The Undergraduate CubeSat Experience at the University of Minnesota

Building a satellite is a large undertaking with a lot of moving parts. Undergraduate students have complicated schedules with even more moving parts. Running a team of 60+ undergraduates toward the goal of launching a satellite is therefore quite the managerial challenge. Detailed on this poster are some specific challenges, along with strategies for mitigating them, that the UMN Small Satellite Research Lab faces in their work toward launching two small satellites

Poster Session: Predicted Net Flux Versus Pressure Profiles During a Probe Descent into Uranus’s Atmosphere

The responsivity of the proposed Net Flux Radiometer (NFR) for the Ice Giants was examined, using a specialty browser tool. This tool takes simulated spectra of Uranus, along with specific parameters of the NFR, and applies Net Flux calculations in order to produce a net flux profile, a simulated view of what the NFR probe would observe as it plunged into Uranus’s atmosphere. The efforts of this project led to a redesign of the NFR to include an increase in the FOV of the radiation-collection windows from 5° to 10°, as well as the selection of spectral bandwidths for observation in the seven available detector windows

Over 500 Days in the Life of the Photosphere of the Type Iax Supernova SN 2014dt

Type Iax supernovae (SN Iax) are the largest known class of peculiar white dwarf supernovae, distinct from normal Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia). The unique properties of SN Iax, especially their strong photospheric lines out to extremely late times, allow us to model their optical spectra and derive physical parameters for the long-lasting photosphere. We present an extensive spectral timeseries, including 21 new spectra, of SN Iax 2014dt from +11 to +562 days after maximum light. We are able to reproduce the entire timeseries with a self-consistent, nearly unaltered deflagration explosion model from Fink et al. (2014) using TARDIS, an open-source radiative transfer code (Kerzendorf & Sim 2014; Kerzendorf et al. 2023). We find that the photospheric velocity of SN 2014dt slows its evolution between +64 and +148 days, which closely overlaps the phase when we see SN 2014dt diverge from the normal spectral evolution of SN Ia (+90 to +150 days). The photospheric velocity at these epochs, ~400$-$1000 km s$^{-1}$, may demarcate a boundary within the ejecta below which the physics of SN Iax and normal SN Ia differ. Our results suggest that SN 2014dt is consistent with a weak deflagration explosion model that leaves behind a bound remnant and drives an optically thick, quasi-steady-state wind creating the photospheric lines at late times. The data also suggest that this wind may weaken at epochs past +450 days, perhaps indicating a radioactive power source that has decayed away.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 22 pages, 8 figures, 3 table

Developing Software for the TURBO Telescope Prototype

Faculty advisor: Dr. Pat KellyThis research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Over 500 Days in the Life of the Photosphere of the Type Iax Supernova SN 2014dt

Type Iax supernovae (SNe Iax) are the largest known class of peculiar white dwarf SNe, distinct from normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). The unique properties of SNe Iax, especially their strong photospheric lines out to extremely late times, allow us to model their optical spectra and derive the physical parameters of the long-lasting photosphere. We present an extensive spectral timeseries, including 21 new spectra, of SN Iax 2014dt from +11 to +562 days after maximum light. We are able to reproduce the entire timeseries with a self-consistent, nearly unaltered deflagration explosion model from Fink et al. using TARDIS , an open source radiative-transfer code. We find that the photospheric velocity of SN 2014dt slows its evolution between +64 and +148 days, which closely overlaps the phase when we see SN 2014dt diverge from the normal spectral evolution of SNe Ia (+90 to +150 days). The photospheric velocity at these epochs, ∼400–1000 km s ^−1 , may demarcate a boundary within the ejecta below which the physics of SNe Iax and normal SNe Ia differ. Our results suggest that SN 2014dt is consistent with a weak deflagration explosion model that leaves behind a bound remnant and drives an optically thick, quasi-steady-state wind creating the photospheric lines at late times. The data also suggest that this wind may weaken at epochs past +450 days, perhaps indicating a radioactive power source that has decayed away