Analysis of the data from the Gattini Antarctic camera network

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Gattini network consists of three cameras located at the high-altitude Antarctic sites Dome C, Dome A, and South Pole. These star transit cameras monitor wide areas of the Southern sky, taking an image every 5-15 minutes throughout the entire Antarctic winter season. The network has been in operation since the Antarctic 2006 winter season. The award is for the data reduction and subsequent publication of results obtained from more than 3 TB (terabytes) data sets collected by this network to date. The data reduction program will focus on two distinct areas: (1) obtaining photometric light curves of the brightest and most interesting long-period variable stars in the Southern sky, which have known parallaxes and other parameters, and are unique stars with no counterparts in the Kepler spacecraft field; and (2) producing astronomical site testing results that are critical for validating high-altitude Antarctic sites to allow planning of future large astronomical facilities. The broader impacts of this project are in its involvement of an undergraduate student in the project data processing and analyses, as well as the Gattini camera network unique science results could be critical for the validation of future major projects in Antarctic astronomy.