Autonomous Observing and Control Systems for PAIRITEL, a 1.3m Infrared Imaging Telescope

Abstract

The Peters Automated Infrared Imaging Telescope (PAIRITEL) is the first meter-class telescope operating as a fully robotic IR imaging system. Dedicated in October 2004, PAIRITEL began regular observations in mid-December 2004 as part of a 1.5 year commissioning period. The system was designed to respond without human intervention to new gamma-ray burst transients: this milestone was finally reached on November 9, 2005 but the telescope had a number of semi-automated sub-10 minute responses throughout early commissioning. When not operating in Target of Opportunity mode, PAIRITEL performs a number of queue scheduled transient monitoring campaigns. To achieve this level of automation, we have developed communicating tools to connect the various sub-systems: an intelligent queue scheduling database, run-time configurable observation sequence software, a data reduction pipeline, and a master state machine which monitors and controls all functions within and affecting the observatory.

Publication
Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XV ASP Conference Series, Vol. 351, Proceedings of the Conference Held 2-5 October 2005 in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain. Edited by Carlos Gabriel, Christophe Arviset, Daniel Ponz, and Enrique Solano. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2006., p.751

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