Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-08-21
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in PASP. 14 pages, 11 figures
Scientific paper
We introduce PIRATE, a new remotely-operable telescope facility for use in research and education, constructed from 'off-the-shelf' hardware, operated by The Open University. We focus on the PIRATE Mark 1 operational phase where PIRATE was equipped with a widely- used 0.35m Schmidt-Cassegrain system (now replaced with a 0.425m corrected Dall Kirkham astrograph). Situated at the Observatori Astronomic de Mallorca, PIRATE is currently used to follow up potential transiting extrasolar planet candidates produced by the SuperWASP North experiment, as well as to hunt for novae in M31 and other nearby galaxies. It is operated by a mixture of commercially available software and proprietary software developed at the Open University. We discuss problems associated with performing precision time series photometry when using a German Equatorial Mount, investigating the overall performance of such 'off-the-shelf' solutions in both research and teaching applications. We conclude that PIRATE is a cost-effective research facility, and also provides exciting prospects for undergraduate astronomy. PIRATE has broken new ground in offering practical astronomy education to distance-learning students in their own homes.
Barker Jonathan
Burwitz Vadim
Haswell Carole A.
Holmes Susan
Kolb Ulrich
No associations
LandOfFree
PIRATE: A Remotely-Operable Telescope Facility for Research and Education does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with PIRATE: A Remotely-Operable Telescope Facility for Research and Education, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and PIRATE: A Remotely-Operable Telescope Facility for Research and Education will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-538179