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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

Students, instructors, and amateur astronomer supporters use the historic 100-inch telescope at the Mt. Wilson Observatory for much of their research. Edwin Hubble used this telescope to discover the size and expansion of the universe.

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