Dirk Terrell
Education
- Ph.D. Astronomy, University of Florida, 1994
- M.S. Astronomy, University of Florida, 1989
- B.S. Physics, Clemson University, 1987
Professional Record
- Section Manager and
Astrophysicist, Southwest Research Institute, 1999-
- President and CEO, Falcon
Networking, Inc., 1996-1999
- Adjunct Professor, Department
of Natural Sciences, Santa Fe Community College, 1990-1998
- University Fellow and Sessional Instructor, Department of Physics and
Astronomy, University of Calgary, 1994-1995
- NASA Graduate Research
Fellow, Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 1991-1994
- Teaching Assistant,
Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 1987-1991
- Research Associate, Morgantown Energy Technology Center,
US Dept.
of Energy, 1985
Membership in Professional Societies
- American Astronomical
Society
- International Association of
Astronomical Artists
Honors
- University Fellow 1994-1995 (University of Calgary)
- NASA Graduate Student
Research Fellow 1991-1994 (University
of Florida)
- Daniel Foundation Scholar
1983-1987 (Clemson
University)
- Alumni Presidential Scholar
1983-1984 (Clemson
University)
- President's List and Dean's
List (Clemson
University)
- 1983 US Army
Reserve National Scholar-Athlete
Presentations at Professional Conferences and Meetings
- Eclipsing Binary Stars: Future
Work, (Invited) Pecs PhD Conference on
Variable Star Astrophysics, September 2005.
- Pro-Am Collaborations on
Eclipsing Binary Star Problems, (Invited) AAS Meeting, June 2004.
- Photometric Mass Ratios
and Parameter Recovery from Binary Star Data (Invited), Zdenek Kopal’s Binary
Star Legacy, Litomysl, Czech Republic, March
2004.
- The Early-type Binary MP
Centauri (with U. Munari, T. Zwitter, and G. Wolf), AAS Meeting, January 2004.
- The 2002 Eclipses of OW Geminorum (with Kaiser, D. H., Henden, A. A., Koff, R.,
West, D., Dvorak, S., Pullen, C. and Stephan, C.), AAS
Meeting, January 2003.
- A High-Altitude Search
for Vulcanoids: Progress Report (with Durda, D. D.,
Stern, S. A. and Weidenschilling, S. J.),
AAS-DPS Meeting #34 (2002).
- TU Muscae
and the Early-type Overcontact Binaries, IAU
Colloquium 187, Exotic Stars as Challenges to Evolution, Miami, March 2002.
- Photometric Monitoring of
Triton at Sommers-Bausch Observatory in 2000
(with Young, L. A., Bullock, M. A.,
Colwell, W. B., Durda, D. D.,
Gleason, K., Parker, J. W., Stern, S. A. and
Young, E. F.), 32nd Annual Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference, March, 2001.
- Simulation and Modeling
of Transit Eclipses by Planets, (with E.F. Milone,
M.D. Williams, C.R. Stagg, M.L. McClure, B. Desnoyers Winmill, T. Brown,
D. Charbonneau, R.L. Gililand, J. Kallrath, J., Marcy, G. W. and W. van Hamme), Planetary Systems in the Universe, IAU. Symp. 202. Manchester,
England,
August 2000.
- A New Damped Least
Squares Version of a Wilson-Devinney-Based
Program for Binary Star Analysis, (with J. Kallrath,
E.F. Milone, and A.T. Young), AAS Meeting, Summer 1997.
- Further Evolution of
Light Curve Modeling, (with E.F. Milone, J. McVean, J. Kallrath, W. Van Hamme, and A.T. Young), AAS Meeting, Winter 1996.
- Is the Eclipsing Binary
SAO 76494 a Hyad or Escaped Hyad?,
(with E.F. Milone, F.M. Babott,
D. Kaiser, and J. Gunn), International Symposium on the Origins,
Evolution, and Destinies of Binary Stars in Clusters, Calgary, AB, June,
1995.
- A Search for Variables in
Clusters Using the Automated Photographic Patrol, (with D. Kaiser),
International Symposium on the Origins, Evolution, and Destinies of Binary
Stars in Clusters, Calgary, AB, June 1995.
