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British
Astronomical Association Robotic
Telescope Project Peter Meadows : Robotic
Telescope Coordinator |
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The
Robotic Telescope Project allows BAA members access to remote
telescopes and imaging systems at attractive rates. Members are able to
use the service at half the commercial rate up to a limit, then at full
rate, and are provided with access to a wide range of equipment beyond
a private budget. It also allows users to benefit from observing from a
location with a better climate than Britain's, including access to
telescopes in the southern hemisphere. Although individual members are
able to use the service for their own purposes, the project enables
groups within the BAA – perhaps organised via the Observing
Sections – to undertake collaborative projects, which can be
educational or more research-oriented. The
Association uses the telescopes of the Sierra
Stars Observatory Network
(SSON) – a 61-cm f/10 Cassegrain research-grade telescope
located
on
the eastern side of the Sierra Mountains in California (G68), the
University of Iowa’s 37-cm f/14 Rigel Telescope in Sonoita,
Arizona (857) and the Mt. Lemmon 81cm f/7 Ritchey-Chrétien
Telescope
in Tucson, Arizona (G84).
The CCD images are around 1,500 x 1,500 pixels, covering about 20 x 20
arcmin, and with dark frame and flat field already applied. This
reasonably large image size is ideally suited for deep sky objects,
comets, variable stars, novae, supernovae, and asteroids. The 3-Mb zip
file containing the image in FITS format is usually available for FTP
download a few hours after acquisition. To
apply for telescope time, download and complete the application
form, and e-mail it to robotscope@britastro.org.
Your summary of proposed observations will be reviewed, usually by a
Section Director, before telescope credit is allocated. One of the
conditions of use is that your images, or results derived from your
images, should be submitted to one of the Observing Sections, or form
part of a paper for the Journal. For
all enquiries, please contact robotscope@britastro.org ____________________________________________________________ Some
results obtained by members Four
asteroids: Peter Meadows
Comet 81P/Wild: Nick James SN2010au: Guy Hurst WZ Sge-type object in Pegasus: Guy Hurst NGC 4319 & Markarian 205: Mike Foylan SN2011B: Guy Hurst Comet 81P/Wild: Roger Dymock Comet 103P/Hartley: Roger Dymock Comet C/2010 X1 Elenin: Roger Dymock SV Arietis: Guy Hurst Comet C/2010 L3 McNaught: Roger Dymock Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd: Roger Dymock Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd: Peter Meadows Comet C/2010 G2 Hil : Roger Dymock ____________________________________________________________
Below are the current project supported by the Robotic Telescope Project (please email the coordinator is you wish to contact the project leader) :
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BAA Robotic Telescope articles,
images
and
presentations include:
____________________________________________________________ The
RTP was initially presented in the following short paper in Journal
of the British Astronomical
Association, 118
(4), 224–5, August 2008 |
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Robotic telescopes
and
the BAA : a remote observing proposal Richard Miles and
Roger
Dymock |
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Introduction A
significant advance in amateur astronomy in recent years has been the
setting up and use of remotely operated or robotic telescopes. Access
to tele- scopes positioned at various longitudes and in both
hemispheres makes a wider range of objects available to the observer,
and not necessarily in the middle of the night.
Use of such facilities
need not be expensive, especially when compared with the cost of
setting up one’s own observatory from scratch. Robotic
telescopes are available to suit the beginner – SLOOH, for
example – and the more experienced observer, such as Global
Rent-A-Scope (GRAS) and the Faulkes Telescopes. Figure 1 is typical of
the images which can be obtained using the SLOOH telescope situated on
Mount Teide in the Canary Islands. The image shown in Figure 2 was
obtained by Martin Mobberley using a GRAS telescope located in
Australia. This demonstrates that all of the sky, not just the hemi-
sphere in which you are located, is available to robotic telescope
users.
An example of what can
be achieved is shown by recent observations of asteroid 2008 HJ by
Richard Miles using the 2-metre Faulkes South telescope. The lightcurve
– Figure 3 – revealed that the object has a
rotation period of 42.67±0.04s,
which is the shortest known rotation period of any natural body in the
solar system. The proposal below was developed by ourselves and
presented to the BAA Council on 2008 April 30. It was unanimously
supported by those present, and it was agreed that initially a sum of
£1,200 (£100 per month) from the Ridley Grant fund
should be used to support the project. It was also agreed that a
Robotic Telescope Coordinator would be recruited. Background A
prime raison
d’être of
the BAA is ‘To promote the association of observers... for
mutual help, and their organisation in the work of astronomical
observation’. (Memorandum
of Association, 3(b).)
Unfortunately, UK-based observers partic- ularly are often at a
disadvantage because of poor weather, light pollution in towns and
cities, or because of our latitude (50°–56°
N),
which prevents access to many celestial phenomena further south, and
also means that our summer nights are very short.
Facilities provided by
remotely operated telescopes have come of age in the last few years,
and it is suggested that the Association should investigate ways in
which their utilisation can further the aims and objectives of the BAA.
Activities in this area could be highlighted in a special section of
the Journal
and on the website, thereby furthering the Association’s aims. Proposal The
proposal was to establish a new position – that of Robotic
Telescope Coordinator – and to set aside funds to promote an
active programme of remote observation by BAA members, probably
initially using the facilities of Global Rent-a-Scope (GRAS).
A study into available
robotic facilities was carried out by the Asteroids and Remote Planets
Section, mainly by Alan Cahill, the conclusion of which was that GRAS
is the only facility which potentially meets observers’
requirements at present. Since then, several members have had positive
first-hand experience of GRAS. GRAS has also upgraded its operation
recently, establishing a scheme which encourages use of many of its
telescopes for research – the telescope time costing a half
or a third of that of the large-format CCD
‘imaging’ ‘scopes. Observers
participating in the scheme should themselves pay a significant
proportion of the cost levied by GRAS, possibly amounting to 75%. Since
the Association should be able to negotiate an attractive discount,
this might equate to a saving to individuals of about one half.
Observing Sections
expected to utilise the facility include the Variable Star Section,
Comet Section, Asteroids and Remote Planets Section, and Deep Sky
Section. Planet and planetary satellite observation can also be
envisaged. |
Figure 1 M41,
Aristotle’s Cluster, imaged by SLOOH, Mount Teide, Canary
Islands.
Figure 2 V5579
Sagittarii (Nova Sgr 2008) imaged by Martin Mobberley on 2008 April
19.771 UT with the 25-cm f/6 Ritchey–Chrétien
telescope at GRAS, Moorook, Australia.
Figure 3
Lightcurve of asteroid 2008 HJ from Faulkes Telescope observations by
Richard Miles. |
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