Virtual Conference Presentation Abstract Detail Page
Previous Page | New Search | Browse All
| Presentation Title: | The light curve of a variable star: an example upper-division coding project accessible to students with no prior programming experience |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | Observations of the brightness of a variable star are almost always unevenly spaced in time, and the periodicity is not readily apparent. Students in an Observational Astronomy course with no prior programming experience were successful at coding a Lomb-Scargle periodogram to find the period of a variable star, and then "folding" the data to create a light curve (a graph relating the brightness to the phase of the period). Possible factors contributing to that success and implications for designing other computational projects when no programming experience can be assumed will be discussed. |
| Submission Category: | Upper-level |
| Presentation: | Download the Presentation |
| Video: | |
| Abstract DOI: | 10.1119/PICUP.Abstract.VCS2020.8105 |
Primary Author Information | |
| First name: | Steve |
| Last name: | Cederbloom |
| Institution: | University of Mount Union |
| Zip Code: | 44601 |
