How Does the Tenagra
II Telescope Work?
(1)
During the
day Tenagra, Arizona receives requests for observations by its clients. These observation requests are made in a
Tenagra created language. Requests come
from all kinds of users with accounts at Tenagra and any night can have a vast
combination of targets, from NEOs (Near Earth Objects) to distant galaxy
clusters.
(2)
At about
4:00PM local time in
(3)
At this time
a scheduler looks at all the requests and arranges them in such
a way that each user is given the most favorable time for their observation to
occur.
(4)
Before sunset
a master program is initiated. This
program guides the telescope through every step during the night. It’s first job is to
cool down the CCD cameras (imaging, spectrographic and spectrographic guiding) and make sure it is fully operational.
(5)
The dome
opens automatically at sunset and the telescope begins to take what are called “calibration
frames”. These are special images that
allow the effects of the CCD camera itself and the optical system to be
subtracted from the images.
(6)
Before
opening and frequently throughout the night the system also checks the degree of
cloudiness, wind speed, humidity and presence or absence of rain drops. The dome is immediately closed if there is
any indication that weather may damage the telescope. An “all clear” condition
is obtained and resumes the night’s work is resumed
Because there are very minor changes in telescope metals as temperature
fluctuates the focus of the telescope is modified occasionally during the night
by sensing the temperature.
(7)
As the night
progresses the images taken for users are placed real-time on a computer that
can be accessed by Tenagra clients. The
images can be grabbed real-time. Many
users wait until the next day to go through the internet to collect their
images.
(8)
Prior to dawn
the telescope takes additional calibration frames.
(9)
Right before
dawn the telescope goes to a “park” position and the dome closes.
Now the Tenagra telescope
is ready for another night’s run. What
does all this really mean? By not having
a human operator a Tenagra telescope can cover much more sky and relentless
collect data without human fatigue or adjustments. The amount of data that can be gathered is
staggering! It is important to note that
the users do not operate a Tenagra telescope.
This is an advantage. There is no
need for a Tenagra user to work with an operator or travel to the observatory
site as with traditional telescopes.
Additionally, when a user signs on for use of a “standard” telescope they
must take their chances with the weather.
Users are never charged at Tenagra if they are clouded out. This is unprecedented. Just what can a Tenagra telescope
accomplish? The following are statistics
for one month (December, 2003) which had 26 clear nights:
Number of Telescope Slews = 6,647
Total HA Motion (hours) = 3,877
Total Dec Motion (deg) = 55,187
Number Of Science Exposures = 4,455
Number of Filter Changes = 1,285
The average cumulative exposure time per
night was almost 7 hours per night on
target.
Even more amazing is that
a Tenagra telescope can be run by Michael Schwartz (who lives at the Tenagra
site) or controlled 100% by a Tenagra assistant who may be anywhere in the
world. During the spring of 2006, Paulo
Holvorcem operated the Tenagra II telescope for 6 weeks from Sao Paulo, Brazil. With the addition of a web cam to
watch the dome and an all-sky camera, the assistant has all
the information available to Michael as if he were at the site.
Do you have additional
questions? Feel free to contact Michael
Schwartz at mbs@tenagraobservatories.com
or 520-287-7893 (UT - 7). Remember, we
sleep during the night!