11 – 13 May 2016 Osservatorio Polifunzionale del Chianti Use of SMALL TELESCOPES in the GIANT ERA Italo Foppiani – Technical manager In collaboration with Giovanna Maria Stirpe – Scientific Manager The observing station at Loiano: current status and perspectives

Loiano Observing station Ownership: University of Bologna (except Planetarium, owned by the Municipality of Loiano) Management and maintenance : INAF Observatory of Bologna Staff: 3 resident technicians devoted to nighttime observations, daytime operations and outreach 3 staff (not full time) for maintenance and technical management 1 staff (not full time) for scientific and general management Lat : 44° 15′ 33″ N Long: 11° 20′ 02″ E 785 m a.s.l

152 cm “Gian Domenico Cassini”

60cm Zeiss Telescope 152 cm “Gian Domenico Cassini”

Guesthouse Learning center 152 cm “Gian Domenico Cassini” 60cm Zeiss Telescope Planetarium

Outreach 60 cm Zeiss telescope (1936) Originally Newtonian, during ′80 converted to F/20 Cassegrain with the same plate scale of 152 cm telescope Focal reducer to F/10 for ocular observation Focal reducer to F/3.8 for camera observation Camera: FLI Maxcam CM8, Kodak KAF 1602E Array 1536  1024 pixels Pixel 9  9  m QE 80%, λ=680nm Read-out time 12 sec Read-out noise 15 e-/pixel Full-well capacity electrons Dark current 0,1 e-/pixel/sec, T= -30 °C Cooling 2 stage Peltier Pixel scale 0.53 ″/pixel Field of view 13,5'  9 ' Johnson filters B,V,R,I Planetarium (2015): diameter 6m, 30 sits Learning center Solar system model (along access road) May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era

G. D. Cassini Telescope MOUNT Type: Equatorial English OPTICAL SYSTEM Type: Ritchey-Chrétien Primary mirror diameter:1520 mm Focal ratio:F/3 Secondary mirror diameter: 580 mm Mirrors distance:3087 mm CASSEGRAIN FOCUS: Equivalent focal length: mm Equivalent focal ratio: F/8 Focal plane scale: 17 ″/mm Useful corrected field: 72′ Corrected Focal plane dia.:250 mm Dedicated in September 1976 Activities: science, teaching, and outreach (in that order of priority and time assigned)

Wide field camera 70′  70′ FoV Based on a 2 lenses corrector of 270mm diameter 250  250mm filter 250  250mm photographic plate: Kodak special plate for astronomy with resolution up to 600 lines per mm May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era Corrector Filters and Photographic plate

BFOSC: Bologna Faint Object and Spectrograph Camera Focal reduction 0.58 Spectral range nm Transmissivity>68% ( nm) Projected pixel 0.58 ″/pix Field dimension15′  15′ (limited to 13′  12.6′ by CCD) # of holders per wheel: 7 Astronomical filters sets: Johnson-Kron-Cousin: U, B, V, R, I Thuan-Gunn: G, R, Z, I May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era

CCD camera May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era Camera: Princeton Instruments VersArray1300B-LN Detector: EEV CCD Full frame, Back illuminated, MPP Array1340  1300 pixels Pixel20  20  m QE80% λ=500nm Read-out time1.8 1 MHz KHz Read-out noise KHz Dynamical range16 bit Full-well capacity electrons Op. temperature -100 °C (LN 2 cooled) Dark current1 e-/pixel/hour, T= -110 °C LN 2 hold time~ 12 hours Pixel scale0.58 ″/pixel Field of view13'  12.6'

Telescope scheduling Open call and scheduling every 6 months Scientists both local (~40%) and external, mainly Italian but also international collaboration (GAIA) May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era

Main topics of investigation GAIA alerts Spacecraft tracking Optical counterparts of X-ray sources (INTEGRAL, Swift) Extrasolar planets (transits) Variable stars (pulsating, cataclysmic etc.) AGN, classification and monitoring Spectroscopic classification of nearby galaxies Comets GAIA calibrations … See Giuseppe Altavilla talk on Friday

Extrasolar planets

Optical counterparts of X-ray sources CV AGN Parisi et al., 2014: Palermo Swift/BAT hard X-ray catalogue

Kononov et al., 2012: Accretion disk structure in SS Cygni

Refereed papers = 12.2 papers/yr

Statistics

Control system refurbishment Control system up to 2013: Manual pointing required for large (>1°) movements No automatic control function during pointing for safety of either the operator and the telescope (no limit switches!) Manual command of all auxiliary systems: dome, primary mirror cover, focus… Poor electrical safety (old standard and aging) New control system requirements: Complete automatic pointing Control of all system (dome, primary mirror cover…) Automatic safety features:  avoid telescope collision with the building and the floating platform  avoid collision with human or at least control applied force Increase electrical safety (low voltage devices) May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era

Control system status Hardware almost completed (motors drivers, telescope encoders, PLC based control logic, focus control, manual commands, primary mirror cover control, inverters for dome rotation motors, hatch remote control, dome access supervision, standard electrical power distribution). Local control software and user interface completed: the observation might be almost completely carried out from the control room. Future aiming: remote interfaces for pointing, guiding and scientific instrument control to allow generic user to remotely control the observations May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era

Remote telescope control May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era

Feasibility of a CCD wide field camera May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era 5 lenses 3 doublets Length ~1m Telescope F/8 Focal plane Reimaged F/2,7 Focal plane Off the shelf CCD camera Array 4K  4K 15  m pixels FoV 50'  50' Scale 0,76 ″/pixel Investigation Topics: SSA Variability study See Alberto Buzzoni talk tomorrow

Feasibility of a CCD wide field camera Placed in the telescope focal plane by means of the 2 lenses corrector and based on four 6” wafer size CCD by STA May 2016 Small Telescopes in the Giant era Array of 4 CCD 15 pixels  m FoV 52'  52' Scale 0,26 ″/pixel CCD STA4500 Array 6K  6K 15  m pixels 4 outputs Scale 0,26 ″/pixel