Robotic telescope
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A robotic telescope is an
By 2004, robotic observations accounted for an overwhelming percentage of the published scientific information on asteroid orbits and discoveries, variable star studies, supernova light curves and discoveries, comet orbits and gravitational microlensing observations.
All early phase
Design
Robotic telescopes are complex systems that typically incorporate a number of subsystems. These subsystems include devices that provide telescope pointing capability, operation of the detector (typically a CCD camera), control of the dome or telescope enclosure, control over the telescope's focuser, detection of weather conditions, and other capabilities. Frequently these varying subsystems are presided over by a master control system, which is almost always a software component.
Robotic telescopes operate under closed loop or open loop principles. In an open loop system, a robotic telescope system points itself and collects its data without inspecting the results of its operations to ensure it is operating properly. An open loop telescope is sometimes said to be operating on faith, in that if something goes wrong, there is no way for the control system to detect it and compensate.
A closed loop system has the capability to evaluate its operations through redundant inputs to detect errors. A common such input would be position encoders on the telescope's axes of motion, or the capability of evaluating the system's images to ensure it was pointed at the correct field of view when they were exposed.
Most robotic telescopes are small telescopes. While large observatory instruments may be highly automated, few are operated without attendants.
Professional robotic telescopes
Robotic telescopes were first developed by
By the early 1980s, with the availability of cheap computers, several viable robotic telescope projects were conceived, and a few were developed. The 1985 book, Microcomputer Control of Telescopes, by Mark Trueblood and Russell M. Genet, was a landmark engineering study in the field. One of this book's achievements was pointing out many reasons, some quite subtle, why telescopes could not be reliably pointed using only basic astronomical calculations. The concepts explored in this book share a common heritage with the telescope mount error modeling software called
In 2004, some professional robotic telescopes were characterized by a lack of design creativity and a reliance on
Since the late 1980s, the
One of the largest current networks of robotic telescopes is RoboNet, operated by a consortium of UK universities. The Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) Project is another example of a professional robotic telescope. LINEAR's competitors, the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search, Catalina Sky Survey, Spacewatch, and others, have also developed varying levels of automation.
In 1997, the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) wide-field telescope array, named ROTSE-I, began operation in manual mode. Software systems allowed fully automated robotic operation in late March 1998, with the first automated responses to GRB 980326 from triggers received over the GRB Coordinates Network. ROTSE-I operated from then on and was the first fully autonomous closed-loop robotic telescope, and was used for GRB responses, X-ray transients and Soft Gamma-ray Repeater study, variable star and meteor study. The first prompt optical burst from a GRB was discovered by ROTSE-I for GRB 990123. The ROTSE-III project involved four half-meter telescopes based on the ROTSE-I operation approach, which began operation in 2003. These were used primarily for GRB follow up study, and also a supernova search and study. It was with ROTSE-III observations that the first superluminous supernovae were discovered.
In 2002, the RAPid Telescopes for Optical Response (RAPTOR) project, designed in 2000, began full deployment in 2002. The project was headed by Tom Vestrand and his team: James Wren, Robert White, P. Wozniak, and Heath Davis. Its first light on one of the wide field instruments was in late 2001. The second wide field system came online in late 2002. Closed loop operations began in 2003. Originally the goal of RAPTOR was to develop a system of ground-based telescopes that would reliably respond to satellite triggers and more importantly, identify transients in real-time and generate alerts with source locations to enable follow-up observations with other, larger, telescopes. It has achieved both of these goals. Now[when?] RAPTOR has been re-tuned to be the key hardware element of the Thinking Telescopes Technologies Project.[5] Its new mandate will be the monitoring of the night sky looking for interesting and anomalous behaviors in persistent sources using some of the most advanced robotic software ever deployed. The two wide field systems are a mosaic of CCD cameras. The mosaic covers and area of approximately 1500 square degrees to a depth of 12th magnitude. Centered in each wide field array is a single fovea system with a field of view of 4 degrees and depth of 16th magnitude. The wide field systems are separated by a 38 km baseline. Supporting these wide field systems are two other operational telescopes. The first of these is a cataloging patrol instrument with a mosaic 16 square degree field of view down to 16 magnitude. The other system is a .4m OTA with a yielding a depth of 19-20th magnitude and a coverage of .35 degrees. Three additional systems are currently undergoing development and testing and deployment will be staged over the next two years. All of the systems are mounted on custom manufactured, fast-slewing mounts capable of reaching any point in the sky in 3 seconds. The RAPTOR System is located on site at Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA) and has been supported through the Laboratory's Directed Research and Development funds.
Amateur robotic telescopes
In 2004, most robotic telescopes are in the hands of amateur astronomers. A prerequisite for the explosion of amateur robotic telescopes was the availability of relatively inexpensive CCD cameras, which appeared on the commercial market in the early 1990s. These cameras not only allowed amateur astronomers to make pleasing images of the night sky, but also encouraged more sophisticated amateurs to pursue research projects in cooperation with professional astronomers. The main motive behind the development of amateur robotic telescopes has been the tedium of making research-oriented astronomical observations, such as taking endlessly repetitive images of a variable star.
