Tennessee State University
Center of Excellence in Information Systems
Nashville, Tennessee 37209

This report covers the interval July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.

The TSU Automated Astronomy Group within the TSU Center of Excellence in Information Systems concentrates on stellar astrophysics using photometric, spectroscopic, and imaging techniques to study cool giants, chromospherically active stars, solar-type stars, planetary-candidate host stars, binary and multiple stars, and pulsating variables. Data for these programs have been acquired with robotic telescopes and instrumentation developed in coordination with Louis Boyd, the Director of Fairborn Observatory in southern Arizona. Astronomy staff at the Center during this interval were Gregory W. Henry, Michael H. Williamson, and Francis C. Fekel. Geoffrey S. Burks retired from the Center at the end of last year. Fekel continues as emeritus research associate.

OBSERVING FACILITIES

Center of Excellence astronomers continue to develop and operate automated telescopes and instrumentation at Fairborn Observatory in the Patagonia mountains of southern Arizona. Fairborn Observatory is a non-profit Educational Corporation directed by Louis J. Boyd and dedicated to the design, construction, and operation of automated telescopes at an isolated, dark-sky observing site. TSU telescopes include the T3 0.40 m automated photometric telescope (APT) for Johnson BV photometry, the T4 0.75 m APT for Stromgren by photometry, the T8, T10, T11, and T12 0.80 m APTs, also for Stromgren by photometry with 2-channel photometers, the T13 2.0 m automatic spectroscopic telescope (AST) for high-resolution echelle spectroscopy, and the Celestron 14-inch (C14) automated imaging telescope (AIT). Williamson brought the new T15 0.80 m APT into operation this year. It has a 2-channel by photometer and will be dedicated to observing planetary host candidates. The table below gives the number of years each telescope has been operational and their current observing program(s). T8, T10, T11, and T12 have been down awaiting needed upgrades.

PUBLICATIONS 2020-21

Benjamin J. Fulton, Lee J. Rosenthal, Lea A. Hirsch, Howard Isaacson, Andrew W. Howard, Cayla M. Dedrick, Ilya A. Sherstyuk, Sarah C. Blunt, Erik A. Petigura, Heather A. Knutson, Aida Behmard, Ashley Chontos, Justin R. Crepp, Ian J. M. Crossfield, Paul A. Dalba, Debra A. Fischer, Gregory W. Henry, Stephen R. Kane, Molly Kosiarek, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Ryan A. Rubenzahl, Lauren M. Weiss, and Jason T. Wright, "California Legacy Survey. II. Occurrence of Giant Planets Beyond the Ice Line," Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 255, 14, 2021. (paper)

Smith, M. A. and Henry, G. W., "Automated Photometry of gamma Cassiopeiae: The Last Roundup," Astrophysical Journal, 915, 13, 2021. (paper)

Lee J. Rosenthal, Benjamin J. Fulton, Lea A. Hirsch, Howard T. Isaacson, Andrew W. Howard, Cayla M. Dedrick, Ilya A. Sherstyuk, Sarah C. Blunt, Erik A. Petigura, Heather A. Knutson, Aida Behmard, Ashley Chontos, Justin R. Crepp, Ian J. M. Crossfield, Paul A. Dalba, Debra A. Fischer, Gregory W. Henry, Stephen R. Kane, Molly Kosiarek, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Ryan A. Rubenzahl, Lauren M. Weiss, and Jason T. Wright, "The California Legacy Survey. I. A Catalog of 178 Planets from Precision Radial Velocity Monitoring of 719 Nearby Stars over Three Decades," Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 255, 8, 2021. (paper)

Bourrier, V., dos Santos, L. A., Sanz-Forcada, J., Garcia Munoz, A., Henry, G. W., Lavvas, P., Lecavelier, A., Lopez-Morales, M., Mikal-Evans, T., Sing, D. K., Wakeford, H. R., and Ehrenreich, D., "The Hubble PanCET Program: Long-Term Chromospheric Evolution and Flaring Activity of the M Dwarf Host GJ 3470," Astronomy & Astrophysics, 650, A73, 2021.

