MIT Binary Star Astrophysics Group

Resources

🔧 Essential Tools for Observational Astronomy

Below are a few essential tools for observational astronomy:

Aladin:

Aladin is essentially Google Maps for the sky. This powerful visualization tool allows you to explore astronomical images from a vast array of surveys and flip seamlessly between them.

  • The web-based Aladin Lite is a great place to start, offering quick access to many surveys.
  • For full capabilities—including custom data ingestion and access to a much broader archive—install the desktop version.

TOPCAT:

TOPCAT (Tools for OPerations on Catalogues And Tables) is a powerful Java-based GUI application for manipulating large astronomical tables.ps://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/

  • Excellent for cross-matching catalogs, visualizing large datasets, and exploring parameter spaces.
  • Unparalleled in its flexibility and speed when working with large tables.

Vizier:

VizieR is an interface for querying a vast library of astronomical catalogs via cone search.

  • Great for quickly identifying sources near given coordinates.
  • Check out its SED builder to construct spectral energy distributions using catalog photometry.

Simbad:

SIMBAD links sky objects to existing literature.of the color-magnitude diagram).

  • Particularly helpful for assessing how well-studied a target is.
  • Keep in mind: some entries (e.g., Gaia white dwarfs) may have a reference but little in-depth study—SIMBAD flags existence, not depth.

Astrophysics Data System (ADS):

ADS is the go-to platform for searching astronomical literature.

  • Search by author, title, topic, or publication date.
  • Many researchers use ADS libraries to organize papers and track their own work.

đź’» Computing resources:

Our group makes use of several high-performance computing environments:

Engaging Cluster @ MIT
We own four nodes on the Engaging cluster (partition: sched_mit_kburdge_r8). Each node includes:

  • 4Ă— A100 80GB SXM GPUs (NVLinked)
  • 128 CPU cores (256 threads)
  • 512 GB RAM
  • MKI also maintains two similar nodes under the sched_mit_mki_r8 partition.

Group storage on Engaging located at: /orcd/data/kburdge/001/

2. MIT Supercloud

The Supercloud cluster offers excellent CPU/GPU allocations, plus support through tutorials and office hours. Accounts are available for MIT researchers.

3. Physics-Wide subMIT Cluster

subMIT is open to all Physics Department members.

  • Features extensive CPU and GPU resources.
  • Great for mid-scale parallel jobs or quick batch processing.

đź”­ Telescopes

The Magellan Telescopes

Our primary ground-based facility is the 6.5-meter Magellan twin telescope system in Chile.

  • We both build instruments for and actively observe with Magellan.
  • The telescopes support a wide array of optical and near-infrared instruments

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

Our group also makes extensive use of the Hubble Space Telescope, in particular the ultraviolet imaging and spectroscopic capabilities it provides with the COS, STIS, and UVIS instruments. https://hubblesite.org/home

Relevant deadlines can be found here: https://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing. Typically Hubble proposals are due in April.

The James Webb Space Telescope

Additionally, our group also makes extensive use of the James Webb Space Telescope https://webbtelescope.org/home, using its infrared imaging and spectroscopic capabilities to study regions such as globular clusters, and conduct rapid imaging of black hole X-ray binaries.

Deadlines can be found here: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-planning/calls-for-proposals-and-policy. Typically JWST proposals are due in October.