Observational Spectroscopy Group
Group leader of the Observational Spectroscopy Group at Beli Brezi Astronomy School.
I was the co-leader of the group together with Stan Stoyanov. We oversaw three planned projects with two students each. In addition, we added a fourth project because of the good observational conditions of that year. All the results in these projects were also presented at the 2023 Astronomy Conference in Varna.
Project One: Spectral Observations of Various Stars
This project focused on capturing spectra of various spectral types and comparing features between them. This is an introductory project aiming to teach basics of observations, data reduction, and astrophysics. The students working on this project are Mihail Bankov and Vladimir Milanov.
Project Two: Rotation Velocity of Jupiter and Saturn
This project focused on calculating the rotation velocity of the two brightest gas giants visible in our sky. Owing to the excellent quality of our equipment, velocities can be measured with great precision. The students working on this project are Stela Bineva and Lora Lukmanova.
Project Three: Be Stellar Spectra
This is an established task part of our work at the camp. We monitor the activity of Be Stars, which show variability in their spectra. The work was done by Daniel Milchev.
Bonus Project: Spectral Albedo of Mars
This is a project we added in later to fill the leftover observational time. There were no expectations for the quality of results and the aim was to teach another pair of students some spectra basics. The students working on this project are Alexander Zhelyazkov and Atanas Mitrev.
Personal Work: Developing the Data Reduction and Analysis Framework
On top of the students’ projects, I had decided to develop a new data reduction and analysis framework. Formerly, we had used the now quite outdated IRAF astronomical software, which is no longer supported (it is also quite difficult to install by novice users, making it quite inconvenient for teaching high-school students). I had the help of Mirela Napetova and Lachezar Todorov in this endeavour. The new framework uses AstroPy affiliated packages, and is in its early stages of development. You can find the result here with more details about specifics.