Observation and Analysis of Long-Term Optical Variations of Active Galactic Nuclei

活动星系核长期光学变化的观测与分析

• 批准号: 8821839
• 负责人: Alex Smith
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1989
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1989-11-01 至 1992-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8821839&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Observation; Analysis; Long; Term; Optical

Faculty members and students at the University of Florida are contributing efforts to understand what are perhaps the most enigmatic objects in the Universe -- the remote quasars and related active galaxies. The ultimate objective is to comprehend the process that allows a quasar, within a volume comparable to that of our tiny Solar System, to generate 100 times the energy of a huge galaxy such as the Milky Way. Solution of this mystery undoubtedly will contribute greatly to our understanding of the development of the galaxies themselves. Because the study of variability has long been recognized as a powerful tool in attacking astrophysical problems, we regularly follow the unpredictable changes in brightness of over 220 quasars and active galaxies, using the 76-cm telescope of the University's Rosemary Hill Observatory. Much of our work is carried on in collaboration with other observatories and with scientists using spacecraft such as the International Ultraviolet Explorer and the Japanese x-ray satellite GINGA. Future collaborations involve experiments to be carried by the Space Shuttle. Photographic research initiated to support the quasar observations has resulted in innovative methods of increasing photographic sensitivity that have been adopted world-wide; as an illustration of "spin-off" from basic research, these methods are now being employed in biomedical radiography and in industrial and biomedical microscopy. A new CCD camera will be built and used for observations.

佛罗里达大学的教职员工和学生 努力去了解可能是最重要的 宇宙中的神秘物体--遥远的类星体， 相关的活动星系 最终目标是理解 这一过程使得类星体的体积 我们小小的太阳系，产生的能量 像银河系这样的巨大星系的起源。 解决这个谜 无疑将大大有助于我们理解 星系自身的发展。 因为研究 长期以来，可变性一直被认为是一个强大的工具， 为了解决天体物理学问题，我们经常遵循 超过220个类星体的亮度发生了不可预测的变化， 活动星系，使用该大学的76厘米望远镜 迷迭香山天文台。 我们的大部分工作都是在 与其他天文台和科学家合作， 国际紫外线探测器和 日本X射线卫星GINGA。 未来的合作包括 航天飞机进行的实验。 摄影 为支持类星体观测而发起的研究， 导致了创新的方法， 已在世界范围内采用的敏感性;作为一个例子 从基础研究的“衍生产品”，这些方法现在正在 在生物医学放射学和工业中使用， 生物医学显微术 一个新的CCD摄像机将被建造和使用 进行观察。