From Gaia to the backyard - splitting extremely close Binary Stars with Speckle
Dan Gray and Howard Banich
The Gaia mission has measured the stars of our home galaxy with unprecedented accuracy. Their distances and proper motions are now known with enough precision to construct a precise three-dimensional map of the Milky Way. This map provides the data to tackle issues related to the origin, structure, and evolutionary history of our Galaxy. Because Gaia data is available to the public, it also presented the opportunity for amateurs to discover an unprecedented number of previously unknown binary stars within the data. Dan Gray and Howard Banich will present how they were able to measure and image an extremely close binary from this data using Howard's 28-inch telescope from his backyard, using tools developed by fellow amateur astronomer, Dave Rowe. The impressive result they achieved on their first try are easily within the reach of many amateurs, and make a compelling case for backyard science.
Howard Banich first looked through a telescope in 1966, at the age of 11, and saw Saturn. He could not have been more amazed, and excited, to actually see its rings. With that view, he became an amateur astronomer. Three years later he built his first telescope, an 8-inch f/4 Newtonian. Although he has rebuilt the scope several times, it still has the original mirror he made.
He began writing observing notes and drawing sketches of what he saw through his telescope in 1973, and has continual notes stretching back to 1980. From 1992 to 2014, he wrote a monthly column - The Observer's Corner - for the RCA newsletter and contributed 176 articles in all. In 2006, he began writing for Amateur Astronomy magazine, which published 22 of his articles.
He is currently a Contributing Editor for Sky & Telescope magazine, with 19 articles to date. Most importantly, he enjoys visual observing more than ever, and a sharp view of Saturn still fills him with joy.
Dan Gray is the founder of Sidereal Technology (SITECH), which produces high-quality telescope control systems. He is also the founder and owner of Technical Marine Services (TMS), which repairs and enhances automation and control systems for marine vessels. Dan generously provides our club with access to the facilities and resources of TMS for our telescope workshops.
In the early 1980's, he worked on stepper control of routers using Z80 micro processors and component-level control by polar stepper drivers. In the early 1990's, he began working on micro stepper control of telescopes, providing go-to capabilities and tracking. He founded TMS in 1987 and founded SITECH in 2003. He continues to improve technologies for controlling and operating telescope mounts, focusers, rotators, and cameras for both amateur and professional telescopes around the world.