ARCSAT ID NUMBER: AS11

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Characterizing the Circumstellar Environments of Massive Stars	

PI: John Wisniewski

OBSERVER(S): John Wisniewski, Jamie Lomax

UNCERTIFIED/UNTRAINED OBSERVERS: Evan Rich, Mike Malatesta

COLLABORATORS: Karen Bjorkman, Kevin Covey, APOGEE Be-star team
 
CONTACT INFORMATION: wisniewski@ou.edu; 206-427-0184

TIME REQUESTED: 3 weeks:
optimal: Monday July 28 - Sun Aug 3; Mon Sept 1 - Sun Sept 7; Mon Sept 29 - Sun Oct 5
acceptable: 3 weeks separated by ~3-4 weeks; due to target visibility, only observing time after July 1 is requested

INSTRUMENT: SurveyCam

FILTERS: g,r,i,h-alpha

COMMENTS: observing time after July 1 is requested due to target visibility 

BRIEF SCIENCE JUSTIFICATION:  This program will investigate two aspects of the
 circumstellar environments of massive stars.  The first component will be to begin 
a long-term survey of young Galactic open clusters to a) initially identify their
classical Be star population using 2-color diagrams; b) through routine monitoring 
place constraints on the prevalence of disk-loss/disk-renewal events known to 
occasionally occur; and c) trace the flow of mass decretion from the central star 
by mapping "loops" in color-color diagrams.  These observations would contribute to 
a NSF proposal currently under consideration for funding.  The second component of 
will be to better determine the rotation rate of a subset of rapidly rotating 
massive stars with magnetically confined disks.