MRI-R2 Consortium Acquisition: Targeted Expansions of the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network's Wavelength, Geographic, and User-Community Footprints

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。在现代大型望远镜的今天，小型望远镜仍然积极地为我们对宇宙及其组成的认识做出重大贡献，从宇宙边缘的伽马射线爆发到附近的恒星和太阳系天体。 在位于查佩尔山的北卡罗来纳州大学的丹尼尔·赖卡特博士的领导下，美国东南部的一个大学联盟已经组装了一个令人印象深刻的小型望远镜网络，分布在地球仪的各个角落。 他们的望远镜最初是为快速跟踪“瞬时事件”而设计的，例如由于恒星爆炸而引起的天空突然变化，他们的望远镜也被东南部一些学院和大学的专业研究人员和学生以及中小学教育工作者和学生大量使用。 Reichart博士和他的团队现在正计划为网络增加新的功能，在地球仪上提供更大的覆盖范围，以监测我们不断变化的天空。 当然，光学望远镜在夜间工作得最好，所以如果天文学家想全天候监视天空中的物体，他们必须把望远镜分布在世界各地。 为了确保覆盖范围，还需要有多个望远镜，以防某些地点天气恶劣。 美国国家科学基金会的主要研究仪器计划通过其天文科学部门为新望远镜提供资金。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).In this day of modern large telescopes, small telescopes are still actively making significant contributions to our knowledge about the universe and its constituents, from Gamma Ray Bursts at the edge of the universe to nearby stars and solar system bodies. A consortium of colleges in the southeastern United States has assembled an impressive network of small telescopes spread around the globe under the leadership of Dr. Daniel Reichart of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Originally designed for the specific purpose of rapidly following up on "transient events" - sudden changes on the sky due to the explosive death throes of stars for example - their telescopes are also heavily used by both professional researchers and their students at a number of colleges and universities in the southeast as well as by elementary and secondary educators and their students. Dr. Reichart and his team are now planning to add new capabilities to the network, providing increased coverage around the globe to monitor our changing skies. Optical telescopes work best at night of course, so if astronomers want to monitor objects in the sky around the clock, they must have telescopes spread around the world. To be sure of the coverage, it is also necessary to have multiple telescopes in case the weather is bad at some of the locations. The National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation program is providing the funding for the new telescopes through its Division of Astronomical Sciences.