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The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope

The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope. James E. Neff College of Charleston & David Morris University of the Virgin Islands. Advantages of Virgin Islands Site. Latitude ( 18 o North ): permits coverage of northern and southern sky

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The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope

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  1. The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope James E. Neff College of Charleston & David Morris University of the Virgin Islands 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  2. Advantages of Virgin Islands Site • Latitude (18o North): permits coverage of northern and southern sky • Longitude (65o 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  3. Latitude 18o N Longitude 65o W Elevation 420 m Also in the neighborhood: Arecibo (Puerto Rico) and VLBA (St. Croix) 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  4. 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  5. 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  6. TELESCOPE • 0.5m 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) 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  7. Filter Wheel + CCD 12 position Torus filter wheel UBVRI ND TiO 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  8. 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  9. 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  10. 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  11. 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  12. Brief History and Status • 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 M42 (1 sec exposure) 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  13. 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... • Business... • Nature... • Engineering... • Political and Legal... 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  14. 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 !! 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  15. 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 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  16. “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 0.75m + filters + photometer 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

  17. For more information, see astro.uvi.edu or contact: Prof. James E. Neff Dept. of Physics & Astronomy College of Charleston Charleston, SC 29424 843-953-5325 neffj@cofc.edu http://neffj.people.cofc.edu/ 4th SONG WORKSHOP Charleston, SC 15-20 Sep 2011

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