84,581 research outputs found
Southern Hemisphere automated supernova search
The Perth Astronomy Research Group has developed an automated supernova search program, using the 61 cm Perth–Lowell reflecting telescope at Perth Observatory in Western Australia, equipped with a CCD camera. The system is currently capable of observing about 15 objects per hour, using 3 min exposures, and has a detection threshold of 18th–19th magnitude. The entire system has been constructed using low‐cost IBM‐compatible computers. Two original discoveries (SN 1993K, SN 1994R) have so far been made during automated search runs. This paper describes the hardware and software used for the supernova search program, and shows some preliminary results from the search system
T35: a small automatic telescope for long-term observing campaigns
The T35 is a small telescope (14") equipped with a large format CCD camera
installed in the Sierra Nevada Observatory (SNO) in Southern Spain. This
telescope will be a useful tool for the detecting and studying pulsating stars,
particularly, in open clusters. In this paper, we describe the automation
process of the T35 and show also some images taken with the new
instrumentation.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the special issue
"Robotic Astronomy" of Advances of Astronom
Shape: A 3D Modeling Tool for Astrophysics
We present a flexible interactive 3D morpho-kinematical modeling application
for astrophysics. Compared to other systems, our application reduces the
restrictions on the physical assumptions, data type and amount that is required
for a reconstruction of an object's morphology. It is one of the first publicly
available tools to apply interactive graphics to astrophysical modeling. The
tool allows astrophysicists to provide a-priori knowledge about the object by
interactively defining 3D structural elements. By direct comparison of model
prediction with observational data, model parameters can then be automatically
optimized to fit the observation. The tool has already been successfully used
in a number of astrophysical research projects.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in the "IEEE
Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
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