Connolly, R., Soon, W., Connolly, M., Baliunas, S., Berglund, J., Butler, C. J., Cionco, R. G., Elias, A. G., Fedorov, V. M., Harde, H., Henry, G. W., Hoyt, D. V., Humlum, O., Legates, D. R., Lüning, S., Scafetta, N., Solheim, J. E., Szarka, L., van Loon, H., Velasco Herrera, V. M., Willson, R. C., Yan, H., and Zhang, W., "How Much Has the Sun Influenced Northern Hemisphere Temperature Trends? An Ongoing Debate," Research in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 21, No. 6, 131, 2021. (paper) (Press Release) (Epoch Times Report)

Horch, E. P., Broderick, K. G., Casetti-Dinescu, D. I., Henry, T. J., Fekel, F. C., Muterspaugh, M. W., Willmarth, D. W., Winters, J. G., van Belle, G. T., Clark, C. A., and Everett, M. E., "Observations with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument. X. Preliminary Orbits of K-dwarf Binaries and Other Stars," Astronomical Journal, 161, 295, 2021. (paper)

Parks, J. R., White, R. J., Baron, F., Monnier, J. D., Kloppenborg, B., Henry, G. W., Schaefer, G., Che, X., Pedretti, E., Thureau, N., Zhao, M., Ten Brummelaar, T. A., McAlister, H. A., Ridgway, S. T., Turner, N., Sturmann, J., and Sturmann, L., "Interferometric Imaging of lambda Andromedae: Evidence for Starspots and Rotation," Astrophysical Journal, 913, 54, 2021. (paper)

dos Santos, L. A., Bourrier, V., Ehrenreich, D., Sanz-Forcada, J., López-Morales, M., Sing, D. K., García Muñoz, A., Henry, G. W., Lavvas, P., Lecavelier des Etangs, A., Mikal-Evans, T., Vidal-Madjar, A., and Wakeford, H. R., "HST PanCET Program: Non-Detection of Atmospheric Escape in the Warm Saturn-Sized Planet WASP-29 b," Astronomy & Astrophysics, 649, A40, 2021. (paper)

Dalba, P. A., Kane, S. R., Howell, S. B., Horch, E. P., Li, Z., Hirsch, L. A., Burt, J., Brandt, T. D., Mocnik, T., Henry, G. W., Everett, M. E., Rosenthal, L. J., and Howard, A. W., "Speckle Imaging Characterization of Radial Velocity Exoplanet Systems," Astronomical Journal, 161, 123, 2021. (paper)

Korhonen, H., Roettenbacher, R. M., Gu, S., Grundahl, F., Andersen, M. F., Henry, G. W., Jessen-Hansen, J., Antoci, V., and Palle, P. L., "Observing the Changing Surface Structures of the Active K Giant sigma Gem with SONG," Astronomy and Astrophysics, 646, 6, 2021. (paper)

Sheppard, K. B., Welbanks, L., Mandell, A. M., Madhusudhab, N., Nikolov, N., Deming, D., Henry, G. W., Williamson, M. H., Sing, D. K., Lopez-Morales, M., Ih, J., Sanz-Forcada, J., Lavvas, P., Ballester, G. E., Evans, T. M., Munoz, A. G., and dos Santos, L. A., "The Hubble PanCET Program: A Metal-Rich Atmosphere for the Inflated Hot Jupiter HAT-P-41b," Astronomical Journal, 161, 51, 2021. (paper)

Kosiarek, M. R., Berardo, D. A., Crossfield, I. J. M., Laguna, C., Piaulet, C., Akana Murphy, J. M., Howell, S. B., Henry, G. W., et al., "Physical Parameters of the Multiplanet Systems HD 106315 and GJ 9827," Astronomical Journal, 161, 47, 2021. (paper)

Gardner, T., Monnier, J. D., Fekel, F. C., et al., "ARMADA. I. Triple Companions Detected in B-type Binaries alpha Del and nu Gem," Astronomical Journal, 161, 40, 2021. (paper)

Cabot, S. H. C., Roettenbacher, R. M., Henry, G. W., Zhao, L., Harmon, R. O., Fischer, D. A., Brewer J. M., Llama, J., Petersburg, R. R., and Szymkowiak, A. E., "EXPRES. II. Searching for Planets around Active Stars: A Case Study of HD 101501," Astronomical Journal, 161, 26, 2021. (paper)

