Pro-am activities in Portugal

Astronomy is one of the very few scientific fields where nonprofessionals continue to make significant contributions to research

Pedro Ré

JENAM 2010

Pro-am activities in Portugal• Early beginnings (First pro-am collaborations)• APAA (Portuguese Amateur Astronomers Association)• Equipment• Automatic Detection of Meteors• Asteroids/Comets• Occultations• Exoplanets• Supernovae• (...) List of organizations devoted to collecting data from amateur

astronomers:

• AAVSO - The American Association of Variable Star Observers• ISN - International Supernovae Network • IOTA - International Occultation Timing Association • IMO - International Meteor Organization• ALPO - Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers • BeSS - A place for the spectroscopy of Be stars.

JENAM 2010

in The Pro-Am RevolutionHow enthusiasts are changing

our economy and societyCharles Leadbeater & Paul Miller (2004)

Astronomy is one of the very few scientific fields where nonprofessionals continue to make significant contributions to research

JENAM 2010

Early beginnings (First pro-am activities)EUGÉNIO CONCEIÇÃO SILVA (1903/1969)

• Father of Portuguese Amateur Astronomy

• During more than 25 years Conceição Silva accumulated thousands of astronomical observations performed with several instruments

• Main fields of interest: variable and double stars astrophotography

• Founder of Lisbon Planetarium (1965).

Early beginnings (First pro-am activities)JOAQUIM GARCIA (1934/1998)

• Founding member – APAA• First pro-am activities (1975)• Main activities (1984-1998) :

3000 total Lunar occultations ; 38 successfull Lunar grazes ; 500 Galelian Eclipses; 100 asteroid occultations (1 positive); 6 Lunar Eclipses

APAA – Portuguese Amateur Astronomers Association

• Founded – 1976• 1300 members• Main activities – Public Outreach, Amateur

Astronomy, Pro-am collaboration• on-line JOURNAL (Amateur Astronomy)• APAAnews – Discussion Group• APAA FORUM

PORTUGUESE AMATEUR OBSERVATORIES Ca. 70 (2010)

Equipment

José Canela (ROBOTIC)

António Peres Gomes (ROBOTIC/REMOTE)

Carlos Gouveia (ROBOTIC)

ORION - Sociedade Científica de Astronomia do Minho (ROBOTIC)

75 m

PARAMOUNT MERobotic mount

Automatic Detection of Meteors

• CCTV – Mintron , Watec (1/2”): 0,1 - 0,3 mlux• Fast lenses (1/2”): F/0.8 – F/1.4• frame grabber – Matrox Meteor II, EasyCap• Detection Software – MetRec, UFO ...

1. TEMPLAR1 & 2 + MetRec, R. Gonçalves (Tomar)2. Watec 902H + 3,8 mm F/0.8 + UFO, P. Ré (Cascais)3. Watec 902H + zoom 2.7-8 mm F/1.0 + UFO, C. Saraiva (Carnaxide) 4. Mintron + 3.8 mm F/0.8 + UFO, J. Canela (CROW)5. Yoko + zoom 2.9-8 mm F/0.95, J. L. e Silva, N. Vieira (V. N. Rainha)

Asteroids/Comets

Paulo Lobão (Takahashi FS102 + QHY6)FS102 QHY6 20090222

9P/T

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FS128 F

/8.1

, ST-1

0XE, 15m

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(20050600 2

1:3

7U

TC)

Asteroids/Comets

On Friday night, September 7-8 2001, the largest moon of Uranus, Titania, passed almost directly in front of a 7.2-magnitude star (HIP 106829).

11

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bse

rvat

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Po

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Occultations

153 authors

ASTEROID 472 ROMA OCCULTATION OF Delta Ophiuchi (20100807)

LiMovie

115 negative 44 positive (total - 159)

TrES_1

0,26

0,27

0,28

0,29

0,30

0,31

0,32

0,33

0,34

0,35

0,36

53553,30 53553,35 53553,40 53553,45 53553,50 53553,55

Julian day (+2400000) (20050601-02, 20050707-08)

Dif

ere

nti

al

Ma

gn

itu

de

(R

)

Rui Gonçalves @ 938-Linhaceira

Supernovae

19980317/19980623

SN1998S in NGC3877

NGC 2841

NGC 7541

M88

20050703

M51

M51 PROJECT137 h - Mag 26