- Modeling of the Contact
Binary H235 in the Open Cluster NGC 752, (with E.F. Milone), International Symposium on the Origins,
Evolution, and Destinies of Binary Stars in Clusters, Calgary, AB,
June 1995.
- Analysis of the Contact
System V7 in the Old Open Cluster NGC 6791, (with E.F. Milone), International Symposium on the Origins,
Evolution, and Destinies of Binary Stars in Clusters, Calgary, AB, June
1995.
- Modeling and Impersonal
Fitting of Asteroid Light Curves, (with D. Durda),
AAS-DPS meeting, Washington,
DC, November 1994.
- Large
Superluminous Areas on W UMa
Systems II. YZ Phoenicis, (with R.G. Samec), AAS Meeting, Washington, DC,
January, 1994.
- Vela X-1 vis a vis HD 77581 - Self-consistent Parameter
Adjustment, (with R.E. Wilson), Maryland Conference on the Evolution of
X-ray Binaries, College Park,
October 1993.
- A User Interface for the
Wilson-Devinney Light Curve Program, AAS
Meeting, Phoenix,
January, 1993.
- Simultaneous
Solutions for X-ray Binary Parameters, (with R.E. Wilson), AAS
Meeting, Phoenix,
January, 1993.
- Mass Transfer in Algols - Computation of Observables, (Invited) IAU
General Assembly, Buenos Aires,
July 1991.
Participation in Invited Workshops
- Eclipsing Binary Star Data
Analysis, IAPPP West Wing Meeting, May 2003 (workshop leader)
- Eclipsing Binary Star
Data Analysis, AAVSO Spring Meeting, May 2001 (workshop leader)
- Information Potential of Algol Disks, Sixth Florida Workshop on Non-linear
Astronomy, September, 1991.
Books
- Binary Stars: A Pictorial
Atlas, Dirk Terrell, J.D. Mukherjee, and
R.E. Wilson, Krieger Publishing, Malabar, FL, 1992 (ISBN 0-89464-041-0)
Publications in Refereed Journals and Conference Proceedings
- Observational
Studies of Early-type Eclipsing Binaries: VV Orionis, Terrell, Dirk, Munari,
U. and Siviero, A., Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society, 374, 530 (2006)
- The
Absolute Dimensions of the Overcontact Binary FI
Bootis, Terrell, Dirk, Osborn, Wayne; Smolinksi,
Jason and Gross, John, Astronomical Journal, 132, 1153 (2006)
- Photometry
of the Algol-type Binary Z Draconis,
Terrell, Dirk, IBVS #5742 (2006)
- New
Constraints on Additional Satellites of the Pluto System, A. J. Steffl, M. J. Mutchler, H. A. Weaver, S. A. Stern, D. D. Durda, D. Terrell, W. J. Merline, L. A. Young, E. F. Young, M. W. Buie, and J. R. Spencer, Astronomical Journal, 132, 614 (2006)
- A Two-Color CCD Photometric Study of the W UMa
Binary SW Lacertae, Alton,
Kevin B. and Terrell, Dirk, Journal of the American Association of Variable
Star Observers, in press (2006)
- The Classical Algol XZ UMa - Observations
and Analysis, Nelson, R.H, Terrell, D. and Gross, J., IBVS #5715
(2006)
- Eclipsing
Binary Stars: Future Work, Terrell, D., in Astrophysics of
Variable Stars, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series,
349, 91 (2006)
- On
the origin of the unusual orbit of Comet 2P/Encke, Levison, Harold F.;
Terrell, Dirk; Wiegert, Paul A.; Dones, Luke; Duncan, Martin J., Icarus, 182, 161 (2006)
- Changes in the Light
Curves of Short-Period W Ursae Majoris Binaries: Program Summary, Genet, R. M.;
Smith, T. C.; Terrell, D.; Doyle, L., Journal of the American Association
of Variable Star Observers, in press (2006)
- Partial Eclipses in BR Cygni,
Terrell, Dirk, Gross, John and Cooney, W.R., Jr. IBVS #5646 (2005)
- Photometric Variability in
the Strongly Interacting Binary DK Canum Venaticorum, Terrell, Dirk; Koff, R. A.;
Henden, A. A.; Hager, T.;
Kaiser, D. H.; Howell, J. A.; Gross, John;
Cooney, Walter R., Jr.; Munari, U.;
Siviero, A., IBVS #5642 (2005)
- Observational
studies of early-type binary stars: MP Centauri, Terrell, Dirk; Munari, Ulisse; Zwitter, Tomaž; Wolf, George, Monthly Notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society, 360, 583 (2005)
- GW Cancri:
A W-type W UMa System with Complete Eclipses, Terrell, Dirk, Gross, John and Cooney,
W.R., Jr. IBVS #5625 (2005)
- Photometric
Mass Ratios of Eclipsing Binary Stars, Terrell, Dirk and Wilson, R.E., Astrophysics and Space
Science, 296, 221 (2005)
- CX CMa
An Early-Type Detached Eclipsing Binary, Nelson, R.H. and Terrell,
D., Information Bulletin on Variable Stars #5545 (2004).
