Robotic telescopes for high energy astrophysics in Ondřejov

0352506 - ASÚ 2011 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Nekola, Martin - Hudec, René - Jelínek, M. - Kocka, Matúš - Münz, F. - Kubánek, P. - Polášek, Cyril - Šimon, Vojtěch - Štrobl, Jan
Robotic telescopes for high energy astrophysics in Ondřejov.
Experimental Astronomy. Roč. 28, č. 1 (2010), s. 79-85. ISSN 0922-6435. E-ISSN 1572-9508.
[400 Years of Astronomical Telescopes: A Review of History, Science and Technology. Noordwijk, 29.09.2008-02.10.2008]
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207
Grant - others:ESA(XE) ESA-PECS project No. 98023
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501
Keywords : robotic telescopes * BART * D50
Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics
Impact factor: 2.140, year: 2010

The article reports on two small aperture robotic telescopes called BART and D50 operated in Ondřejov. Both telescopes are capable of automatic observation of gamma ray burst (GRB) optical afterglows. Coordinates of GRBs are taken from alerts distributed via Internet. Telescopes observe other interesting high energy sources when there is not any alert. The smaller telescope BART has aperture D = 254 mm. The bigger telescope D50 has a primary mirror of diameter D = 500 mm. Both telescopes are controlled by free software package RTS2 and are accessible through Internet. We describe the two telescopes and related software and show some results such as our first observed optical counterpart of GRB.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0191999