A group of Central Texas researchers is part of a worldwide effort to track a dying star, trying to learn all they can from the star’s pulsations as it fades away.

A white dwarf located in the Ophiucus constellation in the southern sky is being monitored by 22 observatory telescopes, including the Paul and Jane Meyer Observatory near Clifton.

White dwarfs are dying stars, nearing the end of their life cycles, and usually have a mass equal to that of the sun but are only as large as the Earth, making them very dense.

Dean Chandler (right) and John McAnally were instrumental in bringing the 24-inch telescope to the Paul and Jane Meyer Observatory. Chandler and others at the observatory are participating in the Whole Earth Telescope project that tracks dying stars — white dwarfs — as part of a research project. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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Matt Bradstreet waits on a ladder to secure the telescope as it is lowered into the observatory near Clifton. The telescope makes Central Texas researchers' participation in the Whole Earth Telescope project possible. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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Peter Mack (right) watches as part of the huge telescope is hoisted into the Paul and Jane Meyer Observatory near Clifton. (Rod Aydelotte photo)

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The telescopes are located on five continents, with sites ranging from China to Chile to Clifton, Texas. They are part of a coordinated global effort called Whole Earth Telescope.

With data compiled at the University of Delaware from the sites, scientists are hoping to learn more about not only the stars themselves but also the Earth and other galactic mysteries.

Dean Chandler, president of the Central Texas Astronomical Society, is one of the researchers participating in the project from the Meyer Observatory. His team was one of the leading data contributors to WET last year, and Chandler says there already have been some interesting findings.

As stars pulsate, observers can use those pulsations to probe the interior of the star, “much like using seismology to study the interior of the Earth,” Chandler said. Additionally, how light comes off the star tells researchers about the surface of the star.

“One of the things we’ve found is, in a funny sort of way, stars seem to crystallize,” Chandler said. “Even though they’re (made up of) gases, they’re so dense and the particles line up and can’t move very much, so it’s like a gas-based crystal. That’s a phase of matter that we’ve never seen on Earth and could never see here.”

Researchers at the Meyer Observatory track up to four stars at any given time, recording data during nighttime hours as the stars pass over the Texas sky, then passing the data on to the next telescope as night turns to day, Chandler said. Data then are sent each night to the University of Delaware command center to be compiled with those of the other participating telescopes.

The research is not being conducted just by grown men and women in lab coats, either. Currently, two high school students — one from China Spring and the other from Academy — are helping with observation and data collection. College students also participate each year through a Baylor University summer program called CASPER, sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation and designed to encourage high-performing college undergraduate students to pursue graduate education.

Last year, Zane Foster, a McGregor Middle School student, won a state physics award as a result of his work at the observatory.

According to Baylor mechanical engineering lecturer Dick Campbell, who has participated in the WET program since the Meyer Observatory got involved about four years ago, the CASPER students benefit by gaining real-world research experience, which sometimes can be a shock to the system.

“With the astronomy students, we keep them up all night at the observatory two or three nights a week, and it gives them a real ‘water in the face,’ ‘this is what astronomy is all about’ kind of experience,” Campbell said. “It just gives them a real full-time flavor of what doing research is like.”

The WET observatories have been monitoring this particular white dwarf, known to the astronomy world as WDJ1524-0030, since May 15 and will continue to watch it until June 11, gleaning as much information as possible.

Chandler said the Meyer Observatory’s participation in the project is no small feat.

“These are major observatories around the world,” he said of the WET network. “This is an exciting collaboration with many possibilities.”

twoods@wacotrib.com

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