- New
Light Curves and Orbital Solution for AM Leonis,
Hiller, M.E., Osborn, W. and Terrell, D., Publications of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 116, 337, 2004.
- Studies of Early-type
Binaries: TU Mus and MP Cen
, Terrell, D., Munari, U., Zwitter, T., Nelson, R. H. and Wolf, G. W., ASP Conf.
Series, 318, 215 (2004)
- Observational
Studies of Early-type Overcontact Binaries: TU Muscae, Terrell, D., Munari,
U., Zwitter, T. and Nelson, R. H., Astronomical
Journal 126, 2988 (2003).
- The
Double Supergiant Binary OW Geminorum,
Terrell, Dirk, Kaiser, D. H., Henden, A. A.,
Koff, R., West, D., Dvorak, S.,
Pullen, A. Charles, Stephan, Christopher P.,
Astronomical Journal 126, 902 (2003).
- Observations and Modeling
of the Eclipsing Binary GSC 3515:0865, Billings, G. and Terrell, D.,
Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers 31,
70 (2003).
- Photometry of OW Gem,
Kaiser, D.H., Henden, A. A., Dvorak, S., Garcia-Melendo, E., Gomez-Forrellad,
J. M., Howell, J. A., Koff, R. A., Kuebler, P., Lubcke, G. C.,
Martin, B., Nelson, R. H., Pullen, A. C., Terrell, D., West, D., Williams,
D. B., Wolf, G. W., Zissell, R. E., Information
Bulletin on Variable Stars #5347 (2002).
- Light Curve Variability in
XZ Canis Minoris,
Terrell, D. and Henden, A. A., Information
Bulletin on Variable Stars #5310 (2002).
- GSC 00279-00321:
A New W UMa Eclipsing Binary, Koppelman,
M.D. and Terrell, D., Information Bulletin on Variable Stars #5299 (2002).
- GSC 4686 2315: A
Short-period Algol, Koff, R.A.; Henden, A.A.;
Kaiser, D.H.; Lubcke, G.C.; Terrell, D.,
Information Bulletin on Variable Stars #5257 (2002).
- GSC 0983.1044: a
Short-Period RS CVn Binary,
Kaiser, D. H.; Pullen, A. C.; Henden, A. A.;
Baldwin, M. E.; Guilbault, P. R.;
Hager, T.; Terrell, D., Information Bulletin on Variable Stars
#5231 (2002).
- Light Elements and Light
Curve of the Eclipsing Binary GSC 2605.0545,
Howell, J. A.; Henden, A. A.;
Baldwin, M. E.; Guilbault, P. R.;
Hager, T.; West, D.; Kuebler, P.;
Terrell, D., Information Bulletin on Variable Stars #5229 (2002).
- Eclipsing
Binary Stars: Past, Present and Future, Terrell, Dirk, Journal of
the American Association of Variable Star Observers, 30, 1 (2002).
- The Short-Period
Eclipsing Binary GSC 3123.1618, Billings, G. W., Kaiser, D. H., Terrell, D., and Henden, A. A., Information Bulletin on Variable Stars
#5029 (2001).
