Dark Sky Observatory
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Dark Sky Observatory
The Dark Sky Observatory (DSO) is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Appalachian State University (ASU). It is located east of Deep Gap, North Carolina (USA), off of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and east of the ASU campus in Boone, North Carolina It was established in 1981, and is used for research, instruction, and public viewing events. The Cline Visitors' Center was completed in 2011. Telescopes *A Ritchey–Chrétien telescope was built by DFM Engineering, as was the equatorial fork mount. It is the primary research tool at the observatory. *A Cassegrain telescope on a German equatorial mount was installed in 1981. It is used to monitor eclipsing binary stars and was once used to observe Mira variable stars. * The Dean Glace Telescope is a corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope made by Planewave and set on a Mathis equatorial fork mount. It is shared between ASU and astrophotographer Dean Glace, who donated the telescope. * A C-14 Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestr ...
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Appalachian State University
Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dougherty. The university expanded to include other programs in 1967 and joined the University of North Carolina System in 1971. The university enrolls more than 20,600 students. It offers more than 150 bachelor's degrees and 70 graduate degree programs, including two doctoral programs. The university has 8 colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the Walker College of Business, the Reich College of Education, the College of Fine and Applied Arts, the Beaver College of Health Sciences, the Honors College, the Hayes School of Music, and University College. The Athletic Teams compete in the Sun Belt Conference, except for a few sports which compete in the Southern Conference, such as wrestling. The teams are known as the Mountaineers. Histo ...
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Modified Dall–Kirkham Telescope
The Modified Dall-Kirkham telescope utilizes an elliptical primary and spherical secondary mirror as in the conventional Dall-Kirkham configuration, but also includes a lens group (usually two or three lens elements) ahead of the focal point to improve off-axis image quality. The primary mirror conic constant is slightly different from that for a conventional Dall-Kirkham and must be optimized along with the lenses during design. The usable field is much better than the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope without corrector, and over very wide spectral bands, typically 380 to 950 nanometres (edges of UV-A and near infrared) if the corrector is made of quartz. (With a corrector, the Ritchey-Chrétien System also has a better and bigger field.) Such a telescope was designed by Rosin and Wynne after World War II. The performances are equal or better than the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. The spherical secondary can be fringe tested against a spherical concave surface or tested from behi ...
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Astronomical Observatories In North Carolina
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest include planets, natural satellite, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxy, galaxies, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole. Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Babylonian astronomy, Babylonians, Greek astronomy, Greeks, Indian astronomy, Indians, Egyptian astronomy, Egyptians, Chinese astronomy, Chinese, Maya civilization, Maya, and many anc ...
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List Of Astronomical Observatories
This is a list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in operation. While other sciences, such as volcanology and meteorology, also use facilities called observatories for research and observations, this list is limited to observatories that are used to observe celestial objects. Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space-based, airborne, ground-based, and underground-based. Many modern telescopes and observatories are located in space to observe astronomical objects in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere (such as ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays) and are thus impossible to observe using ground-based telescopes. Being above the atmosphere, these space observatories can also avoid the effects of atmo ...
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Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) (pronounced ''perry'') is a non-profit astronomical observatory located in the Pisgah National Forest near Balsam Grove, North Carolina. PARI operates multiple radio telescopes and optical telescopes for research and teaching purposes. The observatory is affiliated with the University of North Carolina system through the Pisgah Astronomical Research and Science Educational Center (PARSEC). History PARI is located at the site of the former Rosman Satellite Tracking Station, which was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1962. The site was part of the worldwide Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network and an integral communications link for the manned space programs Project Gemini and Project Apollo. The facility was transferred to the National Security Agency (NSA) in 1981. Known as the Rosman Research Station, it was used as a signals intelligence gathering facility. The site was clos ...
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Newtonian Telescope
The Newtonian telescope, also called the Newtonian reflector or just a Newtonian, is a type of reflecting telescope invented by the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton, using a concave primary mirror and a flat diagonal secondary mirror. Newton's first reflecting telescope was completed in 1668 and is the earliest known functional reflecting telescope. The Newtonian telescope's simple design has made it very popular with amateur telescope makers.


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A Newtonian telescope is composed of a primary mirror or objective, usually parabolic in shape, and a smaller mirror called the "secondary" which is flat. ...
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Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, previously called the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, is a NASA three-telescope space observatory for studying gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and monitoring the afterglow in X-ray, and UV/Visible light at the location of a burst. It was launched on 20 November 2004, aboard a Delta II launch vehicle. Headed by principal investigator Neil Gehrels until his death in February 2017, the mission was developed in a joint partnership between Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and an international consortium from the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy. The mission is operated by Pennsylvania State University as part of NASA's Medium Explorer program (MIDEX). The burst detection rate is 100 per year, with a sensitivity ~3 times fainter than the BATSE detector aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The Swift mission was launched with a nominal on-orbit lifetime of two years. Swift is a NASA MIDEX (medium-class Explorer) mission. It was the third to be lau ...
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Gamma-ray Bursts
In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several hours. After an initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived "afterglow" is usually emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave and radio). The intense radiation of most observed GRBs is thought to be released during a supernova or superluminous supernova as a high-mass star implodes to form a neutron star or a black hole. A subclass of GRBs appear to originate from the merger of binary neutron stars. The sources of most GRBs are billions of light years away from Earth, implying that the explosions are both extremely energetic (a typical burst releases as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime) and extremely rare (a few per galaxy per million ...
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Thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: DocumentationâPresentation of theses and similar documents International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 1986. In some contexts, the word "thesis" or a cognate is used for part of a bachelor's or master's course, while "dissertation" is normally applied to a doctorate. This is the typical arrangement in American English. In other contexts, such as within most institutions of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, the reverse is true. The term graduate thesis is sometimes used to refer to both master's theses and doctoral dissertations. The required complexity or quality of research of a thesis or dissertation can vary by country, university, or program, and the required minimum study period may thus vary significantly in d ...
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Celestron
Celestron is an American company based in Torrance, California, United States, that manufactures telescopes and distributes telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, and accessories manufactured by its parent company, the Synta Technology Corporation of Taiwan. History The predecessor of Celestron was Valor Electronics, an electronics and military components firm founded in 1955 by Tom Johnson. Johnson became involved with telescopes when he built a 6" reflecting telescope for his two sons. In 1960, Johnson established the "Astro-Optical" division of Valor, which would later become Celestron. By 1964, Johnson had founded "Celestron Pacific" as a division of Valor Electronics offering Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes from 4" to 22". In 1970 Celestron introduced its "C8" 8" diameter 2032 mm focal length, Æ’10 telescope, the first of a new line of telescopes built using methods developed by Celestron to produce Schmidt-Cassegrains at a high volume and low cost. These m ...
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