Using Robotic Telescopes in College
Undergraduate and Secondary
School Education Environments
R. L. Mutel
Professor of Astronomy
University of Iowa
Outline of Talk
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Web-based Robotic Telescope Systems available for Middle and
High School Students
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Robotic Telescopes for Undergraduate Education
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Summary of operating robotic telescopes for education
Examples of High School Student Astronomy Projects for Robotic
Telescopes
Astronomy Laboratory Projects
Student Research Projects
Advanced research example: Small Comet Search
Curriculum Issues
Virtual Astronomy: Is it really astronomy?
Organizations and Web Resources
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Robotic Telescopes in Education
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Primarily Middle and High School Level
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Primarily College and University Level
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Hands-on Universe (U.C. Berkeley Hall of Science)
Telescopes in Education (Mt. Wilson)
Micro-Observatory (Harvard CfA)
Examples of Student Projects
Nassau Station (CWRU)
Iowa Robotic Observatory (Univ. Iowa)
Student Projects
Advanced Research Projects: Small Comets Example
Project Rigel: A Complete Turn-key Robotic Observatory
Is Virtual/Robotic Astronomy really Astronomy?
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Hands-on Universe
 Started in 1994
100+ High Schools
Enrolled
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Uses existing manual
and automated
telescopes
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Complete curriculum
available
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Teacher training
summer courses
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http://hou.lbl.gov/
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HOU: Kuiper Belt Object Discovered
by High School Students
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Telescopes in Education (Mt. Wilson)
 Started in 1995
380 High Schools
Enrolled
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Uses existing 6 in and
24 in telescopes on Mt.
Wilson (S. California)
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Complete users guide
available on-line
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Image acquisition and
analysis uses ‘The Sky’
software (PC)
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http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov/tie/
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 Started in 1996 at Harvard’s
Center for Astrophysics
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380 High Schools Enrolled
Uses weatherproof 6 inch
telescopes in Massachusetts,
Arizona, Hawaii, Australia)
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Complete users guide
available on-line
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Image acquisition and
analysis uses ‘The Sky’
software (PC)
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http://mo-www.harvard.edu/MicroObservatory
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Micro-Observatory Sample Project:
Orbit of the Moon from Angular Size
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Micro-Observatory Weather &
Observing Queue
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Micro-Observatory:
Web-based
Observing request
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HOU Middle School Sample Curriculum: The Moon
Our Closest Neighbor: the Moon
A. The Image Processor (COMPUTER LAB) -- Students learn how to use the HOU Image
Processing software while exploring characteristics of craters on the Moon. Image
Processor functions: Open, Zoom, Pixels, Coordinates, Brightness (TERC/LHS)
B. Crater Game (CLASSROOM) -- In this game, student get practice using their Image
Processing software to determine diameters of craters.
C. Moon Measure (COMPUTER LAB) -- Students measure the diameter of a crater and its
circumference using Image Processing tools.
D. Model Craters (CLASSROOM) To really see more of how craters appear, students make
model Moon craters and see how the pattern of shadows associated with craters is
affected by the angle of sunlight shining on them. Optional: Cratering Experiments.
Students toss meteoroids (pebbles) into basins of flour to simulate crater formation.
E. Moon Phases (CLASSROOM) With the Moon being a white polystyrene ball and the Sun
being a bright light at the center of the room . Each students¹ head is the Earth.
Students can also observe and record the real phases of the Moon over a period of a
couple of weeks.
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Telescopes in Education High School Curriculum
Sample Project: Near-Earth Objects
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Based on published information in various magazines, journals, and other
publications, students and interested amateurs will observe and image selected
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).
A catalog of the selected NEOs will be created and updated. Catalog information
will include object history, classification, orbital elements, photometric data,
estimated size and mass, and other available data.
Any changes in NEO magnitude, expected position, orbital characteristics, coma
size, shape, etc. will become clear as catalog data are accumulated over
repeated observations.
The NEOs will be observed and imaged as frequently as possible. As the
catalog is compiled, recorded data will be of interest to various professionals
and organizations involved in NEO research, such as the Minor Planet Center
(MPC). Proper data submission formats are provided by the various
organizations.
Observers will be informed how to alert the MPC to substantive or scientifically
interesting short-term changes, such as "disconnection events," in a given
NEO's characteristics.