- Light Elements and a
Preliminary Solution for the Light Curve of the Eclipsing Binary GSC
1534.0753, Lubcke, G.C.; Baldwin,
M.E.; Billings, G.W.; Guilbault, P.R.; Hager,
T.; Henden, A.A.; Terrell, D., Information
Bulletin on Variable Stars #4998 (2000).
- Recent
Improvements to a Version of the Wilson-Devinney
Program, Kallrath, Josef, Milone, E. F., Terrell, Dirk, and Young, Andrew T.,
Astrophysical Journal, 508, 308 (1998).
- X-ray
binary unified analysis: pulse/RV application to Vela X1: GP Velorum, Wilson,
R.E. and Terrell, Dirk, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
296, 33 (1998).
- Preliminary
Analysis of the Contact System V7 in NGC 6791, Milone,
E.F. and Terrell, Dirk, in The Origins, Evolution, and Destinies of
Binary Stars in Clusters, Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Conference Series,Volume 90 (1996).
- Analysis
of the Contact System H235 in the Open Cluster NGC 752, Milone, E.F. and Terrell, D., in The Origins,
Evolution, and Destinies of Binary Stars in Clusters, Astronomical
Society of the Pacific Conference Series,Volume 90 (1996).
- Is
the Eclipsing Binary SAO 76494 a Hyad or Escaped
Hyad?, Terrell, Dirk and Milone, E.F. and Babbott,
F.M. in The Origins, Evolution, and Destinies of Binary Stars in
Clusters, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series,Volume 90 (1996).
- A
Search for Variables in Clusters, Kaiser, Daniel H., and Terrell,
Dirk, in The Origins, Evolution, and Destinies of Binary Stars in
Clusters, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series,Volume 90 (1996).
- Observations
and Analysis of the Field Contact Binary V728 Herculis,
R.H. Nelson, E.F. Milone, J. VanLeeuwen,
Dirk Terrell, and J.E. Penfold, Astronomical
Journal, 110, 2400, 1995.
- YZ
Phoenicis: Photometric Study of a W UMa Binary near the Short Period Limit, Ronald
G. Samec and Dirk Terrell, Publications of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 107, 427, 1995.
- V1061
Tauri: Analysis of a Newly Discovered Eclipsing
Binary, Dirk Terrell, Dan Kaiser, and David Williams, Publications
of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 107, 653, 1995.
- Period
Correction for the New Eclipsing Binary DHK41, Information
Bulletin on Variable Stars #4168 (1995).
- A Photometric Campaign on
OW Geminorum, Kaiser, D.H., Williams,
D.B. and Terrell, D., Information Bulletin on Variable Stars #4102 (1995).
- New
Light Curves and Analysis of the Short Period Algol
XZ Canis Minoris,
Dirk Terrell, J.B. Gunn, and Daniel H. Kaiser, Publications of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 106, 149 (1994).
- Photometric
Investigation of a Very Short Period W UMa-type
Binary: Does CE Leonis Have a Large Superluminous Area?, Ronald G. Samec, Wen Su, Dirk Terrell,
and Douglas P. Hube, Astronomical Journal, 106,
318 (1993).
- Sub-Synchronous Rotation
and Tidal Lag in HD 77581/Vela X-1, R.E. Wilson and Dirk Terrell, in The
Evolution of X-ray Binaries, Am. Inst. of Physics Conference
Proceedings #308 (1993).
- Spectral Energy
Distributions of Circumstellar Gas in Algols, Dirk Terrell and R.E. Wilson, in Light
Curve Modeling of Eclipsing Binary Stars, ed. E.F. Milone,
pp. 27-35, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1993.
- Complete
BVRI Light Curves of the Very Short Period W UMa
Variable YZ Phoenicis, Marcelo B. Arruda, Ronald G. Samec and
Dirk Terrell, Information Bulletin on Variable Stars #3884 (1993).
- Learning About Algol Disks - Learning From Algol
Disks, R.E. Wilson and Dirk Terrell, in Astrophysical Disks,
eds. S.F. Dermott, J.H. Hunter, Jr. and R.E. Wilson, New
York Academy of
Sciences, New York,
1992.
