Open AccessTAOS II: THE ROBOTIC OPERATIONS
Author(s) -
J. H. Castro-Chacón,
Matthew Lehner,
M. Reyes-Ruiz,
Brice Hernandez,
C. Alcock,
Chung Kai Huang,
Korey Cook,
John C. Geary,
L. Figueroa,
Cristina Raquel Luque Guerrero,
J. B. Hernández-Águila,
J. C. Narvaez,
Timothy Norton,
Francisco Flavio Córdoba Quiroz,
Encarnación Sarriá,
ShiangYu Wang,
J. S. Silva,
Andrew Szentgyorgyi,
YouHua Chu,
Wei-Ling Yen,
W.-P. Chen,
Z.-W. Zhang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
revista mexicana de astronomía y astrofísica. serie de conferencias
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1405-2059
DOI - 10.22201/ia.14052059p.2021.53.27
Subject(s) - occultation , computer science , aperture (computer memory) , remote sensing , calibration , physics , computer graphics (images) , artificial intelligence , computer vision , geology , astronomy , acoustics , quantum mechanics
In this work, we present the general procedure for the robotic observations of the Transneptunian Automated Occultation Survey (TAOS II). The project aims to detect small TNOs (Transneptunian Objects) by serendipitous stellar occultations. To do so TAOS II will operate three 1.3 m telescopes equipped with CMOS cameras which are able to read about 10,000 stars in multiple subapertures at a 20 Hz cadence. At such rates, it will be possible to identify diffraction features in the lightcurves, helping us to estimate a distance and object size to each occultation event. TAOS II is installed in the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir, Ensenada, México (OAN-SPM). The site has good observing conditions, typically with around 260 useful nights per year. Here, we describe the different process to be performed in a typical observing night: system start up and shut down, monitoring observing conditions, acquisition of calibration images, field selection, pointing, camera synchronization, determination of aperture sizes and positions, and high speed image acquisition.