Other Science

RSAA Honours Thesis - A large-scale survey for RR Lyraes in the Galactic Halo (2006)

As part of my Honours year at MSO in 2006, I undertook a survey for RR Lyrae variable stars from archival observations from the SEKBO Kuiper Belt survey. The survey covered 1675 sq deg along the ecliptic to a depth of V = 19.5, i.e. a heliocentric distance of 50 kpc for RRLs. The survey eventually revealed 2016 RR Lyrae candidates. Follow-up photometric monitoring of a subset of these candidates shows ~24% contamination from non-RR Lyrae variables. We derived a map of overdensity of RR Lyraes in the Halo that reveals a series of structures coincident with the leading and trailing arms of debris from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. A distinctly separate region of overdensity is seen towards the Virgo Over Density.


Gemini Summer Scholarship - r,i,z mosaic imaging of SZ-detected galaxy cluster candidates (2006)

In early 2007 I worked with Percy Gomez at Gemini South in La Serena, Chile. I was involved in (trying to) mosaic wide-field optical (g, r, i, and z) images from the 4m CTIO Blanco telescope atop Cerro Tololo. The overall goal of the project was to obtain photometric redshifts out to z > 1 for cluster candidates found by an ultra-deep, blind Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) survey on the ACBAR bolometer in Antarctica. I gained a lot of experience in IRAF data reduction of wide-field stacked images and standard star photometry. Unfortunately, IRAF decided not to cooperate most of the time, so I was only able to reduce and mosaic the stacked r and i-band images.


R Coronae Borealis variables in the Magellanic Clouds: Targeting SALT time (2005)

This project involved data collation and analysis of R Coronae Borealis variable stars in the Magellanic clouds in preparation for a detailed, long-term observing program with the SALT telescope. In collaboration with the OGLE microlensing team we obtained historical photometry for all known R CrB stars in the Magellanic clouds and collated and critically evaluated the available literature on each object. These data will be used to prioritise upcoming SALT observations to gain information about the evolutionary status of these stars and the chemical and physical processes which occur during their declines and subsequent recoveries. I worked with Peter Cottrell at my Alma mater, the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, NZ.