NGC 6164  

PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

 

 
HPOL
I am DU's representative in the consortium that has, over the past several years, renovated the University of Wisconsin's Halfwave Spectropolarimeter (HPOL) and relocated it to the University of Toledo's Ritter Observatory. HPOL has a long history of contributions to stellar astrophysics that we plan to continue in its new location. The renovation project is a collaboration between DU, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Toledo, and the University of Wisconsin.
 
HPOL is now operational on the 1-m telescope at Ritter and performing as well as or better than it did at PBO; we recently published details of its instrumentation and performance (Davidson et al. 2014). Please contact me if you are interested in obtaining data from this instrument. I am currently using it to monitor evolved massive stars such as β Lyr, V356 Sgr, δ Ori, and V444 Cyg, as well as to obtain interstellar polarization estimates for the SNSPOL project. In summer 2013, HPOL participated in the international pro-am campaign "Probing the Winds of Wolf-Rayet Stars."
 
My group's participation in the HPOL project has been sponsored by the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation, the Fund for Astrophysical Research, and two DU Faculty Research Fund awards.
 
Recent results:
 
Davidson paper, Fig. 8
The HPOL Spectropolarimeter at Ritter Observatory, Davidson et al. 2014, JAI, 03, 1450009
Journal >
 
The HPOL Spectropolarimeter and the First 1.5 Years of Operation at Ritter Observatory, Davidson et al. 2014, AAS 223, 148.35
ADS >