This report, the Department's twenty-first, covers the period September 1996 through August 1997. Spear remained on leave to SSU's Information Technology department. A total of 441 students took Descriptive Astronomy , Introductory Observational Astronomy , Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Interstellar Travel , Frontiers in Astronomy , and Cosmology . The Department awarded 3 B.A. degrees and 9 B.S. degrees. There were 33 physics majors in Spring 1996.
Newtonian telescope is computer-controlled.
The system points reliably to within 1-2 arcminutes on the sky. Reliable photometry is feasible for objects as faint as 16th magnitude. Student Rachel Hansen has been assisting with this work. Guest observer observations with ASCA , OSSE and RXTE have obtained additional data on this object near apastron. Using new data from RXTE, work continues with P. Hertz and K. Wood of the Naval Research Laboratory on improving the orbital timing of EXO 0748-676.