In 1998,
Following coverage of ASCOM in Sky & Telescope magazine several months later, ASCOM architects such as Bob Denny, Doug George, Tim Long, and others later influenced ASCOM into becoming a set of codified interface standards for freeware device drivers for telescopes, CCD cameras, telescope focusers, and astronomical observatory domes. As a result, amateur robotic telescopes have become increasingly more sophisticated and reliable, while software costs have plunged. ASCOM has also been adopted for some professional robotic telescopes.
Also in 1998, the Tenagra Observatories site near Cottage Grove, Oregon was constructed by Michael Schwartz with a robotic 14-inch (360 mm) Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope c. 1998.[6]
Meanwhile, ASCOM users designed ever more capable master control systems. Papers presented at the Minor Planet Amateur-Professional Workshops (MPAPW) in 1999, 2000, and 2001 and the International Amateur-Professional Photoelectric Photometry Conferences of 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 documented increasingly sophisticated master control systems. Some of the capabilities of these systems included automatic selection of observing targets, the ability to interrupt observing or rearrange observing schedules for targets of opportunity, automatic selection of guide stars, and sophisticated error detection and correction algorithms.
Remote telescope system development started in 1999, with first test runs on real telescope hardware in early 2000. RTS2 was primary intended for
The Instrument Neutral Distributed Interface (INDI) was started in 2003. In comparison to the Microsoft Windows centric ASCOM standard, INDI is a platform independent protocol developed by Elwood C. Downey of ClearSky Institute to support control, automation, data acquisition, and exchange among hardware devices and software frontends.
Smart telescopes
A newer introduction to the consumer market are smart telescopes. They are self contained robotic astronomical imaging devices that combine a small (50mm to 114mm in diameter) telescope and mount with pre-packaged software designed for
List of Robotic Telescopes
See below for further information on these professional robotic telescopes:
- TRAPPIST, 60 cm, La Silla, Chile.
- T80S, 80 cm, Tololo, Chile.
- Super-LOTIS, 60 cm, Steward Observatory on Kitt Peak, Arizona, USA.
- Liverpool Telescope (robotic telescope), 2.0 m, on La Palma, Canary Islands
- Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii
- Faulkes Telescope South, Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia
- RoboNet, multiple locations
- Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California, USA.
- Automated Planet Finder, 2.4 m,
- Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope, 76 cm
- Slooh telescopes, various sizes & locations.
- Rapid Eye Mount telescope, 60 cm, La Silla, Chile
- TAROT-South robotic observatory, 25 cm, La Silla, Chile
- Bradford Robotic Telescope, 35.5 cm, Teide Observatory, Canary Islands
- Warner and Swasey Observatory#Nassau Station Robotic Observatory, 91 cm, Warner and Swasey Observatory, Ohio, USA
- Observatorio Astronómico de La Sagra, 3× 45 cm, Granada, Spain
- ROTSE-IIIb, 45 cm, McDonald Observatory, Texas, USA
- GROWTH,70 cm,
- Indian Astronomical Observatory, Ladakh, India
- MASTER network of small rapid-response robotic telescopes
- NARITThai Robotic Telescope, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization) Thailand.
- RAPTOR (telescope), Fenton Hill
- Milutin Milanković, 140 cm, Belgrade Observatory, Astronomical Station of Vidojevica, Mount Vidojevica, Serbia.
See also
References
- Bibcode:2004ASPC..314..597A. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- Bibcode:1994ASPC...55..234M. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- Bibcode:1992ASPC...28..123C. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- ^ "About Rigel". Archived from the original on 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
- ^ Hutterer, Eleanor (August 2014). "Tracking Transients".
- Polakis, Tom (May 2004), "Robotic Observing: If Robotic-Controlled Telescopes Are the Future of Astronomical Observing, Then Tenagra Observatories Are Leading This Technological Revolution", Astronomy, 32 (5)
- ^ "RTS2: Open source standard and package for autonomous observatory".
- ^ Jamie Carter, Why smart telescopes are the future of astrophotography, techradar.com - September 24, 2022
- ^ Sweitzer, J., Star Parties in Deep Space: Smart Telescopes for Education, ASP2020: Embracing the Future: Astronomy Teaching and Public Engagement ASP Conference Series, Vol. 531, proceedings of a virtual conference held 3-December 2020. Edited by Greg Schultz, Jonathan Barnes, Andrew Fraknoi, and Linda Shore. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2021, p.411
- ^ Robin Scagell, Vaonis Stellina Observation Station Smart telescope review, space.com, September 14, 2022
- ^ "Smart Telescope Reviews - Find perfect smart telescope". Smart Telescope Reviews. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
- ^ Jamie Carter, Why smart telescopes are the future of astrophotography, techradar.com - September 24, 2022
- ^ Robin Scagell (2022-08-09). "Vaonis Stellina Observation Station Smart telescope review". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-09-16.
- ^ "Unistellar eVscope eQuinox". BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
External links
- Virtual Telescope Project The Virtual Telescope Project robotic facility.
- List of professional robotic telescopes (with map and statistics).
- "Robotic telescopes: An interactive exhibit on the world-wide web". 1994. ) provides an overview of telescope operation through the internet