Real Time Observing with the Faulkes Telescope-North James Bedient Faulkes Telescope Workshop Maui Community College February 26, 2005

Faulkes Telescope-North 2-m Ritchey-Chretien telescope Haleakala, Maui, Hawai’i Robotic, remotely operated Largest telescope for educational use

Real Time Observing Teachers/students log in via web browser Directly control telescope Control pointing, camera Control exposures and filters Decide when an observation is complete Slew to next object

Introduction to the Interface Web address: You must obtain a user name/password from Bill Giebink,

Status Page Telescope Open/Closed Notes from Bill Weather information Other sources of summit conditions are on the Mees site: and include the Crater Cam and weather conditions

Sky Map Page 180 degree view of current sky Select Guided Tour Search/Browse or Enter RA/Dec I will show the RA/Dec mode

Enter RA/Dec Right Ascension (RA) and Declination (Dec) are entered separately RA must be in the form 08:34:45 – note use of colons to separate h:m:s Dec in the form (-)21:34:22 – note no plus for positive, minus only if south of celestial equator, colons separating d:m:s

Create a text file when planning your session

Narrow-view map page Shows camera field of view (FOV) on sky map Verify no bright stars in the field! Shows Altitude and Azimuth of field, distance from moon When you’re ready, click on “Move Now” Watch it move on the webcam!

Camera Control Page Select filters: u’, B, V, r’, i’, other specialized filters Enter exposure time Click on “Make Observation” to go!

Exposure Progress Page Shows position, exposure, filters, download time (45 sec) Progress bar gives a relative indication of time remaining There’s also a cancel button in case of an error

Result Page jpg thumbnail of your image Evaluate pointing, tracking, exposure, signal/noise of image Select re-expose or new object

Image Page When session is complete, or anytime you log in, you can visit your list of images Thumbnails, object name if known, date, time Thumbnails are clickable

Image Pop-up Click on a thumbnail to get a pop-up that will allow you to download the full-sized images Will also allow some limited trimming of jpg images

Get FITS Images In IE, right-click the FITS Data File link, and select “Save Target as…” In Firefox, right-click the FITS Data File link, and select “Save Link as…” Save the file to your local hard-drive. Files may be downloaded multiple times

Contacts and Web Sites Jim Bedient – Mary Ann Kadooka – Bill Giebink – FTN website – Mees Observatory – Concam –