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Round 2 - Brown Dwarf News
Click on any teacher's name to see activities associated with NITARP.
Highlights of team activities
January 2008
Team members presented two posters at the January 2008 AAS meeting:
WZ Sge: The Dark Matter in Accretion Disks (pdf)
(ADS Abstract)
Adapting Observations of WZ Sge Made With the Spitzer Space Telescope for Use in the Classroom (pdf)
(ADS Abstract)
October 2007
The Brown Dwarf team had a very successful visit to the SSC in October
2007, during which they came up with some surprising new findings
about their object, WZ Sagittae. The team produced the first mid-
infrared light curve of any cataclysmic variable. Instead of the
expected flat light curve, the results showed a deep and wide eclipse
as well as evidence of a large accretion disk. As a result of their new findings, members of
the Brown Dwarf team submitted a new observing proposal.
The proposal was accepted. The interacting short period binary WZ Sge,
will be observed using IRAC. Previously, four magnetic interacting
binaries were observed using Spitzer. WZ Sge is a non-magnetic white
dwarf and a brown dwarf companion. It is the closest and brightest
interacting binary. The data collected will allow the team to compare
the magnetic and non-magnetic binaries. Also, optical data of WZ Sge
will be collected at Kitt Peak in the summer of 2007. Spectroscopic
data and photometry will be obtained and together will help fully
characterize the eclipse and dust in the system. The multi-wavelength
data will be used in classrooms.
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