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Undergraduate Robotic Facilities:
Nassau Station (CWRU)
• Located near
Cleveland, Ohio
• Not fully operational
(expected late 2001)
• Will support imaging,
spectroscopy
• Web-based queue
submission
http://www.astr.cwru.edu/nassau.html
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http://denali.physics.uiowa.edu/iro
Iowa Robotic Observatory (Arizona)
• 0.5 m Reflector, fully robotic
• Located near Sonoita, Arizona
• Operational in late 1998
• Generates 10,000+ images per
year
• Web-based queue submission
• Used by 600+ undergraduates,
more than 200 web-registered users
• Occasionally use for MS thesis,
other research
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Critical List Asteroid 1978 SB8
V=17.8
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“Collision” of Two Asteroids!
1147 Stratovos arrives from left, 2099 Opik moves in from North
Note: There is a very faint third asteroid in these frames: can you find it?
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Asteroid Rotation Curves
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Although there are
150,000+ catalogued
asteroids, only ~1,500
have known rotational
periods
Observations of
rotational period are
important for
determination of
distribution of angular
momentum in the solar
system
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Asteroid Rotation Curves:
Observations
Period 5.5 hrs
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Monitoring Variable Stars
(Dwarf Nova Cataclysmic Variable WZ Sge)
V = 8.4
AAVSO
Observers
(40 days)
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Monitoring Variable Star and Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN)
Image of OJ287 with
10 in LX200
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AGN OJ287: Light curve obtained by
Poyner (British amateur astronomer
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Light Curves of Short-Period
Eclipsing Binaries: AB Andromeda
AB And (V =11.0)
P = 8.33 hrs
IRO Observations
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Optical Counterparts to Gamma Ray
Bursts
V=10 !
GRB 990123
detected by
ROTSE
(Jan 23, 1999)
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ROTSE: Optical Detection of GRB990123
Telescope: 4” telephoto lens
Camera: AP10 (2Kx2K)
Jemez Mountains, New Mexico.
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Amateur Astronomers detect a GRB afterglow!
Gamma-ray detectors on the NEAR and
Ulysses spacecraft first recorded the burst,
labeled GRB000301C, on March 1, 2000
Frank Chalupka, Dennis Hohman
and Tom Bakowski, Aquino (Buffalo
NY Astronomy Club) -- pointed the
club's 12-inch reflecting telescope at
the nominal coordinates of the burst
and accumulated data for two
hours. Later when the images were
calibrated and summed, there it
was, a 20th-magnitude fireball just
7 arc seconds from a much brighter
17th-magnitude foreground star.
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V = 20
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Detection of New Supernovae (M88)
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Detection of Extra-Solar Planets: Doppler Effect
HD89744 (F7V)
P 256 days
Mass 7MJ
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Detection of Extra-Solar Planets: Occultations
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Detection of Extra-Solar Planets: Occultation of
HD 209458 (V = 7.6)
First detection by Henry et al.
2001 (0.8 m, Fairborn
Observatory, Tennessee State
Univ.)
STARE Light Curve)
Occultation is 0.017 mag = 1.
58%
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Detection of Extra-Solar Planets: STARE
Telescope (currently in Canary Islands)
The current STARE telescope, as of
July, 1999, is a field-flattened Schmidt
working aperture of 4 in, (f/2.9). The
telescope is coupled to a Pixelvision
2K x 2K CCD (Charge-Coupled
Device) camera to obtain images with
a scale of 10.8 arcseconds per pixel
over a field of view 6.1 degrees square.
Broad-band color filters (B, V, and R)
that approximate the Johnson bands
are slid between the telescope and
camera. By taking exposures with
different colored filters, the colors of
stars in the field can be determined.
This is necessary for accurate
photometry.
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Software for Astronomical Research
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Maxim DL (v. 3.0) Excellent for astrometry,
photometry, image calibration, manipulation.
Highly Recomended
MIRA 6.1. Very good, not as user-friendly.
Recommended
CCDSoft. Newest version not tested.
Pinpoint 2.1 Outstanding for astrometry.
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Recommended Image Processing Software: Maxim DL
(Beta version 3.0) Tools for Astrometry, Photometry
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Sample faculty-student research project:
“A Search for Small Comets using the IRO”
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Small Comet Detection Papers
DE-1 (April 1986)
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Polar (May 1997)
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Small Comet Parameters
(from Frank and Sigwarth 1993, Small comet Web site)
Mass:
~20,000 kg (steep mass spectrum -see next slide)
Density:
~0.1 x H20 (F&S 93)
Size:
8 -10 m (assuming density 0.1)
Number density: (3 ± 1) · 10-11 km-3 (M > 12,000 kg) Sigwarth 1989; FSC 90
Flux at Earth:
1 every 3 seconds (107 per yr. = > 200 Tg-yr-1)
Composition:
Water ice with very dark carbonaceous mantle
Albedo
low (~0.02, F&S 93)
Orbit:
“Prograde, nearly parallel to ecliptic”, most q 0.9 AU (F&S 93)
Speed:
V ~10 km-sec-1 at 1 AU, 20 km -sec-1 before impact
Origin:
Hypothesized comet belt beyond Neptune
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IRO Small Comet Search: Observational Summary
The observations were made using the 0.5 m f/8 reflector of the Iowa
Robotic Observatory between 24 September 1998 and 11 June 1999.
