The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope James E Neff
The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope James E. Neff College of Charleston & David Morris University of the Virgin Islands 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
Advantages of Virgin Islands Site • Latitude (18 o North): permits coverage of northern and southern sky • Longitude (65 o 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 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
Latitude 18 o N Longitude 65 o W Elevation 420 m Also in the neighborhood: Arecibo (Puerto Rico) and VLBA (St. Croix) 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
TELESCOPE 0. 5 m 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) 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
Filter Wheel + CCD 12 position Torus filter wheel UBVRI ND Ti. O 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 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
Observatory Infrastructure roads, power, water dormitory & apartment telecommunications support auxiliary generator; UPS Telescope control room 2 linux pc’s; 1 mac laptop air conditioning! classroom & conference room public viewing area 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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, XEPHEM 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
Brief History and Status M 42 (1 sec exposure) 4 th SONG WORKSHOP • 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 Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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. . . 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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 !! 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
“ 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. 75 m + filters + photometer 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
For more information, see astro. uvi. edu or contact: Prof. James E. Neff Dept. of Physics & Astronomy College of Charleston, SC 29424 843 -953 -5325 neffj@cofc. edu http: //neffj. people. cofc. edu/ 4 th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15 -20 Sep 2011
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