What makes a star twinkle and why do we care?
This goes back to a post I made a few months ago. The basic idea here is that the churning atmosphere blurs your astronomical image. Local geography and weather patterns can either mitigate or exaggerate this effect. It is difficult to predict and many measurements need to be done to determine what is actually happening. Cameras were placed all around southern Utah on various mountain tops to observe the North Star over the course of the year. The mountain top that produced the highest resolution image of the star won the competition. That was Frisco Peak. The telescope that will be placed on Frisco Peak was built by a very specialized company. This is quite rare–more typical are either large custom-made telescopes or small amateur telescopes. This telescope falls in the middle. It is bought off the shelf but is far superior to the commercially made amateur telescopes. We are now discussing plans for this telescope, like the type of cameras that should be used. There is a strong intere
