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Fall Python Course – Sign Up Now

Our Python for Astronomy short (5-week) course will start soon. It is time to sign up now. The flyer is here and you can go to our Seminars section for more information. Register at our Python for Astronomy page or click here for the...

brief-2023-programs-and-offerings Overview of the BRIEF student astronomy research program in 2023 Overview of the BRIEF student astronomy research program in 2023
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BRIEF announces its 2023 offerings

BRIEF will continue its three-part online student research seminar program in 2023. The three online seminars in astrometry, photometry, and python are the core of the BRIEF program which began with DoubleSTARS in 2015.

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BRIEF’s Executive Director elected to the AAVSO Board

In November 2022 Pat Boyce was elected to a three-year term on the Board of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). He founded BRIEF, a non-profit, in 2013 to introduce students to the scientific community through research in astronomy. He and his students have been active participants in the AAVSO and its programs.

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BRIEF to support SDSU on new NSF grant

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a three-year grant to the San Diego State University (SDSU) Astronomy Department in September 2022. The grant, “Comprehensive Analysis of Period Changes in Eclipsing Binaries as a Probe of Stellar Astrophysics” will use changes in the orbital periods of eclipsing binary stars to measure their interior structure.

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News

A new student research tradition

In June 2022 BRIEF joined InStAR to conduct a two-day student research experience at Mt. Wilson Observatory (MWO). Twenty Boyce-Astro students performed speckle interferometry observations of binary stars using MWO’s 60” telescope, the world’s largest just over a century ago.

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BRIEF receives new observatory from the Downing Family Operating Foundation.

The Downing Family Operating Foundation generously donated a PlaneWave CDK17 research grade telescope to BRIEF in May 2022. Located at Sierra Remote Observatory (SRO), the telescope, mounted on a PlaneWave L-500 mount and equipped with a QHY600 camera, will serve as a platform to advance robotic speckle interferometry and astrometry as well as extend the Boyce-Astro exoplanet observation program.