Reid Allenstein

Journal entries imported from the previous iteration of wisrd.org

REID ALLENSTEIN

4/22/22

This week RECON has purchased an adapter for the star analyzer so that it fits into the telescope now. We are planning on setting a meeting to test this out, but it should work now. During a test we were able to get ASCOM farther into the testing process however we ran into an issue where the telescope showed a connection but when the connect button was clicked an error occurred. RECON also has a white paper which I have written detailing the steps of PyMovie and PYOTE. 

4/11/22

We’re back from Spring Break and are ramping up for the final stretch of the year. No RECON events have been scheduled since February so we are focusing on becoming adept at ASCOM and figuring out Spectroscopy. 

3/7/22

A lot has happened in the 2 months I have not updated this journal. We had 2 occultations in February with varying levels of success. In the first occultation the camera did not connect to the computer which meant we could not see or record the event. In the second event Dr. Marc Buie joined us to help troubleshoot the camera issues. Last week we noticed some mold growing on the box so today we bleached the box. Now we plan on painting the box so that mold and moisture won’t keep getting in. Finally I have almost finished a paper detailing instructions on how to use the Pymovie and PYOTE software for future RECON generations.

1/18/22

Happy New Year everyone! In my final actual year of WISRD I am excited to get back to work. We started this year with an occultation on January 10th, but sadly it was a miss and we didn’t catch anything. It did alert us to a problem with the camera adapter and we have to get a new adapter. I will update when more is happening.

11/9/21

Last night on 11/8/21 was the annual fall poster presentation. RECON presented 2 posters on data analysis and the Eurybates event. Prescott Kelly and Shayna Berman presented on the Eurybates event while Ian Norfolk and I presented the data analysis poster. I was the host of the evening and after the poster presentation I introduced the guest speaker Dr. Olivier Guyon who talked about finding life on other planets. Shayna and Prescott need to work on their presentations more before the Spring poster presentations. The hybrid in-person/zoom presentation method was a success. The only problem was that audio for people on zoom was low at points when Dr. Guyon spoke.

11/3/21

This week in WISRD the RECON team has been creating 2 posters for the Fall Poster Presentation on Monday 11/8. Ian Norfolk and I will be presenting a poster about PyMovie and PYOTE and how it is used for data analysis in RECON. Prescott Kelly and Shayna Berman will be presenting about the Eurybates event.

10/25/21

Last week the Dr. Buie and Dr. John Keller gathered RECON teams including the Wildwood team in Las Vegas for the occultation of Eurybates. From 10/17 – 10/19 we attended conferences detailing the importance of RECON, training for analysis software, and previous occultations for LUCY. Dr. Buie explained that we are not using SAOimage and are switching to PyMovie and PYOTE. On the mornings of 10/18 – 10/19, Ian Norfolk and I practiced using the RECON telescope with RECON team leader Micheal V. and on 10/20 we attended the occultation of Eurybates.

10/6/21

Over the past week I have been continuing to focus on upgrading the analysis of SAOimageDS9. I are also preparing for the conference and event that is happening on October 17th.

9/29/21

On October 17-20 RECON has been invited to attend an occultation outside the Las Vegas area. The entire Wildwood team will be attending the event. This will be my first time meeting members of other teams so I am excited to hear from the rest of RECON. 

9/22/21

Today in WISRD I was able to overlay three images of the Sombrero to make an image with color. I am closer to being able to analyze and make light curve graphs with this new development. Each of the green dots represent a point with light and all I need to do is find their light level and measure it across multiple images.

9/08/21

We had our first RECON meeting of the school year on Saturday September 4th. We were joined by the new RECON member Prescott Kelly and Shayna B who is thinking of joining WISRD. The event went was a success after a small emergency where the telescope was not locking onto the correct stars.

8/30/21

On September 4th the RECON team will be attending its first occultation event. I am also working with Luis Daniel-Perez, Ian Norfolk, and Prescott Kelly on a new version of the wind tunnel that we are aiming to complete before the school year ends.

