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Variable star observations with automatic telescopes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Russell M. Genet ,
Louis J. Boyd  and
Douglas S. Hall
Russell M. Genet
Affiliation:
Automatic Photoelectric Telescope Service, Fairborn Observatory, 1357 North 91st Place, Mesa, Arizona 85207, U.S.A.
Louis J. Boyd
Affiliation:
Automatic Photoelectric Telescope Service, Fairborn Observatory, 1357 North 91st Place, Mesa, Arizona 85207, U.S.A.
Douglas S. Hall
Affiliation:
Automatic Photoelectric Telescope Service, Fairborn Observatory, 1357 North 91st Place, Mesa, Arizona 85207, U.S.A.

Abstract

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Small automatic telescopes have been used for several years to make wide band, differential photometric observations of brighter variable stars. For example, a single automatic telescope located in Arizona has been used to study essentially the entire class of RS Canum Venaticorum binaries. These stars have changing spot structures that require once-a-night photometric observations - an ideal job for an automatic telescope located in the clear skies of Arizona. The operation of such automatic systems has become so routine that an “Automatic Photoelectric Telescope Service” now makes photometric observations for any institution so requesting. A list of stars is sent to the Arizona site of this service, and every three months the observational results are returned, with the cost typically being similar to the publication page charges. Currently the use of automatic telescopes is being extended to fainter stars and narrower bandwidths. For instance, a highly specialized one-meter telescope has been designed for automatic observations of Ca II K-line emissions from brighter active chromosphere stars. Further extensions of such automation seem likely.

Type
I. Telescopes and Instrumentation
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 118: Instrumentation and Research Programmes for Small Telescopes , 1986 , pp. 47 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1986 

References

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