Rescheduled: Thesis Proposal Presentation by Iva Gerasimenko on April 15th
Space Studies master’s student, Iva Gerasimenko, will give her thesis proposal presentation as follows. Please mark your calendars.
When: Tuesday, April 15th at 8:30 a.m.
Where: Ryan Hall, Room 111 (also available via Connect-Pro)
Title: “Identifying ‘Bad’ Asteroid Spectra – A Cross-correlative Study”
Abstract: Significant inconsistencies were discovered between three asteroid spectral survey datasets during the analysis of asteroid (354) Eleonora. If analyzed independently, the different spectra would suggest different compositions and/or different taxonomic classifications for the same object.
It is important to determine whether this is a problem unique to Eleonora or whether it is a more pervasive problem with the survey datasets. The research compares the visual and near infrared wavelength spectral observations of individual asteroids from the existing large survey datasets in order to identify which asteroids have inconsistent spectral data. We would like to know if the differences arise from observational, data reduction or calibration problems (bad!) or whether they identify real surface differences on the objects (good!). The goal of this effort is to establish protocols for identifying ”bad” spectra and eliminating such spectra from analysis efforts.