Global Small-Telescope Network including Maidanak Observatory Wen-Ping Chen National Central University Taiwan 2010 June 21

Earth at Night

Advantages in Taiwan: - Many high mountains - Western Pacific longitude - Low latitude  variability studies

Lulin Observatory Taiwan E120 o 52’; N23 o 28’ Maidanak Observatory Uzbekistan E66 o 56’; N38 o 41’ Yunnan Observatory China E102 o 47’; N25 o 02’

 2001 Jan - A Hojaev (Uzbekistan) participated in IAUC 183 in Taiwan  2001 Aug - WP Chen and HT Lee from NCU visited Maidanak Observatory, enjoyed its astroclimate - used 0.6 m and 1.5 m for NGC 6823/6820 imaging - met with S Bartasiute (Lithuania) ; discussed possible joint efforts to renovate the 1 m  2001 Sep – 2002 Feb - computer equipment to Uzbekistan - teamed up with L Zacs (Latvia) to propose to Taiwan-Baltic Foundation; decided to use open clusters as the central theme History & Anecdotes

2001 August Maidanak

Sharp images taken by 1.5 m at Maidanak Observatory

 2002 May - MoU between NCU and UBAI  2002 Jul - Taiwan-Baltic grant awarded  2002 Oct - Dec - PMT instrument and computer equipment to Uzbekistan - Yunnan team, led by Prof Pei-Sheng Chen, who succeeded in upgrading an identical model of the 1 m a few years before, visited Maidanak and agreed to help the engineering  2003 Feb - WP Chen (+ his wife) and CW Chen visited Vilnius; met G Tautvaisiene, J Sperauskas and other colleagues

Zhang Zhi-Wei attaching AP-8 to one of the Zeiss 60 cm telescopes ( ) Lee Hsu-Tai watching observer of the 1.5 m 1 m to be ready by summer 2004; NCU will have > 1/3 time Good for monitoring and global campaigns

 2003 Jun - agreement among NCU, ITPA,Yunnan Obs, and UBAI on the renovation and science  2003 Aug - ZW Zhang observed at Maidanak; computer equipment to Uzbekistan  2003 Sep - WP Chen attended conference in Vilnius for 250 th anniversary of University Observatory  2003 Nov - Taiwan-Baltic Workshop on “Dynamical and Chemical Evolution of Star Clusters”; meeting everyone in person

A four-party agreement has been signed in 2003, that NCU (Taiwan) and ITPA (Lithuania) shall pool resources together to contract Yunnan Obs. (China) to renovate the 1-m of UBAI in Uzbekistan The Taiwan-Baltic Open Cluster Project Taiwan, Lithuania and Latvia

TAOS C SLT(0.4m) TAOS A LOT(1M) NCKU ELF LELIS TAOS D EPA LABS TAOS B T2M

2010/03  PS1 will find many peculiar objects/phenomena, and Lulin will follow them up in the first opportunity  Secure the discoveries  Equipped with niche instruments, the Lulin 2 m will be very competitive scientifically  Telescope already in Taiwan  But the site is not, currently clearing the environmental impact assessment … The Lulin 2 m Telescope

LOT Lulin in a world-wide campaign Lulin in sync with a space telescope One of the supernovae found by Lulin Discovery images of Comet Lulin Stellar occultation by an asteroid observed at Lulin

Global Relay Observations of Blazars

Tenagra Observatories Michael Schwartz  Tenagra II and III, Sonoran desert in southern Arizona, near Mt. Hopkins and KPNO  Elevation = 1312 m  Typical humidity 25%,  Moderate but stable seeing 2-3”  Many clear nights

Tenagra Observatories Michael Schwartz  Tenagra II 32” (0.81 m, f/7) (S. Arizona) $200/exposure hour  Tenagra III 16” (0.41 m, f/3.5) $150/exposure hour 4K x 4K x 9 microns 1.3” pixels, FOV=1.48 deg  Tenagra West Australia 14” (0.35 m f/9) $125/exposure hour All automated (queued) observations, with non- sidereal tracking and the GRB mode We are subscribing a half-season rate $55,000, i.e., for half of every clear night, from Sep 15, 2009 to June 30, 2010

SMARTS (Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System) Outgrowth from YALO Some 9 member institutes/organizations in the consortium 1.5 m for low-dispersion spectroscopy; 1.3 m (2MASS) for OIR imaging; 1 m and 0.9 m At CTIO, with good seeing 1” ~$1300 / user night; ~$1600 /service night We get ~10 nights per year. Vey useful southern sky coverage

Now something for this year …

Transit Timing Variation  another planet?

Exoplanet Transit Observed at Lulin

Searching for Young Exoplanets in Galactic Open Clusters No transiting exoplanets found so far around PMS stars If detected  radius and density of young planets would give constraints on  the planet formation mechanism, e.g. whether they form by accretion (i.e. large when young) or gravitational collapse (i.e. small when young)  the time-scale of planet formation from the stellar age  Monitoring young OCs (metal rich) nonstop (24/7) for exoplanets, and for stellar variability, e.g., pulsators, eclipsing, flare stars Young Exoplanet Transit Initiative (YETI)

So desperately in need of a site between Taiwan and Europe … Possibilities:  Yunnan m, site available, wet, but clear sky  Thailand m, site difficult, wet, clear sky?  Uzbekistan --- excellent astroclimate, new scopes?  India m Devasthal Observatory

Conclusion Maidanak and Samarqand telescopes should be included in the global network of telescopes for monitoring observations, as have been done. New scientific initiatives are being pursued with existing facilities. To work with Uzbek, Japanese, Korean colleagues to improve the conditions, in infrastructure and instrumentation New facilities may be established?