- A
Re-discussion of Four Early-Type Eclipsing Binaries, Dirk Terrell,
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 250, 209 (1991).
- The
Photometric Elements of XZ Canis Minoris, Dirk Terrell and R.E. Wilson,
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 102, 646
(1990).
Unrefereed Publications
- Many IAU Circular and Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams on our
photometric discoveries of binary asteroids can be found here.
- S/2003 (283)
1, Merline, W. J.,
Dumas, C., Siegler, N.,
Close, L. M., Chapman, C. R., Tamblyn, P. M.,
Terrell, D., Conrad, A., Menard, F. and Duvert, G.,
IAU Circular #8165 (2003).
- CCD
UBVRI Photometry of the Pre-contact Eclipsing Binary V361 Lyrae, Samec, R.G.,
Terrell, D., Gray, J.D., and Carrigan, B.J.,
Bull. Am. Astron. Soc., vol 186, #47.06, 1995.
- Early
Results from the APP - An Eclipsing Binary in Hercules and a Potential
Eclipsing Hyad, Dirk Terrell and Daniel
H. Kaiser, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc., 185, 85.09 (1994).
- A Prime Opportunity to
Observe a Close Passage of the Earth-Crossing Asteroid 4179 Toutatis, Daniel D. Durda
and Dirk Terrell, IAPPP Communications, Summer 1992.
- Photometric Observations
and Methods, and Results of Light Curve Analysis, R.E. Wilson, J.D. Mukherjee, and Dirk Terrell, IAU Triennial Report
(1991).
- Problems of Interacting
Binary Stars Requiring Observations from Space, R.E. Wilson, J.C. Liou, J.D. Mukherjee, and
Dirk Terrell, Proceedings of the 11th Annual Smithsonian/Fairborn/IAPPP
Symposium on Automated Photometric Telescopes, Fairborn Press, Mesa, AZ
(1990).
- Azimuthal
Variation of Stellar Magnitudes at the South Pole, Kwan-Yu Chen and
Dirk Terrell, Antarctic Journal of the US, 1990 Review.
General Publications
Journals Served as Manuscript Referee
- Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Astronomical Journal
- Astrophysics and Space
Science
Courses Taught
- AST 1022L, astronomy
laboratory course
- AST 1022, Discovering the
Universe, lecture course covering all areas of modern astronomy
- ISC 1001/PSC 1341, Introduction
to Physical Science, lecture course covering topics in physics, chemistry,
geology, and astronomy
- PSC 2121, Fundamentals of
Physical Science with Laboratory, lecture course covering topics in
physics, chemsitry, geology, and astronomy with
an integrated lab for experiments in those topics.
- PHY 207, Non-calculus
physics covering waves and periodic motion, electricity and magnetism, and
optics.
Computer Software
- Nitrogen Absorption
Program (NAP) - A computer program for scuba divers that enables them
to simulate dives on a PC compatible and follow the absorption of nitrogen
by body tissues and hence the risk of getting decompression sickness
(i.e., the bends).
- PC Interface for WD -
A user-friendly "front-end" for the Wilson-Devinney
light curve program that runs on PC compatibles. The program enables users
to compute light and velocity curves for binary stars using the WD code
without having to be concerned with the format of the WD input file.
- VHLIMB - A program
that displays limb darkening coefficients for stars based on the Van Hamme limb darkening tables. Written in Java so it
will run on any machine that has a Java runtime.
- FLIST - A Windows
program that enables the user to search for and display information on
close binaries from The Finding List for Observers of Interacting Binary
Stars.
- HTML Wizard - An OS/2
program that makes the preparation of World Wide Web documents much
simpler.
Interests
My hobbies include cave diving, martial arts, computer
programming, riding my motorcycle, and increasing public understanding and
awareness of scientific issues. I have extensive experience with the DOS,
Windows, OS/2 and Unix operating systems as well as
the BASIC, FORTRAN, C/C++, REXX, Java, and Pascal programming languages. I have
also done a fair amount of SQL database work.