The Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer

2015年9月使用Ligo引力波探测器直接探测引力波是人类最伟大的成就之一。这相当于测量距离太阳最近的星星的距离，比测量人类头发的厚度还要好。引力波提供了一条直接通往自然界和环境中最极端系统的核心的路线，这些系统和环境是传统天文技术无法达到的。这使得它们成为极端条件下的强大探测器和遥远宇宙的信标。然而，引力波探测器目前还无法准确地确定这些波在天空中的位置。这就像观鸟者听到远处有趣的叫声一样;方向可以大致确定，但观鸟者必须通过视觉扫描运动的迹象来确定原因。虽然合并中的黑洞预计不会立即显示出光学信号，但合并中的中子星会。问题是，探测器只能将合并系统定位到月球面积数千倍的区域。如果该地区可以足够快地被映射，则可以识别在事件发生之前不存在的新的源。2017年9月，一颗合并的中子星星双星首先在引力波中被探测到，几天后又在光学、无线电和X射线中被探测到。2015年，澳大利亚的沃里克大学和莫纳什大学研制了引力波光学瞬态观测器（后藤）。这个概念是在两个支架上安装一系列望远镜，使我们能够一次性覆盖月球面积的100倍。一旦引力波被触发，机器人望远镜就会开始拍摄预计会发生引力波的那部分天空的图像。从那时起，许多英国和国际团体加入了后藤联盟，并在加那利群岛的拉帕尔马山顶上运行了一个原型。该提案旨在获得资金，以便将拉帕尔马的后藤设施扩展到16个望远镜，覆盖范围是原型的4倍，并在澳大利亚建造一个后藤的复制品。这将使我们能够覆盖大部分可观测的天空，并确保我们每隔几天获得同一片天空的图像，如果我们要剔除新的来源，而不是引力波事件，而是其他事件，如超新星，吸积双星或耀斑星，这是必不可少的。虽然对中子星合并的研究有些混乱，但这些其他类型的来源同时也是该项目可以产生的另一个非常有用的科学产品。我们的设计确保我们能够与其他世界一流的设施竞争。我们的原型望远镜已经提供了极好的数据，表明我们相信这个项目会有回报。

The direct detection of gravitational waves using the Ligo gravitational wave detectors in September 2015 was one of humankind's greatest achievements. It was the equivalent of measuring the distance to the nearest star to our Sun better than the thickness of a human hair. Gravitational waves offer a route straight to the heart of the most extreme systems in nature and environments that are inaccessible to conventional astronomical techniques. This makes them powerful probes of extreme conditions and beacons to the distant universe.However, gravitational wave detectors are currently not able to accurately pin-point the location in the sky of these waves. It will be rather like the bird watcher hearing an interesting call in the distance; the direction can be determined roughly but then the searcher must scan visually for signs of movement to pinpoint the cause. Although merging black holes are not expected to show an immediate optical signal, merging neutron stars are.The problem is that the detectors can only locate the merging system to an area thousands of times the area of the moon. If the region can be mapped quickly enough new sources can be identified which were not present before the event took place. This idea was spectacularly demonstrated when in Sept 2017 a merging neutron star binary was detected first in gravitational waves and then a few days later in optical, radio and X-rays. This event became one of the most well studied astronomical events ever made and indicated that gold may well originate in these violent events.In 2015, the Universities of Warwick and Monash in Australia developed the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO). The concept was to have a series of telescopes on two mounts allowing us to cover 100 times the area of the moon in one go. As soon as a gravitational wave was triggered the robotic telescope would start taking images of the part of the sky where the event was expected to be. Since then a number of UK and international groups have joined the GOTO consortium and a prototype has been operating on the mountain top of La Palma in the Canaries.This proposal aims to obtain funding so that the GOTO facility on La Palma can be extended to 16 telescopes covering 4 times as much as the prototype and to build a copy of GOTO in Australia. This would allow us to cover most of the observable sky and ensure that we obtain an image of the same patch of sky every few days which is essential if we are going to weed out new sources which are not the gravitational wave event but other events such as supernovae, accreting binaries or flare stars. Although somewhat confusing the search for neutron stars mergers, those other types of sources are at the same time another very useful science product that the project can produce. Our design ensures we are able to compete with other world class facilities. Our prototype telescopes are already providing excellent data showing our believe in this project will pay off.