Autonomous Scheduling and Operation of the 1.3-meter Robotically Controlled Telescope (RCT) at Kitt Peak

Details Autonomous Scheduling and Operation of the 1.3-meter Robotically Controlled Telescope (RCT) at Kitt Peak Autonomous Scheduling and Operation of the 1.3-meter Robotically Controlled Telescope (RCT) at Kitt Peak

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...211.1131g&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #11.31; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.749

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Scientific paper

The 1.3-meter (50-inch) telescope at Kitt Peak has been restored to operation as a fully robotic instrument for optical imaging. Once known as the Remotely Controlled Telescope, it is again being called the RCT, now standing for Robotically Controlled Telescope. The automation of the observatory has included development of a computer control system designed to accommodate and appropriately manage the myriad of optical observing modes typically managed at other multi-user, general-purpose observatories, but with much greater efficiency. The observation scheduling routine for the RCT is based on the insgen list generator and process spawner originally developed for the Berkeley Automatic Imaging Telescope (Richmond, Treffers, & Filippenko 1992).
The software schedules observation requests according to target information and program-specific technical constraints, such as a user assigned priority, moon avoidance, airmass, seeing, etc.), taking into account telescope limitations, sky conditions, and technical and organizational constraints. The system supports research programs involving time-critical requests, coordinated observations and short-term (hours) and long-term (days) monitoring. We also discuss the execution and storage of the observations, the methods for the periodic accounting of partner shares (which factor into weighting of future observation requests), and our plans for providing public access to the data.

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