1. Building the Sonoma State University Robotic Telescope
Gordon G. Spear
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Sonoma State University

2. I am here to represent...
Those people who want to build a robotic telescope
Those people who have a telescope and want to make it robotic
Those people who we want to participate in a scalable and sustainable automated telescope network

3. What is a robotic telescope?
A robotic telescope consists of a computer controlled telescope and CCD camera with an integrated control system.
A robotic telescope must be scriptable so that a sequence of observations can be automated.

4. Scriptable telescope mount
Point to arbitrary RA and DEC to within a few arcminutes.
Track to within a few arcseconds for up to several minutes.
Avoid wrapping cables around mount.
Successfully move through “trouble spots” on the sky.
meridian, zenith, pole
Know the horizon limits for the mount.
Always capable of moving to a safe home position.

5. Scriptable CCD camera Control camera settings
including exposure time
including camera temperature
Control position of filter wheel
Save images for later recovery
Take dark frames
Take flat field frames

6. Further capabilities required for a robotic telescope system
Power on/off
Open/close roof and/or adjust dome
Verify focus
Synchronize telescope with sky
Verify field and/or adjust telescope pointing
Generate log of all saved images

7. Proposed categories for robotic telescopes
Manual Telescope (MT)
Computer Controlled Telescope (CT)
Robotic Telescope (RT)
manual mode (RT-M)
remote accessibility (RT-R)
real time interactivity (RT-I)
autonomous (RT-A)

8. Some established robotic telescope systems
The Bradford Telescope
The University of Iowa Telescope
The Fairborn Observatory
The Hanna City Robotic Observatory
The URSA System (under construction)

9. The Fairborn Telescope Farm

10. The Hanna City Robotic Observatory

11. URSA Undergraduate Research Studies in Astronomy
An example of a robotic system that has been built from scratch
Claud Lacy, University of Arkansas

12. The URSA welcome screen
The URSA observation request page
The URSA observing model
Active testing will begin fall Routine use by students will begin sometime in 2002.

13. How can I get one of these cool robotic telescope systems?

14. A Robotic Telescopic Model
The
Web
Telescope ?

15. What should the ideal robotic telescope model provide?
Control for telescopes, CCD cameras, and other instrumentation that is scriptable. ASCOM is an excellent example.
A universal web interface that is easy to use and to understand. RTML is an excellent example.
A central engine for accepting requests, establishing priorities, scheduling observations, archiving data, and advising users of completed observations.

16. ? CAMERA data observing list camera commands observing log
Central Controller
telescope commands
DATA to
happy observer
data archive
TELESCOPE

17. What are the available options for building a robotic telescope?
Hire a commercial engineering firm.
Purchase an off-the-shelf system.
Upgrade an existing system using interoperable components.
Build a new system independently from scratch.

18. Some possible commercial sources for robotic telescopes
Optical Guidance Systems (OGS)
Software Bisque
Meade (?)
Celestron (??)

19. Possible resources for building robotic telescopes
Software Bisque
Comsoft (PC-TCS)
DC-3 Dreams (Astronomer’s Control Program)
ASCOM
ATIS
Jeff Medkiff’s robotic astronomy site
RTML
The Robotic Telescope Resource Site at SSUO
this conference

20. The SSU Observatory and its Telescopes
So, where is the SSU observatory anyway?

26. The Epoch Telescope

27. The ST-7 CCD camera on the Epoch telescope

28. Close-up of the ST-7

29. The C14 telescope ...and some computers

30. In the command seat for the Epoch telescope...
This is currently where the “robot” that makes everything happen must sit.

31. Science at SSUO Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) Eclipsing Binaries (EBs)
Galactic Anti-Center Variable Star Survey (GACVSS)
Photometric Detection/Confirmation of Extrasolar Planets

32. The Epoch Telescope at SSU
10-inch f/5 Newtonian
Fork mount with DC servo motors
Friction roller drive
Up to 60 watts per axis
Slew speed about 6° per second
Points to within 1-3 minutes of arc
Tracks unguided for up to 5 minutes

33. The Epoch Telescope Software
Servostar
Runs under DOS
Convenient user interface screen
Internal database plus planets
Enter RA and DEC
Resync, Slew, Guide, etc.
Drivers available for UNIX
Source code currently unavailable!

34. The future of Epoch… (Information provided by Kevin Medlock.)
Servostar is about to be rewritten for Windows.
The code will be made available as open source.
The designs for the servo motor controller boards will be made freely available.
Upgraded versions of the controller boards for up to 200 watts per axis will also be available.
Controller boards will be available for purchase at modest cost.
The future looks bright!

35. All we need now is the money and we will build one of those cool robotic telescope systems!

36. More Information
An online version of this presentation plus more detailed information is available from the Robotic Telescope Resource Resource Site.
This website contains URLs and direct links to all the resources mentioned in this presentation. This website will be maintained to reflect current developments for robotic telescope systems.