SEARCH FOR ISOLATED BLACK HOLES: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

The critical property of a black hole is the presence of an event horizon. It may be detected only by means of a detailed study of the emission features of its surroundings. The temporal resolution of such observations has to be comparable to rg /c, which is in the 10−6–10 s range, depending on the mass of the black hole. At SAO RAS we have developed the MANIA hardware and software complex, based on the panoramic photon counter, and we use it in observations on the 6m telescope for searching and investigating the optical variability of various astronomical objects on time scales of 10−6–103 s. We present here the hardware and methods used for these photometric, spectroscopic and polarimetric observations, together with the principles and criteria for object selection. The list of objects includes objects with featureless optical spectra (DC white dwarfs, blazars) and long microlensing events

Status and Perspectives of the Mini-MegaTORTORA Wide-field Monitoring System with High Temporal Resolution

Here we briefly summarize our long-term experience of constructing and operating wide-field monitoring cameras with sub-second temporal resolution to look for optical components of GRBs, fast-moving satellites and meteors. The general hardware requirements for these systems are discussed, along with algorithms for real-time detection and classification of various kinds of short optical transients. We also give a status report on the next generation, the MegaTORTORA multi-objective and transforming monitoring system, whose 6-channel (Mini-MegaTORTORA-Spain) and 9-channel prototypes (Mini-MegaTORTORA-Kazan) we have been building at SAO RAS. This system combines a wide field of view with subsecond temporal resolution in monitoring regime, and is able, within fractions of a second, to reconfigure itself to follow-up mode, which has better sensitivity and simultaneously provides multi-color and polarimetric information on detected transients

SEARCH FOR ISOLATED BLACK HOLES: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

The critical property of a black hole is the presence of an event horizon. It may be detected only by means of a detailed study of the emission features of its surroundings. The temporal resolution of such observations has to be comparable to rg /c, which is in the 10−6–10 s range, depending on the mass of the black hole. At SAO RAS we have developed the MANIA hardware and software complex, based on the panoramic photon counter, and we use it in observations on the 6m telescope for searching and investigating the optical variability of various astronomical objects on time scales of 10−6–103 s. We present here the hardware and methods used for these photometric, spectroscopic and polarimetric observations, together with the principles and criteria for object selection. The list of objects includes objects with featureless optical spectra (DC white dwarfs, blazars) and long microlensing events

Fast Universal Spectrophotopolarimeter for Robotic Telescopes

FUSP is the automatic multimode spectrophotopolarimeter aimed to the study of fast optical transients in the photometric, photopolarimetric (instant measurement of linear polarization), and spectropolarimetric (with or without the slit) modes. The mode change is automatic depending on the transient brightness and the purposes of the observations and may be performed in half a second. The instrument may be equipped with either fast EM-CCD or a position-sensitive detector which may provide temporal resolution up to 1 microsecond. FUSP is the robotic instrument for the robotic telescopes

Wide and Fast: Monitoring the Sky in Subsecond Domain with the FAVOR and TORTORA Cameras

In order to detect and investigate short stochastic optical flares from a number of variable astrophysical objects (GRBs, SNe, flare stars, CVs, X-Ray binaries) of unknown localizations as well as near-earth objects (NEOs), both natural and artificial, it is necessary to perform the systematic monitoring of large regions of the sky with high temporal resolution. Here we discuss the criteria for a system that is able to perform such a task and describe two cameras we created for wide-field monitoring with high temporal resolution—FAVOR and TORTORA. Also, we describe basic principles of real-time data processing for the high frame rates needed to achieve subsecond temporal resolution on a typical hardware

From tortora to megatortora—results and prospects of search for fast optical transients

To study short stochastic optical flares of different objects (GRBs, SNs, etc.) of unknown localizations as well as NEOs it is necessary to monitor large regions of sky with high-time resolution. We developed a system consisting of widefield camera with field of view of 400-600 sq. deg. which uses TV-CCD with 0.13 s temporal resolution to record and classify optical transients, and a fast robotic telescope aimed to perform their spectroscopic and photometric investigation just after detection. Such two-telescope complex, combining wide-field camera TORTORA and robotic telescope REM, operated from May 2006 at La Silla ESO observatory. Some results of its operation, including first high time resolution study of optical transient accompanying GRB and discovery of its fine time structure, are presented. Also, prospects for improving the efficiency of such observations are given, and a project of a next generation wide field monitoring system, the MegaTORTORA, is described

EXPLANATION: Exoplanet and Transient Event Investigation Project—Optical Facilities and Solutions

Over the past decades, the achievements in astronomical instrumentation have given rise to a number of novel advanced studies related to the analysis of large arrays of observational data. One of the most famous of these studies is a study of transient events in the near and far space and a search for exoplanets. The main requirements for such kinds of projects are a simultaneous coverage of the largest possible field of view with the highest possible detection limits and temporal resolution. In this study, we present a similar project aimed at creating an extensive, continuously updated survey of transient events and exoplanets. To date, the core of the project incorporates several 0.07–2.5 m optical telescopes and the 6-m BTA telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of RAS (Russia), a number of other Russian observatories and the Bonhyunsan observatory of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (South Korea). Our attention is mainly focused on the description of two groups of small, wide-angle optical telescopes for primary detection. All the telescopes are originally designed for the goals of the project and may be of interest to the scientific community. A description is also given for a new, high-precision optical spectrograph for the Doppler studies of transient and exoplanet events detected within the project. We present here the philosophy, expectations and first results obtained during the first year of running the project

The Global Robotic Telescopes Intelligent Array For E-Science (GLORIA)

GLORIA is a collaborative web-2.0 project based on a network of robotic telescopes, which has become the first free-access network opened to the world for public outreach and specially for e-Science projects