Research
Astronomical research at the Fairborn Institute is focused on observational astrometry (position angles and separations) of known and potential binary stars. Speckle interferometry is used to observe sort-period binaries with separations below the seeing limit, while bispectrum analysis is used for phase reconstruction and the extraction of photometric magnitudes. While we make observations of known binary stars to refine their orbits, most of our current research is focused on discovering new binary and triple systems suggested as likely candidates by the European Space Agency’s Gaia astrometric telescope. Many of our observations are made on the 60- and 100-inch telescopes at Mt. Wilson Observatory.
Binary Stars Astrometry Speckle Interferometry Speckle Photometry Close Known Binaries Gaia Two-Parameter Research
