Arto Oksanen
Encyclopedia
Arto Oksanen is a Finnish
amateur astronomer
. He has been actively working in the fields of variable star
s, asteroid
search programs, gamma ray burst
s, CCD
photometry
and building state-of-the-art amateur observatories in Finland. He has been mostly working in the Nyrölä Observatory that is located about 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) from the city of Jyväskylä
in Finland.
His latest (as of 2005) observatory projects include the construction of a new robotic telescope center that will use an RC-Optical Systems Ritchey-Chrétien telescope
, research grade SBIG CCD camera and Paramount ME robotic mount. The system should be fully operational in the last quarter of 2005.
In 2004 Oksanen received the AAVSO
Directors Award for his work in variable star research and observing.
In October 2007 Oksanen was the first to find optical afterglow of GRB
071010B which had been detected by Swift satellite
only 17 minutes before.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
amateur astronomer
Amateur astronomy
Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky , and the plethora of objects found in it, mainly with portable telescopes and binoculars...
. He has been actively working in the fields of variable star
Variable star
A star is classified as variable if its apparent magnitude as seen from Earth changes over time, whether the changes are due to variations in the star's actual luminosity, or to variations in the amount of the star's light that is blocked from reaching Earth...
s, asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
search programs, gamma ray burst
Gamma ray burst
Gamma-ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical...
s, CCD
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
photometry
Photometry (astronomy)
Photometry is a technique of astronomy concerned with measuring the flux, or intensity of an astronomical object's electromagnetic radiation...
and building state-of-the-art amateur observatories in Finland. He has been mostly working in the Nyrölä Observatory that is located about 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) from the city of Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...
in Finland.
His latest (as of 2005) observatory projects include the construction of a new robotic telescope center that will use an RC-Optical Systems Ritchey-Chrétien telescope
Ritchey-Chrétien telescope
A Ritchey–Chrétien telescope is a specialized Cassegrain telescope designed to eliminate coma, thus providing a large field of view compared to a more conventional configuration. An RCT has a hyperbolic primary and a hyperbolic secondary mirror. It was invented in the early 1910s by American...
, research grade SBIG CCD camera and Paramount ME robotic mount. The system should be fully operational in the last quarter of 2005.
In 2004 Oksanen received the AAVSO
American Association of Variable Star Observers
Since its founding in 1911, the American Association of Variable Star Observers has coordinated, collected, evaluated, analyzed, published, and archived variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers and makes the records available to professional astronomers, researchers, and...
Directors Award for his work in variable star research and observing.
In October 2007 Oksanen was the first to find optical afterglow of GRB
Gamma ray burst
Gamma-ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical...
071010B which had been detected by Swift satellite
Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission
The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission consists of a robotic spacecraft called Swift, which was launched into orbit on 20 November 2004, 17:16:00 UTC on a Delta II 7320-10C expendable launch vehicle. Swift is managed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and was developed by an international...
only 17 minutes before.