eScience Telescopes for Astronomical
Research
http://www.estar.org.uk/
Liverpool John Moores University
& University of Exeter
Purpose of the eSTAR demonstrator
• To develop infrastructure to create a global
network of robotic astronomical telescopes.
• To test and use Globus in a real situation with
diverse resources.
Science Drivers
•Rapid response and time variable astronomy.
•Spaceguard, Near Earth Objects
•Low Running Cost Observatories
•Schools and Education
Concepts
• Intelligent Agents - developed by astronomers to
address their own science drivers. Can request and
analyse data.
• Discovery Nodes - telescopes or archives which
deliver astronomical data or other resources.
• Protocols – Communication via Globus
– Requests via Robotic Telescope Markup Language
(RTML).
– Status information via Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP).
Intelligent Agents
• Written in Perl.
• Can be customized for particular science
tasks (prototype IA specializes in Dwarf
Novae, a type of star which produces
infrequent outbursts).
Intelligent Agent Architecture
Intelligent Agent Screenshot
Discovery Nodes
• Telescope Discovery Nodes written in C.
• Include scheduler, telescope and instrument
control, weather monitoring.
• Also Archive and Bibliographic Databases.
Discovery Node Architecture
Discovery Node Screenshot
Scheduling Observations
• Intelligent Agent requests a score from each
Discovery Node.
• Score reflects how well the object is
positioned in the sky.
• Can also in future reflect weather, state of
the telescope, how important what it is
doing already is.
• Extend to databases which can say they
have the data already.
IA then chooses DN which returns the highest score to provide data.
Scheduling and Observation
Protocol
Globus
• Globus IO library provides user/host
authentication and authorization
• SSL encryption on communications
providing a secure data stream upon
connection.
Robotic Telescope Markup
Language (RTML)
• Subset of XML used for high level
communication with Robotic Telescopes.
• New version (2.1) developed for this
project.
LDAP structure
Equipment for Demonstrator
• Small (Meade) telescopes in
Liverpool and Exeter plus
travelling telescopes.
• Commercial CCD camera
systems (3 manufacturers
supported).
• Control via laptop PCs for
IA and DNs.
Future Deployment
• Can be deployed on any telescope which
can parse RTML
– Existing 2 metre telescopes (Liverpool,
Faulkes).
– Future 2 metre telescopes built for international
customers by Telescope Technologies Limited.
– Existing UK telescopes in Hawaii, La Palma,
Chile.
– Amateur telescopes with a computer control
and a CCD camera.
Non-astronomical applications
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Time critical threat reaction
Security and Surveillance systems
Earth Observation Scheduling
Intelligent Agent Toolkit Evaluation
Summary
2-m telescope (La Palma)
Bibliographic Database (USA)
Object Database
(France)
The Intelligent Agent
uses telescopes and
databases worldwide to
carry out automated
research, improving
productivity and
enabling new science
Amateur telescope (Liverpool)
4-m telescope (Hawaii)