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| Paper: |
The scientific potential of automatic CCD imaging telescopes |
| Volume: |
34, Robotic Telescopes in the 1990s |
| Page: |
55 |
| Authors: |
Filippenko, Alexei V. |
| Abstract: |
I discuss the scientific potential of moderate-aperture (about 0.8 m) automatic imaging telescopes (AITs) equipped with CCDs. Such instruments are relatively inexpensive to construct, yet they have a wide range of uses for projects that cannot otherwise be conducted at most private or national observatories. They also have many important advantages over conventional automatic photoelectric telescopes. For illustrative purposes, I concentrate on three scientific areas being pursued by the Berkeley AIT: light curves of supernovae and novae, active galactic nuclei, and solar system objects. AITs are also useful for essentially all types of variable stars. There are enormous gains to be made by using AITs in coordinated ground-based and space-based observations. Finally, AITs have great potential in undergraduate laboratory astrophysics classes. |
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