Internet Based Remote Observing. A practical demonstration

Transcription

1 Internet Based Remote Observing A practical demonstration

2 Who Am I? Me Name: Robin Peter Edward Henry Lauryssen-Mitchell Age: 45 Nationality: British Resident: Czech Republic Occupation: Amateur Astronomer My Little Helper (Daughter) Name: Kestrel Lauryssen-Mitchell Age: 4 Nationality: British/South African Resident: Czech Republic Occupation: Being cute

3 What About? Using Internet based remote observatories What facilities are available Personal experiences with these sites

4 Which Observatories? Slooh Bradford Faulkes RAS Red Mountain* *If time permits this is a technology demonstration site (no scope attached)

5 Slooh Mt. Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands N W Website:

6 Teide One Slooh Equipment Teide Two Telescope Camera Telescope Camera Wide Field (WF) 34mm APO Refractor FL 135mm f/4 FOV 5 deg SBIG ST mm APO Refractor FL is 480mm f/5.6 FOV 1.4 deg SBIG ST-2000 High Mag (HM) Celestron C-14 FL 2100mm f/6 FOV 24 arc min SBIG ST-10 Celestron C-14 FL 3910mm f/11 FOV 9 arc min SBIG ST-10 Notes The WF and HM scopes share a common Paramount ME mount in each dome

7 Slooh Home Page

8 Slooh Launch Pad

9 Slooh Login

10 Slooh Mission Interface

11 Slooh Command Reservations

12 Slooh Choose Target

13 Slooh Choose Coordinates

14 Slooh Mission Log

15 Slooh Vesta Log

16 Slooh Vesta Image (most of it )

17 Slooh Pojmanski - 20 Mar 06

18 Slooh - JPG or BMP files only - No filter or guiding control - No scripted observing control - Each mission is limited to five minutes and three images - Slooh retain copyright of images - Chat room can be really fun - Membership is relatively cheap Personal Summary

19 Bradford Mt. Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands N W Alt: 2400m Website:

20 Bradford Equipment Name FOV Camera Filter Optical Constellation 40 sq FLI MaxCam ME2 E2V CCD47-10 Class 1 FLI CFW-2 (8 pos) Nikon 16mm f2.8 Cluster 3 sq FLI MaxCam ME2 E2V CCD47-10 Class 1 FLI CFW-2 (8 pos) Nikon 200mm Galaxy 24 sq FLI MaxCam ME2 E2V CCD47-10 Class 1 Notes FLI CFW-2 (8 pos) All scopes share a single Paramount ME mount Celestron-C14 365mm FL focal reducer f/11 operating at f/7.4

21 Bradford Home Page

22 Bradford Main Page

23 Bradford Job Constructor

24 Bradford Object Type Selection

25 Bradford NGC Object Selection

26 Bradford RA/DEC Selection

27 Bradford Telescope Selection

28 Bradford Exposure Selection

29 Bradford Job Review

30 Bradford Job Confirmation

31 From: Telescope.org Sent: 22 April :25 To: Robin Lauryssen-Mitchell Subject: Telescope.org: Job Complete Bradford Hello, Telescope.org would like to inform you that an observation request you submitted has been completed! Please be aware that the telescope is currently in beta testing - we are still working on the automatic focussing, tracking and cloud sensors to optimise the images. Please let us know if you think that your image could be improved - that helps us a great deal and put your request in again to get a better one! Thank you. To let us know of a problem with your image please imagefeedback@telescope.org Request ID: Object: RADEC 12:09: :55:00.00 To view the observation please log in to your account at and select 'Your Jobs' from the menu. Job Completion

32 Bradford Job List

33 Bradford Completed Job Details

34 Bradford 73P(C) 30Apr2006 BRT Team

35 Bradford - Cannot predict when Jobs will be done - No calibration files seem to be available - Pointing accuracy can be pretty bad - Maximum of five pending Jobs in the queue at any one time per user - The service is FREE (whilst in beta-test anyway) Personal Summary

36 Faulkes Haleakala - Hawaii Siding Spring - Australia N20 42' " W156 15' " Website: S31 16' 24.10" W210 56' 19.70"

37 Primary Aperture: 2.4m FAULKES Equipment (Telescope) Optical Configuration: Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain F/8 Focal Station 1: Focal Station 2: Focal Station 3: Operation: Tracking Accuracy: Slewing speed: Field of view Cassegrain wide field port Nasmyth port Nasmyth port Fully Robotic 0.5 arc seconds 2 degrees per second 30 arcminutes

38 Faulkes Equipment (Cameras) Primary: Planned: Size: FOV: 2048 x 2048 pixels 4.6 x 4.6 arcminutes QUIRC infrared camera (from Gemini, Mauna Kea) Spectrograph (Leister University, UK)

