Known Binaries Speckle Interferometry with a 1.0-m Telescope in Chile
Abstract
Over the past several months, students and instructors from three schools—supported by experienced observers—have been making automated speckle interferometry observations of close binaries with established orbits using a robotic 1.0-meter PlaneWave Instruments telescope located at the El Sauce Observatory in the Atacama Desert of Chile. These observations are being used to establish the precision, accuracy, and limitations of this telescope’s automated astrometric measurements. Most of these binaries have separations below 1.0ʺ, with a few separated by less than 0.2ʺ. Some details are provided for the binary LDS 838 which consists of two gravitationally bound red dwarfs. Located only 8.6 light years from Earth, it is the 7th closest stellar system. One of the components, UV Ceti, is the class prototype for flare stars.
