Hungarian robotic telescopesHungarian robotic telescopesTibor Hegedüs, Baja Astronomical Observatory, Hungary

"NETWORK OF TELESCOPES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS REGION"27th and 28th of September, 2010, PROKUPLJE, SERBIA

The first Hungarian robotic telescope• The basic concept: horse-shoe mounted robotic telescope for Baja Observatory (SZANACAT meeting, 1999, Hegedüs)

• first realisation: HAT (‘Hungarian Automated Telescope’ atop on Konkoly Observatory, 2000) Optics: Nikon 65/180 teleobjective lens; Detector: KAF 401E (512x768 9 m pixeles)

• Project leader: Bakos, G. (astronomer)

mechanical engineering and manufacturing: Sári, P. electronic engineering and manufacturing: Papp, I.

software engineering: Lázár, J.

Hungarian robotic telescopes – the first generation: HATNet

• The basic concept: mapping the Northern bright variable stars (initiative originated by: Paczynski, B.)

• by-product: exoplanetary eclipses!

• first installations: Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) - 2003

Engineering drawing of a HAT model

The first 4 HAT (Kitt Peak, Arizona)

8x8 deg 8x8 deg

8x8 deg 8x8 deg

Canon f =110 mm f/1.8 teleobjectiveApogee 2k x 2k CCD

Hungarian robotic telescopes – the first generation: HATNet

Engineering drawing of the HAT dome

The next 2 HAT (Mauna Kea, Hawaii)

• The control center: Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astro- physics (CfA) – project leader: Bakos, G.

• result: discovery of 25 exoplanet system

The discovery plot of HAT-P-1 b(host star: ADS 16402 A) - 2006

The confirmating plots of HAT-P-1 b

Data processing supervisor: Dr. Kovács, G. (Konkoly Observatory)

Hungarian robotic telescopes – second generation: TopHAT & BART

D= 25 cmApogee Alta U16 (4k x 4k)

TopHAT (Arizona)

Hungarian robotic telescopes – second generation: TopHAT & BART

Baja Astronomical Robotic Telescope(installed and first light: 2005)

Optical system: D=50 cm f/6 (Russian)

Detector: Apogee Alta U16 (4k x 4k 9 m)

Corrected max. field of view: 1.5 degree (8 cm)

Hungarian robotic telescopes – second generation: BART-1

HAT-P3b-20100410

Astronomy with BART-1

• Time series of open clusters NGC • supernova search (BASSUS)• alert service (exoplanets)• minor planets, comets

Hungarian robotic telescopes – subsystems of BART-1

All-sky night camera (optics: HP+soligor fish-eye foreground lens / CCD: ST7E)

By-products: - meteor and fireball observations (student and amateur activity) - night clouds (their classification, motion – meteorological activity)

Hungarian robotic telescopes – subsystems of BART-1

Sky background brightness measurements – Unihedron’s SQM-LE

Hungarian robotic telescopes – a private project: BAT (in Baja)

owner: Beringer, P. (mathematician, Budapest)

Optics: D=35 cm f/10 (Celestron SC)

Detector: Apogee 1k x 1k back-illuminated CCD

Astronomy with BAT

• eclipsing binary minima timing• educational use (‘open sky’ actions)• public relation (demonstrations, testing new solutions, innovation)• alert service (exoplanets)

Hungarian robotic telescopes – third generation: HAT South system

Optics: D=180 mm f / 2.8 astrograph (Takahashi)

Detector: Apogee Alta U16 (4k x 4k 9 m) – field of view: 4 degree

Hungarian robotic telescoping expertspersonnel:

Papp, I. - electronics Kiss, Z. (partially); Lázár, J. - software Sári, P. - mechanicsBíró, I. B. – optical engineering, soft- ware: CCD and filter changers

Nuspl, J. – system in-tegration, dome control

Jäger, Z. – webcameras,meteorological stations

We are opened for cooperation

Thank you for your attention!