearch.org!

Blazars

Active galaxy nuclei (AGNs) billions of light years away

Engine: super massive black hole (or several!)

3C66A observation of Sep 25, 2003

Blazar S5 0716+71 light curves

GCN -The GRB Coordinates Networkhttp://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/gamcosray/legr/bacodine/gcn_main.html

Nyrölä

The first success:Gamma-ray burst GRB000926

Palomar observatory Nyrölä Observatory Digital Sky Survey II September 28, 2000

Delta t=43 hrs - mag C=20Exposure 17 x 240s

Negative observation of a short-hard GRB 010119

Color image of GRB afterglow

The first colour image of GRB afterglow by amateurs!

Multicolour light curve of fading GRB afterglow

The first GRB OT light curve by amateur astronomers!

GRB030329: ‘Monster GRB’Combined Amateur Light curve (by AAVSO)

Venus transit 8.6.2004

Binoculars & telescopes

Digital cameras Live video feed to

internet (how?)

Auroraborealis

Questions?

Petri Tikkanen

tel: +358-50-63645

petri.tikkanen@jklsirius.fi

http://www.ursa.fi/sirius

Involvement with GRBs

GRB team formed in 1999 Joined to GCN network in January, 1999

Pager alerts to cell phones + emailGCN Circular subscriptionReal time Socket Alerts since February,

2001 Joined to AAVSO GRB Network Oct, 2000

email alerts + chart service 14 published GCN Circulars