Burt, J., Feng, F., Holden, B., Mamajek, E. E., Huang, C. X., Rosenthal, M. M., Wang, S., Butler, R. P., Vogt, S. S., Laughlin, G., Henry, G. W., Teske, J. K., Wang, S. X., Crane, J. D., and Shectman, S. A., "A Collage of Small Planets from the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: Exploring the Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Mass Regime," Astronomical Journal, 161, 10, 2021. (paper)

Sotzen, K., Stevenson, K., Horst, S., Sing, D., Kilpatrick, B., Wakeford, H., Goyal, J., Batalha, N., May, E., Lewis, N., Filippazzo, J., Lopez-Morales, M., Henry, G., Izenberg, N., and Tinsmann, C., "On the Taxonomy of Exoplanets using Traditional and Novel Spectroscopic Techniques," Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 53, No. 1, 437.04D, 2021. (abstract)

Hinkle, K. H., Lebzelter, T., Fekel, F. C., Straniero, O., Joyce, R. R., Prato, L., Karnath, N., and Habel, N., "The M Supergiant High-mass Binary 4U 1954+31," Astrophysical Journal, 904, 143, 2020. (paper)

McGruder, C. D., López-Morales, M., Espinoza, N., Rackham, B. V., Apai, D., Jordán, A., Osip, D. J., Alam, M. K., Bixel, A., Fortney, J. J., Henry, G. W., Kirk, J., Lewis, N. K., Rodler, F., and Weaver, I. C., "ACCESS: Confirmation of No Potassium in the Atmosphere of WASP-31b," Astronomical Journal, 160, 230, 2020. (paper)

Alderson, L., Kirk, J., López-Morales, M., Wheatley, P. J., Skillen, I., Henry, G. W., McGruder, C., Brogi, M., Louden, T., and King, G., "LRG-BEASTS: Ground-Based Detection of Sodium and a Steep Optical Slope in the Atmosphere of the Highly Inflated Hot-Saturn WASP-21b," Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 497, 5182, 2020. (paper)

John M. Brewer, Debra A. Fischer, Ryan T. Blackman, Samuel H. C. Cabot, Allen B. Davis, Gregory Laughlin, Christopher Leet, J. M. Joel Ong, Ryan R. Petersburg, Andrew E. Szymkowiak, Lily L. Zhao, Gregory W. Henry, and Joe Llama, "EXPRES. I. HD 3651 as an Ideal RV Benchmark," Astronomical Journal, 160, 67, 2020. (paper)

Kathryn V. Lester, Francis C. Fekel, Matthew Muterspaugh, Douglas R. Gies, Gail H. Schaefer, Christopher D. Farrington, Zhao Guo, Rachel A. Matson, John D. Monnier, Theo ten Brummelaar, Judit Sturmann, and Samuel A. Weiss, "Visual Orbits of Spectroscopic Binaries with the CHARA Array. III. HD 8374 and HD 24546," Astronomical Journal, 160, 58, 2020. (paper)

Mikulasek, Z., Krticka, J., Shultz, M. E., Henry, G. W., Prvak, M., David-Uraz, A., Janik, J., Zejda, M., Romanyuk, I. I., and the MOBSTER Collaboration, "What's New with Landstreet's Star HD 37776 (V901 Ori)?" in Stellar Magnetism: A Workshop in Honour of the Career and Contributions of John D. Landstreet, Proceedings of the Polish Astronomical Society (PTA), Vol. 11, 46, 2020. (paper)

Hinkle, Kenneth H., Fekel, Francis C., Joyce, R., Lebzelter, T., and Straniero, O., "Masses of White Dwarfs in Symbiotic Binaries," in White Dwarfs as Probes of Fundamental Physics: Tracers of Planetary, Stellar and Galactic Evolution, IAU Symposium No. 357, p. 211, 2020. (paper)

Zhao, L., Fischer, D. A., Ford, E. B., Henry, G. W., Roettenbacher, R. M., and Brewer, J. M., "The EXPRES Stellar-signals Project. I. Description of Data," Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society, 4, No. 9, 2020. (paper)