The early nights during Interim made for the perfect environment for Emily Schwendemann ’25 to do something that hasn’t been done at Wofford in decades.
Schwendemann spent their Interim looking toward the stars as part of an independent study in the field of astrophysics. Schwendemann, a math, physics and computer science triple major from Fountain Inn, S.C., brought together all their interests to dive into the chemical composition of celestial bodies.
Schwendemann’s interest in astronomy began in childhood.
“When I was growing up, my dad had one of those constellation books where you can change the month, so I pretty much would sit outside and look at it and see what I could find,” says Schwendemann.
The interest in astrophysics came later, and there’s a slight difference between the two fields.
Put simply, astronomy is a more general study of celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. If you point a telescope at the moon and watch how it moves, you’d be studying astronomy. Astrophysics is more distinctly focused on the underlying physical processes and composition of celestial objects and phenomena, such as their chemical makeup. Schwendemann’s independent study is focused here.
The setup for Schwendemann’s nightly study is simple on the surface: one telescope and one DSLR camera. The telescope is primarily used for getting a better look at a star, planet or other body, while the camera is used to take images of it. “Pretty much anything I can see with my eyes, I can take a picture of,” Schwendemann says.
What makes the setup unique is the diffraction grating that Schwendemann places on the lens.
“You put it on the front, and basically, you just shine it towards the star, and off the star it will break up the light in the star just like a prism would do,” Schwendemann says.
“Scientists first discovered helium in the sun before finding it on Earth using the same techniques that Emily is using for this independent Interim project,” says Dr. Mackay Salley, professor of physics and Schwendemann’s Interim advisor. “These types of experiments are also how we know that the universe is expanding.”
What scientists didn’t have during the time of helium’s discovery, however, was a computer software to make the analysis more streamlined. Schwendemann uses a proprietary tool called R-Spec, which takes the images and gives the star or planet’s composition. This helps Schwendemann classify stars they don’t know, which is the broader purpose of the project.
Salley says the images Schwendemann is producing are the first astrophysics images captured at Wofford since he began his career at the college and possibly the first produced in the past 50 years -- and Schwendemann was the driving force in accomplishing this history.
“Emily is a motivated and creative student who approached me about this independent Interim idea,” Salley says. “It’s wonderful when students have a well-researched and clear idea of what they want to do for an independent Interim.”
This Interim isn’t just a fun project for Schwendemann either. “I think the end goal for my education is going to be pursuing astrophysics of some sort,” Schwendemann says.