The Centurion 18 telescope of the Wise Observatory |
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Authors: | Noah Brosch David Polishook Avi Shporer Shai Kaspi Assaf Berwald Ilan Manulis |
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Affiliation: | (1) The Wise Observatory and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel;(2) The Wise Observatory and Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel;(3) Tel Aviv, Israel;(4) Technoda Center for Education in Science and Technology, P.O. Box 1144, Givat Olga, Hadera, 38110, Israel |
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Abstract: | We describe the second telescope of the Wise Observatory, a 0.46-m Centurion 18 (C18) installed in 2005, which enhances significantly the observing possibilities. The telescope operates from a small dome and is equipped with a large-format CCD camera. In the last two years this telescope was intensively used in a variety of monitoring projects. The operation of the C18 is now automatic, requiring only start-up at the beginning of a night and close-down at dawn. The observations are mostly performed remotely from the Tel Aviv campus or even from the observer’s home. The entire facility was erected for a component cost of about 70k$ and a labor investment of a total of one man-year. We describe three types of projects undertaken with this new facility: the measurement of asteroid light variability with the purpose of determining physical parameters and binarity, the following-up of transiting extrasolar planets, and the study of AGN variability. The successful implementation of the C18 demonstrates the viability of small telescopes in an age of huge light-collectors, provided the operation of such facilities is very efficient. |
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Keywords: | Telescopes |
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