A Reliable, Robust, Robotic One Meter Telescope for Research and Graduate/Undergraduate Student Training

用于研究和研究生/本科生培训的可靠、坚固的一米机器人望远镜

• 批准号: 0519398
• 负责人: Thomas Harrison
• 金额: $ 70.27万
• 依托单位: New Mexico State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0519398&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Reliable; Robust; Robotic; Meter; Telescope

Proposal: 0519398 Principal Investigator: Thomas Harrison Title: A Reliable, Robust, Robotic One-Meter Telescope for Research and Graduate/Undergraduate Student Training ABSTRACT: New Mexico State University owns and operates a one-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory (APO) in southern New Mexico. This telescope is fully robotic and scientifically active, monitoring the light curves of cataclysmic variables, brown dwarfs, and supernovae discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The telescope is in need of refurbishment. As a result, its operation will be made more reliable and new instrumentation and capabilities will be made available. Work packages that will be undertaken will: (1) Improve the usage to greater than 90% of all clear nights, through increased manpower (including the use of a graduate student to share primary responsibility for operations), improvements to some critical under-engineered subsystems, and the purchase of basic spare parts. (2) Integrate a new, existing, 2048x2048 CCD (built in collaboration with Los Alamos National Labs) into the telescope to allow wider-field operation with a detector with sufficiently low dark current to allow for narrow-band imaging, and to replace our current tiny guide camera with a new CCD camera. (3) Improve performance via improvements in optical alignment and improved guiding software. (4) Improve optical performance and allow for simultaneously mounting a second instrument by constructing a new rotating tertiary with actuated control of rotation, translation, tip, and tilt. (5) Construct a high-speed photometer for the second Nasmyth port to allow high time-resolution photometry simultaneously in five colors. The renovated telescope will be used for a number of research projects, including programs in narrow-band imaging, rapid-response follow-up to high energy transits (including those from SWIFT), monitoring of known extrasolar planet systems for transits, searches for periodic and quasi-periodic variability in interacting binaries, pulsating white dwarfs, and the optical counterparts of high-energy transients, etc. Up to 20% of the telescope time available to the community through queue scheduled observations, including the possibility of target-of-opportunity observations, through an internally review program. Additional time will be made available for external scientists who propose projects in collaboration with NMSU personnel. The renovation efforts will provide graduate and undergraduate students with both engineering and research opportunities, including instrument design and deployment, as well as software development. Use of the telescope will be more reliably integrated into existing astronomy classes and the 1-m will be incorporated into an on-campus program aimed at under-represented middle and high school students in science. This award is funded by the Division of Astronomical Sciences and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities.

提案：0519398 首席研究员：托马斯·哈里森 标题：用于研究和研究生/本科生培训的可靠、坚固的机器人一米望远镜 摘要：新墨西哥州立大学在新墨西哥州南部的阿帕奇角天文台 (APO) 拥有并运营着一台一米望远镜。这台望远镜是完全机器人化的，具有科学活性，监测斯隆数字巡天发现的灾难变星、褐矮星和超新星的光变曲线。该望远镜需要翻新。因此，其运行将更加可靠，并且将提供新的仪器和功能。将采取的工作包将：(1) 通过增加人力（包括使用研究生分担主要运营责任）、改进一些关键的设计不足的子系统以及购买基本备件，将所有晴夜的使用率提高到 90% 以上。 (2) 将一个新的、现有的 2048x2048 CCD（与洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室合作建造）集成到望远镜中，以允许使用暗电流足够低的探测器进行更宽的视场操作，以实现窄带成像，并用新的 CCD 相机取代我们当前的微型引导相机。 (3) 通过改进光学对准和改进引导软件来提高性能。 (4) 通过构建具有旋转、平移、倾斜和倾斜的驱动控制的新旋转三级系统，提高光学性能并允许同时安装第二台仪器。 (5) 为第二个 Nasmyth 端口构建一个高速光度计，以允许同时进行五种颜色的高时间分辨率光度测量。翻新后的望远镜将用于许多研究项目，包括窄带成像、高能凌日的快速响应后续项目（包括来自 SWIFT 的项目）、监测已知的太阳系外行星系统的凌日、搜索相互作用的双星、脉动白矮星和高能瞬变的光学对应物的周期性和准周期变化等。高达 20% 的研究项目 通过内部审查计划，通过排队预定观测向社区提供望远镜时间，包括机会目标观测的可能性。 将为与新墨西哥州立大学人员合作提出项目的外部科学家提供额外的时间。改造工作将为研究生和本科生提供工程和研究机会，包括仪器设计和部署以及软件开发。该望远镜的使用将更可靠地融入现有的天文学课程，而 1-m 将纳入针对科学领域代表性不足的中学生和高中生的校园项目。该奖项由天文科学部和多学科活动办公室资助。