Having been operational at Kitt Peak for more than a year, the prototype of
the Hungarian Automated Telescope (HAT-1) has been used for all-sky variability
search of the northern hemisphere. The small autonomous observatory is
recording brightness of stars in the range of I~6--13m with a telephoto lens
and its 9x9 degree field of view, yielding a data rate of ~10^6 photometric
measurements per night. We give brief hardware and software description of the
system, controlled by a single PC running RealTime Linux operating system. We
overview site-specific details, and quantify the astrometric and photometric
capabilities of HAT. As a demonstration of system performance we give a sample
of 60 short period variables in a single selected field, all bright, with I <
13m, of which only 14 were known before. Depending on the observing strategy,
search for extrasolar planet transits is also a feasible observing program. We
conclude with a short discussion on future directions. Further information can
be found at the HAT homepage: http://www-cfa.harvard.edu/~gbakos/HAT/Comment: Submitted to PASP, 18 pages, 8 figures. See
http://www-cfa.harvard.edu/~gbakos/HAT/Publ/ for more information and
hi-resolution figure