TY - GEN
T1 - Development of the Arizona Robotic Telescope Network
AU - Weiner, Benjamin J.
AU - Sand, David
AU - Gabor, Paul
AU - Johnson, Chris
AU - Swindell, Scott
AU - Kubánek, Petr
AU - Gasho, Victor
AU - Golota, Taras
AU - Jannuzi, Buell
AU - Milne, Peter
AU - Smith, Nathan
AU - Zaritsky, Dennis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 SPIE
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - The Arizona Robotic Telescope Network (ARTN) project is a long term effort to develop a system of telescopes to carry out a flexible program of PI observing, survey projects, and time domain astrophysics including monitoring, rapid response, and transient/target-of-opportunity followup. Steward Observatory operates and shares in several 1-3m class telescopes with quality sites and instrumentation, largely operated in classical modes. Science programs suited to these telescopes are limited by scheduling flexibility and people-power of available observers. Our goal is to adapt these facilities for multiple co-existing queued programs, interrupt capability, remote/robotic operation, and delivery of reduced data. In the long term, planning for the LSST era, we envision an automated system coordinating across multiple telescopes and sites, where alerts can trigger followup, classification, and triggering of further observations if required, such as followup imaging that can trigger spectroscopy. We are updating telescope control systems and software to implement this system in stages, beginning with the Kuiper 61” and Vatican Observatory 1.8-m telescopes. The Kuiper 61” and its Mont4K camera can now be controlled and queue-scheduled by the RTS2 observatory control software, and operated from a remote room at Steward. We discuss science and technical requirements for ARTN, and some of the challenges in adapting heterogenous legacy facilities, scheduling, data pipelines, and maintaining capabilities for a diverse user base.
AB - The Arizona Robotic Telescope Network (ARTN) project is a long term effort to develop a system of telescopes to carry out a flexible program of PI observing, survey projects, and time domain astrophysics including monitoring, rapid response, and transient/target-of-opportunity followup. Steward Observatory operates and shares in several 1-3m class telescopes with quality sites and instrumentation, largely operated in classical modes. Science programs suited to these telescopes are limited by scheduling flexibility and people-power of available observers. Our goal is to adapt these facilities for multiple co-existing queued programs, interrupt capability, remote/robotic operation, and delivery of reduced data. In the long term, planning for the LSST era, we envision an automated system coordinating across multiple telescopes and sites, where alerts can trigger followup, classification, and triggering of further observations if required, such as followup imaging that can trigger spectroscopy. We are updating telescope control systems and software to implement this system in stages, beginning with the Kuiper 61” and Vatican Observatory 1.8-m telescopes. The Kuiper 61” and its Mont4K camera can now be controlled and queue-scheduled by the RTS2 observatory control software, and operated from a remote room at Steward. We discuss science and technical requirements for ARTN, and some of the challenges in adapting heterogenous legacy facilities, scheduling, data pipelines, and maintaining capabilities for a diverse user base.
KW - Queue scheduling
KW - Remote observing
KW - Robotic telescopes
KW - Time-domain astronomy
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U2 - 10.1117/12.2314265
DO - 10.1117/12.2314265
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85050816882
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Observatory Operations
A2 - Seaman, Robert L.
A2 - Peck, Alison B.
A2 - Benn, Chris R.
PB - SPIE
T2 - Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VII 2018
Y2 - 11 June 2018 through 15 June 2018
ER -