4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011 The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope James E. Neff...

4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope

James E. NeffCollege of Charleston

&

David Morris

University of the Virgin Islands

Advantages of Virgin Islands Site

• Latitude (18o North): permits coverage of northern and southern sky

• Longitude (65o West): fills “gap” between US and Europe

• Stable atmospheric conditions: superb seeing (typically ~ 1”)

• Predictable conditions: clear for at least a few hours every night

• Infrastructure and University support


Latitude 18o N Longitude 65o W Elevation 420 m

Also in the neighborhood: Arecibo (Puerto Rico) and VLBA (St. Croix)


Unique Challenges

• It’s in the tropics: clouds, rain, humidity

• St. Thomas is fairly remote and expensive (everything must be shipped/flown in)

• Local culture is challenging to work within

required reading: “Don’t Stop the Carnival”

by Herman Wouk


TELESCOPE

0.5m f/10 Cassegrain

Equatorial (long) fork

Robotic/Remote/Manual

Torus Precision Optics(Optical Mechanics, Inc.)• ~10 custom scopes in field• “turn- key” observatory design • Rigel project (Robert Mutel)


Filter Wheel + CCD

12 position Torus filter wheel UBVRI ND TiO filters

Finger Lakes Instruments camera thermo-electrically cooled

Marconi 42-40 CCD 2048 x 2048 20 x 20 arc-min fov 13.5 m (0.5 arc-sec) pixels back-illuminated; mid-band coated USB controlled


Dome

“Hurricane-hardened” 5-meter Ash dome

External Inputs

Two Weather Stations: Davis (integrated, real-time) Campbell (on tower, 2 minute)

GPS receiver, Web Cams

Microwave Internet Connection & wireless LAN in observatory


Telescope control room

2 linux pc’s; 1 mac laptop air conditioning! classroom & conference room public viewing area

Observatory Infrastructure

roads, power, water dormitory & apartment telecommunications support auxiliary generator; UPS


Control System: hardware• 5-axis: RA, DEC, focus, filter, dome

– each axis includes servo motor, home and limit switches, CSIMC board, amplifier, and ethernet port

• RA and DEC encoders --> 0.1 arc-sec resolution

• one serial cable to computer controls everything!

• no handpaddle: use virtual paddle on laptop pc


Control System: software• Talon (formerly OCAAS)

– unix and x-windows based– written by Elwood Downey, Clear Sky Institute– now open source

• for remote operations, use x-windows or vnc connection to Talon computer

• includes various command line tools for scheduling, planning, engineering, data analysis, etc.

• TELSCHED, XOBS, CAMERA, XEPHEM4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

Brief History and Status• Installation and First Light:

November 03 – January 04• Dome automation July 04• Fully operational, but not

safe to run unattended: August 08

• Developed and tested GCN triggers for GRB afterglows

• Engineering runs and student projects; Public outreach

• Now it is overdue for mirror re-coating and some needed refurbishments

M42

(1 sec exposure)


Don’t Stop the Carnival• Murphy: “Everything that can go wrong will.”• Island Corollary #1: “Even things that can’t ...”• Corollary #2: “But somehow everything will work

out OK in the end, and we will have a great time doing it!”

• Our long series of “disasters” is now over...

1. Business...

2. Nature...

3. Engineering...

4. Political and Legal...


Initial Science Operations• Continue detailed “micro-climate” studies, and h/w

and s/w improvements to improve our weather triggering algorithms

• GRB optical counterparts• Narrow-band photometry to measure starspot area

and temperature on active stars in clusters (Neff)

• We are open to New Ideas and New Collaborations– SSON (Sierra Stars Observatory Network)– mini-SONG !!


Sierra Stars Observatory Network

originally all OMI telescopes, which are easily networked (by design)

expanding to other telescopes; both hemispheres

private company, but very flexible way to partially finance a small observatory


“4-College” Automated Photometric Telescope

located at... Fairborn Observatory Washington Camp, AZ

operated by... College of Charleston The Citadel Villanova University Univ. Nevada Las Vegas

0.75m + filters + photometer


For more information, see astro.uvi.edu

or contact:Prof. James E. NeffDept. of Physics & AstronomyCollege of CharlestonCharleston, SC 29424

[email protected]://neffj.people.cofc.edu/


4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011 The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope James E. Neff...

Documents

Transcript of 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011 The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope James E. Neff...