8/17/21

RECON is back in person at Wildwood! This year the RECON team has many plans to accomplish before its 2 senior members graduate. As one of those senior members I am excited to make this the best year for RECON.

4/22/20

On 4/21/20 the WISRD board retreat took place and new additions to the WISRD board were discussed. I am nominated for a place on the WISRD board and will know the results by next week. RECON is working on the DWAN ROC system from home and aims to participate in the next occultation wirelessly. RECON also has a research paper as well as multiple white papers that are being drafted during the pandemic. On 4/27/20 the next poster presentation will be held via zoom. 

3/12/20

Yesterday RECON finished work on a system which will allow us to control the telescope remotely. With the new Corona Pandemic this will allow us to complete RECON events from inside our homes. the system called ROC-DWANE allows a computer to control the telescope while another computer uses teamviewer to control it.

1/9/20

After returning from break I have attended my first RECON meeting and on 1/10/20 I will be going to another. I plan on joining RECON after these meetings. 

11/21/19

Long wait time between this post and my last but I have some exciting updates. First the windtunnel is getting ready for the transfer down stairs into the new WISRD space. we almost have the motors running and Max Staples has been working on making a box that will house the Arduinos. I have been slowly switching over from the windtunnel team to other stuff. I have been working on the Misty 2 which WISRD recently aqcuired. I have also been working with Ian Norfolk on the RECON project.

8/27/19

One week into WISRD and I am getting back into the groove. This year I am with a new group of people including Max who I am working with to figure out new uses of the laser cutter for WISRD. He is also helping me learn 3D printing with the printers we have. I am still working the Jackson and the Aerodynamics team however we are now in different time groups that we are working around. We have 3 new members so congratulations Eli, Dawson and Roman!

3/20/19

With Jackson not here today I am working on fixing the wiring on my own. on Monday Jackson and I plugged in our Arduino and circuit but it wouldn’t run. We spent that class period fixing it but it still isn’t working. Today I will be trying to trace the problem and fix it.

3/13/19

Today we agreed on a time to meet Spencer. Tomorrow after school we will meet with him to talk about what his readout does and how we will combine it with ours. After we understand it we plan on adding it to our board and creating a box to house all the wiring. We are also working on our poster.

1/14/19

Today I updated the Wind Tunnel journal with the code for the motors. if you want to see that it is here.

1/9/18

Today all four motors are running at once thanks to our brand new power supply that came after winter break. Now everything is ready for Spencer to come and run the anemometer with a display monitor. We are planning on fixing the positioning of the motors so that they don’t hit each other when we start and stop using them. We are also planning on making a new honeycomb shape to replace the straws to create a better laminar flow. Once these are completed we are planning to create a barrier so that the fans are more covered and aren’t as much of a hazard.

11/15/18

Although I haven’t updated this journal in a while I will give a quick recap of what has happened to our project. First the original anemometer broke which set us back by a couple months. So we took a break from fixing the motors to reprint the anemometer using the 3d printer. which was then filed down to fit the centerpiece. with this we decided to calibrate the anemometer using a voltmeter and a fan with 3 variable settings. the number below is the slope which will be used to finish calibrating it. now we are finally going to get back to fixing the motors.

Slope = 27.2 +/- 1.3

9/20/18

Today I finished soldering all the wires with Jackson. On Tuesday(9/18/18) I met with Kai S after school and he helped me understand the bread board and Arduino.

9/12/18

Yesterday I stripped the wires and began to solder them. Kai has been in touch with me in order to set up a time after school for him to come in and help with the code. I plan to finish the soldering before meeting with Kai to finish the coding.

9/6/18

Kai has emailed me the code for the wind tunnel. I have started working on reconnecting the wiring for the tunnel. I am trying to set up a time to talk with Kai about his previous work.

8/29/18

In WISRD I am excited to learn about Arduino and 3D printing. I have started working on fixing the WISRD Aerodynamics wind tunnel. I have been talking to Kai who previously worked on the wind tunnel about the circuits he made with Cameron.