 Observations were scheduled every month within one week of new moon.
A total of 6,148 images were obtained, of which 2,718 were classified as
category A (visual detection magnitude 16.5 or brighter in a 100 pixel trail).
 Seeing conditions varied from 2 - 5 arcsec (see histogram). For quality A
images, seeing was < 3.5 arcsec.
 All images were has thermal and bias corrections applied.
 Images were recorded on CDROM and sent to the University of Iowa for
analysis.
 All images are available for independent analysis via anonymous ftp at
node atf.physics.uiowa.edu.
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Search Geometry
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Using synthetic trails to calibrate visual inspection
 Synthetic comet trails were
added to 520 search images
with randomly chosen
magnitudes and trail lengths.
 Three observers
independently inspected all
images
 Result: Visual detection
threshold is ~0.9  per pixel,
with a suggestion that longer
trails can be detected slightly
fainter, perhaps 0.7 - 0.8 .
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No detections: Mass-albedo constraints
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18cm refractor, HPC-1 CCD camera,
located on campus in Iowa City. ($50K)
History of
automated and
robotic telescopes
at the University of
Iowa
Project Goal: To provide a
complete turn-key robotic
Observatory for use in
undergraduate astronomy
teaching and research.
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50cm reflector, AP-8 camera, located in
Sonoita, AZ. ($160K)
37cm reflector, AP-8 camera,
spectrometer, located in Sonoita, AZ.
( appx. $100K)
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Rigel Performance Specifications
Subsystem
Mount
Optics
Imaging
Spectroscopy
Specification
Value
Pointing error
30 arcsec RMS full sky
Tracking error
< 0.01 arcsec per second
Surface Error
< 0.2 wave peak to valley
< 0.06 RMS
Point Spread
Function
> 88% of stellar photons within
one pixel (24) at sensor edge
Field of View
16.4 x 16.4 arcmin
Pixel Resolution
0.96 arcsec
Sensitivity
> 10:1 SNR 19th magnitude star
with clear filter in 60 seconds
Spectral Resolution
0.6 nm (0.3 nm pixels)
Total Spectrum
Coverage
300 – 1000 nm continuous
Sensitivity
>10:1 SNR on 6th magnitude
star in 10 sec (1nm resolution)
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M101
(16’ x 16’)
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Network Architecture
Schedules
images
TCS data
weather
Shared Rigel Observatories
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Data Rates
Imaging per
telescope
4 MB per 30sec =
133 kB/s
Control,weather,
real-time TV image,
and scheduling
Spectroscopy
10KB/s
Totals
160 KB/s per
telescope
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0.1-1MB per min =220 kB/s
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Astronomy Lab Room
Image storage
Web server
Application server
LAN
Internet
Image, schedule,
monitor database
transfer
Local Site
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OCAAS-compatible
Remote Sites
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Telescope Control Panel (on-site, real time observing)
Axis calibration
tool
Automatic
focus tool
Weather information
and alerts
Audio messages
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Automated
WCS
astrometric
solution
Differential
photometry
tool
Gaussian fits
with FWHM
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Multiple filter with
separate exposure
times
Multiple image
request with 1hr
spacing
Automatic asteroid
ephemeris calculation
Web-based
schedule
entry
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Manual position
entry with
specified user
epoch
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Web-based
schedule status
reports
Astrophysics
laboratory observing
projects
Introductory
Astronomy lab
projects
Internet
guest
observers
Faculty, graduate
student research
projects
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Date
1 Feb 2000
1 Jun 2000
15 Nov 2000
15 Feb 2001
15 May 2001
15 July 2001
15 Aug 2001
1 Sep 2001
Sep01 – Feb02
2nd quarter
2002
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Project benchmark
NSF Funding approved
Hardware, software design finalized
Optical tube Assembly acceptance test
Mount, telescope control, camera
acceptance test
Subsystems acceptance test
Delivery to Univ. of Iowa
Acceptance test of all systems
Transport to Arizona
6 month rigorous test phase
Torus delivery of first commercial
Rigel system
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OK?
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Rigel Web site
http://denali.physics.uiowa.edu/rigel
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