Thomas (Tom) E. Harrison's Home Page

Current Situation

Retired!

List of publications

Curriculum Vitae

Current Activities

Until recently I was working on the deriving abundances for the secondary stars of cataclysmic variables at NMSU, in Las Cruces, New Mexico (a nice view of NM & AZ).

Relevant papers, mostly infrared spectroscopic observations of interacting binaries:

  • Identifying Hydrogen-Deficient CV Donor Stars
  • Cyclotron features in V1500 Cygni
  • WZ Sagittae, RV Curve, round #2
  • The 12C/13C ratios in the donors or AE Aqr, RU Peg, and SS Cyg
  • Abundance Derivations for the Secondary Stars in Cataclysmic Variables
  • Direct Detection of the L-Dwarf Donor in WZ Sagittae
  • The Apparent Synchronization of V1500 Cygni
  • Abundance Analysis for the Donor Stars in SS Cyg, RU Peg, and GK Per
  • WISE Observations of Polars
  • Synchrotron emission from Z Cam
  • Herschel Observations of Cir X-1 and IR observations of other LMXBs
  • Near-IR Observations of V1500 Cyg, and WISE data for Classical Novae
  • Parallaxes for Four Classical Novae
  • Herschel observations of CVs
  • GX17+2 as a periodic synchrotron source
  • Synchrotron emission from CVs part II
  • Spitzer observations of intermediate polars
  • The secondary star of V616 Mon
  • Why are the secondary stars of polars so normal?
  • IR Spectroscopy of Shorter Period CVs--where's the Carbon, and what's all this about 13CO?
  • EF Eri, part deux.
  • The new Neptune-mass planet.
  • IR Spectroscopy of Long Period CVs--where's the Carbon?
  • Astrometric Calibration of the Mv-Porb Relationship
  • The wild and wonderful world of WZ Sge
  • The always confusing EF Eri
  • That mean and nasty little black hole
  • IR Astrometric and Spectroscopic Parallaxes of U Gem, SS Cyg, and SS Aur.
  • Good old Nova Herculis 1991,

    Here are some infrared arc lamp/sky spectra (with the vacuum wavelengths of the strongest lines identified) obtained using SPEX or GNIRS:

    I2-band argon arc

    Z-band argon arc

    J-band (1.0 to 1.2 microns)

    J1-band OH arc

    J-band (1.2 to 1.4 microns)

    J2-band OH arc

    H-band (1.5 to 1.8 microns)

    H-band OH arc

    K-band (1.98 to 2.4 microns)

    K-band OH arc

    DIS arcs:

    B1200, Center = 4500 Å

    R1200, Center = 8200 Å

    R1200, Center = 6300 Å

    (Remember that blue is on the right in raw DIS red spectra)

    Webcam images from our Campus Observatory 12" telescope:

    Saturn (3/09/04)

    Jupiter (3/28/04)

    Jupiter (3/09/04)

    Venus (daytime, 3/10/04)

    First Quarter Moon (3/28/04) shots (in mediocre seeing):

    Vallis Alpes & Cassini

    Werner crater

    Hyginus rille

    What I was listening to circa several years ago...some of which is/might be offensive:

    Pussycat song
    Yellow ribbons...
    Beer
    Benny Lava
    I kissed a dwarf
    How Long's it Been?, Reno Divorce
    Thunder Over Rincon, Jon and the Nightriders
    Vultures, Hot Water Music
    Bad Ass Dad, Charley Horse
    Let Me Down Easy, Gang of Youths
    Go to war, Nothing More
    Speak of the Devil, Black Pistol Fire
    Southern Sun, Boy & Bear
    Fallen Leaves, Billy Talent
    Where do we go?, The Darlings
    Welcome Home, Rehab
    Bad Company, Five Finger Death Punch
    This is Exile, Whitechapel
    Just a Gigolo, Louis Prima
    This is the end, Anti-Flag
    Cascade , Deluka
    Brotherhood, Flatfoot 56
    Furr , Blitzen Trapper
    Take me home After Midnight Project
    Dulcissima, Corvus Corax
    I Feel Better than James Brown, Was Not Was
    This too shall pass, OK Go
    Creeping Out Sara, NOFX
    This Addiction, Alkaline Trio
    The Hunger, The Distillers
    Ready to Die, Andrew W. K.
    Babylon's Burning, The Ruts
    Rank Stranger, The Knitters
    Big 10" (Record), Aerosmith
    French Poodle, Sam Butera and the Witnesses
    Pupu Hinuhinu, Keola Beamer
    She has a Girlfriend Now, Reel Big Fish
    I'm Going Down, The Blue Bloods
    Closer to the Bone, Louis Prima
    Unwinding Cable Car, Anberlin
    Forever fades away, Tiger Army
    Geeking, The Spinnarettes
    No Cigar, Millencolin
    The Bleeding, Five Finger Death Punch
    On the Road, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
    Man named truth, Monsters of Folk
    You're a wolf, Sea Wolf
    Angry anthem, Forces of Evil
    New Mexico, Cinematics
    Half-truism, The Offspring
    Cripple creek, Scruggs & Flatt
    Is there a ghost, Band of Horses
    Shake, Mad Marge and the Stonecutters
    Signs, Five Man Electrical Band
    F*ck hollywood, Anti Heroes
    Kreuzberg, Bloc Party
    Galaxies, Laura Veirs
    New divide, Linkin Park
    Up From Below, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
    Too hot for words, Linnzi Zaorski
    Ready for the floor, Lissy Trullie
    Ms Connection, Film School
    Mr Zoot Suit, The Flying Neutrinos
    I'm waiting, Lindsey Buckingham

    Connections

    Here is my list of useful, interesting, and/or silly links.

    Some random images:

    My wife (her homepage), Buzz Aldrin, Eta Car, An X-Ray Binary , The Coma Cluster, Shoemaker- Levy, The Cygnus Loop , Nova Cygni 1992, Distant Cluster , Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, M87, M100, Inside a red dwarf, NGC1850, NGC253, ,the VLA, NM Chile.

    M83 from CTIO with the 0.9 meter (in B&W).

    Cen A from CTIO with the 0.9 meter (in B&W).

    Images from our campus observatory Meade 16" telescope with ST8 CCD:

    1) 180s R-band exposure of M42 (unguided, 2X2 binning).

    The initial tracking quality on our 16" was rather poor, after much fiddling, we have reduced this to about 1" r.m.s. Proof is shown in the R-band image of M67, which has an exposure time of 4 minutes (one complete worm revolution).

    2) 240s R-band Exposure of M67 (unguided, raw image).

    3) The Moon (4/1/98).

    3) 240s R-band Exposure of M51 (unguided).