39 Faulkes Home Page

40 Faulkes Login

41 Faulkes Login Confirmed

42 Faulkes Booking Time

43 Faulkes Find A Date

44 Faulkes Find A Slot

45 Faulkes Confirm Booking

46 Faulkes Booking Confirmed

47 Faulkes Telescope Control

48 Faulkes Guided Tour

49 Faulkes Object Search

50 Faulkes RA/Dec Coordinates

51 Faulkes Vesta Selection

52 Faulkes Sky Plot

53 Faulkes Telescope Pointed

54 Faulkes Exposure Settings

55 Faulkes Exposure Progress

56 Faulkes Exposure Completed

57 Faulkes Image Preview

58 Faulkes Your Images

59 Faulkes Gehrels(78P) 08Nov2004 FTN Team

60 Faulkes - No calibration files are available - Half-hour slots only - Off-line job request system is not yet available - Service is expensive for private/amateur use - System is very easy to use Personal Summary

61 RAS Nr. Mayhill New Mexico USA N32 54' 14" W105 31' 44" Elevation 7300 (2,225m) Website:

62 RAS Equipment Name Model FL f Camera FOV Arcmins AREO-1 Mewlon FLI IMG1024 Arcsec /pixels CCD Pixels 23.6 x x 1024 AREO-2 Mewlon ST8E 8.8 x x 1020 AREO-3 Sky ST10 XME 83 x x 1472 AREO-4 AREO-5 Epsilon 250 Epsilon ST8XE 37.1 x x ST8XE 37.1 x x 1020

63 RAS Home Page

64 RAS Reservation Login

65 RAS Reservation Information

66 RAS Immediate Login

67 RAS Main Control Page

68 RAS Telescope Slewing

69 RAS Camera Settings

70 RAS Focuser Settings

71 RAS Automatic Centering

72 RAS Manual Centering

73 RAS Single Exposure Progress

74 RAS Single Exposure Completed

75 RAS Image Folder

76 RAS Guiding Setup

77 RAS Select A Guide Star

78 RAS Autoguiding Chart

79 RAS LRGB Exposure Setup

80 RAS LRGB Exposure Progress

81 RAS LRGB Exposure Completed

82 RAS LRGB Image Files

83 RAS Calibration Files

84 RAS Log Off Summary

85 RAS List Processor

86 RAS Script Entry

87 RAS Macholz 2005 Edward Lunt (RAS member)

88 RAS 2005FNJS Jeffery Sue (RAS member)

89 RAS - FITS files and calibration files are available - Fully scriptable operation - No unattended operation - Range of subscription packages available - Technical support is BRILLIANT!!! - Currently setting up education partnerships and amateur research project groups Personal Summary

90 Red Mountain USA N 33 47' 00" W ' 00" Elevation 7300 (2,225m) Website:

91 Red Mountain Telescope: Aperture: Focal Length: ACP -> Simulator 20 cm 126 cm (f/6.3) Detector: Chip size: Current Temp: 20ºC 20.0ºC 768 x 511 pixels 10.0µ x 10.0µ pixel size Binning: Independent X and Y binning, max X is 4 and max Y is 511 Plate Scales: 1.63 x 1.63 Arcsec per pixel Field of View: Horiz: Arcmin Vert: Arcmin

92 Red Mountain Filter Set Pos Filter R G B Clear U B V R I Ha Guide Imager: Chip size: Auto-focus: Other Stuff Simulator 768 by 511 pixels Available via FocusMax(tm)

93 Red Mountain Home Page

94 Red Mountain Acquire Image - Simple

95 Red Mountain Acquire Image - Full

96 Red Mountain Exposure Progress

97 Red Mountain Exposure Completed

98 Red Mountain Exposure Logs

99 Red Mountain Acquire LRGB Image

100 Red Mountain LRGB Exposure Progress

101 Red Mountain LRGB Exposure Completed

102 Red Mountain Plan Selection/Loading

103 Red Mountain - NOT A LIVE SYSTEM! - FITS files and calibration files are available - Fully scriptable operation - No unattended operation - Service is FREE - Good method of demonstrating what is possible - All software used is commercially available Personal Summary

104 Summary - Advantages - Many users make efficient use of expensive equipment - No need to travel to remote sites - Reduced up-front costs compared to purchasing own equipment - Somebody else fixes it when it breaks - Access to multiple time-zones allows 24hr observing, weather and stamina permitting of course - Choice of sites means I can observe virtually whenever I like: Available now: Canary Islands, New Mexico and Hawaii Available soon: Australia, South Africa Available later: South America, India Personal Summary

105 Summary - Disadvantages - Somebody else might be using the service when I want it - Not as much fun as travelling to remotes sites - Limited to the services equipment Personal Summary

106 The End