Carson High among Nevada schools picked to study outer solar system

With the help of the Western Nevada Astronomical Society and the Jack C. Davis Observatory at Western Nevada College in Carson City, students and residents interested in astronomy can explore new worlds as part of a five-year citizen science astronomy research project to study the outer solar system.

Two planetary scientists, Marc Buie and John Keller, announced Tuesday the expansion of RECON — the Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network — to 60 communities across the entire western United States.

The full network will involve at least 55 telescope sites operated by teachers, students, and volunteers from communities located in the rain shadow of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges and along the Colorado River. Funded by the National Science Foundation, RECON is led by planetary scientists Keller from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. and Buie of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.

Over the past two years, astronomy circles in Carson City and Gardnerville have helped pilot RECON. Jerry Bardecker of Gardnerville has been named as a volunteer collaborator. Besides Carson City, Gardnerville and Reno, Nevada RECON communities also include Yerington, Hawthorne, Tonopah, Beatty, Indian Springs, Henderson, Boulder City, Searchlight, Laughlin.

“The goal of RECON is to determine the sizes, densities and other characteristics of newly discovered Kuiper Belt Objects orbiting the sun beyond Neptune,” Buie said. “Because these objects have been relatively undisturbed since their formation, they hold important clues about the origins of our solar system.”

Last summer, two Carson High School students got the chance to do real science research at an Arizona observatory thanks to the National Science Foundation, Project-RECON, and Western Nevada College’s Jack C. Davis Observatory.

CHS seniors Shelby Brown and Lake Shank worked actively with scientist Dr. Buie of the Southwest Research Institute collecting data at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

As part of Project RECON, the CHS students joined other students and amateur astronomers from around the West to measure the size of asteroids in the Kuiper Belt region of the solar system; beyond the orbit of Neptune. The students got an authentic experience of real astronomy by the direct examination of photographic data and light curves. This study will add more information to the theory on solar system formation.

The purpose of Project RECON is the determination of very precise positions for a number of Kuiper Belt Objects, KBOs, and use these precise positions to refine their orbits. The refined orbits will then be used to predict when a KBO will pass in front of a star. By timing the disappearance and reappearance of the star when the KBO passes, the size can be measured.

​During the data analysis, Shelby and Lake detected several objects as possible Kuiper Belt Object-candidates.

During the fall, Keller and Buie traveled more than 3,000 miles through Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and California.

This week, the two scientists announced the communities that will receive telescopes, cameras and training to join this five-year research effort. In addition to Reno, Carson City, Gardnerville, and Yerington, the RECON network in Nevada follows Highway 95 from Hawthorne and Tonopah through Beatty and Indian Springs down to Henderson, Boulder City, Searchlight, and Laughlin.

“The project design requires telescopes spaced every 30 miles stretching from the Canadian border down to the Mexican border,” Keller said. “We've been thrilled by the extremely positive responses from all of the students, teachers and community members we’ve met.”

Boulder City teacher Charlene Wiesenborn will involve her students from Searchlight in this research endeavor. “We are excited to have a hand in true science research with our involvement with this project. Not many high school or middle school students have this opportunity.”

“Working with excellent equipment to do real research — the learning experience should be awesome,” said Beatty Teacher Tom Lyman.

Telescopes and cameras will be delivered to these communities over the next month. During the spring, representatives from each community will receive training at workshops held in Kingman, Ariz., and Pasco, Wash. By early May, the network will be fully prepared to conduct up to eight coordinated observation campaigns of Kuiper Belt Objects each year through 2019.

For a full list of schools involved in the project, visit the RECON website at www.tnorecon.net. Community members interested in joining local teams on this project are encouraged to contact recon@calpoly.edu.