Data from the Union College Observatory have now been included on published articles in refereed journals! These include papers 2,4,5,7,8 below.
(1) "Lightcurve for Koronis Family Member 2498 Tsesevich," Wilkin, F.P. & Schechter, R. 2022 Minor Planet Bulletin 49, 76
(2) "Lightcurves for Three Koronis Family Asteroids from the Union College Observatory"
Wilkin, F.P., AlMassri, Z., Bowles, P., Pargiello, M., Sindoni, J. 2022 Minor Planet Bulletin, 49, 267-268
(3) "Lightcurve for Koronis Family Member (1363) Herberta"
Wilkin, F.P., Bromberg, J., AlMassri, J., Beauchaine, L., Nguyen, M. 2022 Minor Planet Bulletin, 49, 253 See photo link!
Herberta paper team(4) "The Periodic Signals of Nova V1674 Herculis (2021)," Patterson, J. et al. (Includes two Union College co-authors: student Andrew Cahaly '22 and Prof. Francis Wilkin), 2022 Astrophysical Journal Letters, 940, L56
(5) "Lightcurve Of Koronis Family Member (993) Moultona," Crowley, E., Wilkin, F.P. 2023 Minor Planet Bulletin, 50, 6
(6) "Lightcurve For Koronis Family Member (1389) Onnie," Wilkin, F.P., MacDonald, F, Slivan, S. 2023 Minor Planet Bulletin 50, 7
(7) "Rotation Period of Koronis Family Member (1497) Tampere," Slivan, S.M., et al. (with Francis Wilkin and Union College student Niha Das '26). 2023 Minor Planet Bulletin 51, 125
(8) "Lightcurves for Koronis Family Objects (2498) Tsesevich and (2742) Gibson," Wilkin, F.P., Djoroeva, A., Qureshi, S., Wright, G., Grimwood, W. 2023 Minor Planet Bulletin, 50, 262
The first article on asteroid Tsesevich was written with co-author Rebecca Schechter, a high school student of Niskayuna, who has since moved on to Wesleyan University. Our study resulted in a more precise synodic rotation period for Tsesevich. Rebecca presented these results as a poster at the APS CUWiP (Conference on Undergraduate Women in Physics) at Cornell and Ithaca College.
Paper 2 included results from student participation in the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) course Ast 230 Observational Astronomy in Fall 2019 taught by Prof. Wilkin. Asteroids (243) Ida and (321) Florentina were observed in Fall 2019 for the class, and (2498) Luxembourg was observed by Jason Sindoni and Francis Wilkin in Dec 2018. In addition to the above, several Union College Observatory observations were submitted to the NASA TESS TFOP program by Georgia Mraz, Francis Wilkin, and students of Ast 230 during Fall 2019.
The third article, on asteroid Herberta, was a team project by Prof. Wilkin's "Scholars Research Team" (photo below) which was also presented at the 2022 Steinmetz Symposium. Our study resulted in a more precise synodic rotation period for Herberta. Additional student co-authors working with Prof. Wilkin included the 2021-22 Scholars Research Astronomy Team (Jayson Bromberg, Zuhair AlMassri, Louis Beauchaine, and Minh Nguyen), summer research (Jason Sindoni), and senior thesis (Patrick Bowles).
The fourth article included results from student participation in the WAC course Ast 230 in Fall 2021. Three additional cataclysmic variables were observed by the class with observations contributed to the American Association of Variable Stars (AAVSO) and the Center for Backyard Astrophysics (CBA). This represents our first paper on a Nova and as collaborators with the CBA. In addition to the above, Christos Kakogiannis and Francis Wilkin contributed observations of cataclysmic variable HP Lib to the AAVSO and the CBA.
The fifth paper, on asteroid Moultona, represents the first time one of our students has been the first author on a refereed paper using the Union College Observatory! Eva Crowley performed the majority of the observations at the UCO during Summer 2023, with a total of 15 observing sessions on the target!
The sixth paper does not include UCO data but is listed because it has a student co-author, Finlay MacDonald, who did the preliminary photometry of the (April 2021) stationary point data for asteroid Onnie. Francis Wilkin obtained multiple nights at El Sauce Observatory in Chile to make this study possible. In our paper, we obtain a definitive rotation period for Onnie, removing possible alias periods that previously could not be excluded. Finlay presented his results as a poster at the 2023 Steinmetz Symposium (despite being on a term abroad in Germany!)
The seventh paper on asteroid Tampere includes data from the Union College Observatory where 3 nights permitted Francis Wilkin and Niha Das to obtain a complete lightcurve. These data were shared with Stephen Slivan leading the MIT team for a joint paper. Niha presented her results as a poster at the APS CUWiP (Conference on Undergraduate Women in Physics) at Cornell and Ithaca College, as well as at the 2023 Steinmetz Symposium.
The eighth paper, on asteroids Tsesevich and Gibson, has been submitted to the Minor Planet Bulletin. Aydana Djoroeva and Shams Qureshi worked on Tsesevich using data from the Union College Observatory (our second paper on this object), and Gavin Wright took the lead on Gibson, with assistance from Will Grimwood. Aydana and Shams presented preliminary results at the Nov 6, 2022 NY6 conference at Colgate University and a final version at the 2023 Steinmetz Symposium. Gavin presented his results in a poster (co-authored with Noah Scopteuolo) at the 2023 Steinmetz Symposium.
Professor Wilkin would like to acknowledge financial support that allowed remote observations used above from the Cohen family, the Faculty Research Fund (in 2020 and 2022) and the Internal Education Fund in 2021, as well as a Student Research Grant awarded to Jason Sindoni.