An Automated Telescope: Affordable Astronomy for Undergraduate Institutions

Details An Automated Telescope: Affordable Astronomy for Undergraduate Institutions An Automated Telescope: Affordable Astronomy for Undergraduate Institutions

Dec 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...181.4201m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting, #42.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.1185

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Epoch Instruments and Sonoma State University have joined to create a new automated telescope system, designed for rapid data acquisition at unprecedented affordability. The result has been the creation of a system with capabilities comparable to larger professional observatories, but available for a fraction of the cost. The system consists of a 25-cm Newtonian reflector, on a fork equatorial mount, with roller drives on both axes. The telescope is controlled by a PC-based software package driving a DC servo motor interface. At a focal ratio of f/5, when coupled with the Sonoma State Astrolink 512X512 pixel array CCD camera, the system is able to obtain photometry to 16th magnitude, within the light polluted setting of Sonoma State's suburban area. With an initial set-up time requiring only minutes, and the ability to move from target to target within several seconds, the Epoch Automated Telescope has made CCD photometry work at Sonoma State extremely efficient and rapid. Data collection has routinely yielded over 50 mega-bytes of data per night, with CCD integration times of a few minutes, over the 20 arcminute field of view. Consequently, this system has greatly increased the scope of undergraduate research which can be performed at Sonoma State, and has provided a revolutionary `hands-on' educational opportunity. In this paper, we will present some of the research made feasible by this system within the first six months of use at Sonoma State.

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