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Since the IRAS discovery of Vega’s large thermal infrared excess over the expected photospheric flux, dust disks have been found around a large fraction of main‐sequence A‐type stars. While dust in debris disks has been studied extensively with Spitzer, relatively little is known about their gas content. We have carried out detailed studies of the circumstellar environments of all nearby A‐type stars. We have studied both thermal emission from their circumstellar dust and absorption from circumstellar gas. With high‐resolution and high signal‐to‐noise visible spectra, we identified about a dozen main‐sequence A‐type stars with circumstellar gas through a volume‐limited survey. Although these spectra confirm the existence of the circumstellar gas and serve as a probe of the gas dynamics, they do not allow us to determine the gas density and temperature. Fortunately, there are many absorption lines in the UV and FUV range that are sensitive to the gas density and temperature. Through our FUSE, IUE, HST, and...

The chromospheric and transition region emission lines of the most active stars have routinely been shown to consist of very broad wings superimposed on the narrower, rotationally‐broadened emission core. If these wings are attributed to a single emission mechanism in the stellar atmosphere, the implied thermal broadening often strains credibility. If they are due to active regions or loops rotating into and out of view, they should be present only for a small range of rotational phase. They have also been attributed to continuous flaring and to circumstellar material (loops, disks, etc.). We have been analyzing spectra of very active stars in the FUSE continuous viewing zone, allowing them to be observed continuously over one or more complete rotations. This helps to distinguish between spatial (repeatable, phase‐dependent) and temporal variations and provides further insight into the mechanism(s) responsible for the broad wing emission.

The College of Charleston (CofC) is one of three institutions that belong to a consortium led by the Division of Science and Mathematics at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) to maintain and operate a research grade telescope at Etelman Observatory on the island of St. Thomas (18deg, 21′ N, 65deg W at an elevation ∼ 1325 ft with ⩽ 1″ seeing). The location provides 80% sky coverage of the southern celestial hemisphere and, on average, ∼ 6 hours of clear sky per night, except during the peak of hurricane season. This makes the observatory an ideal facility for observing Gamma‐Ray Bursts (GRBs). The observatory will serve a variety of needs to the consortium members that include research, teaching, and public outreach. The primary research function of this facility will be to perform rapid, automated followup observations of Gamma‐Ray Bursts (GRBs) observed with NASA’s Swift spacecraft, to be launched in June 2004, via the GCN. The newly renovated observatory houses a new robotic 0.5 m Cassegrain tel...