Build in 1998 by CNRS. Fully robotized.D=25 cm f=85 cm, CCD Andor 2x2kField = 1.9x1.9°, sampling 3.3 arcsec/pix
About 12 GRBs/yearVariable starsMinor planetsFollow up of ToO
The TAROT observatory presented by Alain KLOTZ –
Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements Toulouse& Observatory of Haute-Provence
Data acquisition and telescope control: softwares and past experience
Basic idea : I do other things during nights instead pushing buttons !
1st consequence : There is a huge amount of data to process and now I spend nights to push buttons to reduce data !
2nd consequence : I spend a lot of daytime to select many targets. Now, I am occupied nights (by processing) & days (for selections) !
Evoluted idea : The robotic observatory MUST include the SCHEDULE and the data REDUCTION => a robotic observatory is not only a computed controled telescope but there is also a lot of software work!
SOME RULES FOR ROBOTIC OBSERVATORIES
Environnement : housekeeping , permanent internet, electric power
Requests
PlanningPlanningDrivingDrivingProcessingProcessing
HardwareHardware
Data
The TAROT observatory – A GLOBAL VIEW
Electricity1 power inverter (onduleur)drived switches (disjoncteurs)Flat-field lamp
Motors5 motors + encoders + protocol(roof, , filters, focus)
MechanicsRolling roofRobust forkCogwheels (roue, vis sans fin)Filter wheel (BVRI C)Meteo station (rain, humidity, wind)Flat-field screen
Computers3 PCs (OS Win32)Webcam
The TAROT observatory - HARDWARE
For each PCVNC, FileZillaServer (FTP), Apache (HTTP), AudeLA
AudeLA (A.U.D.E Logicel d'Astronomie)A free GNU public software : http://audela.ccdaude.comC/C++ ANSI for basic functions (image processing, celestial mechanics)called by Tcl/Tk scripts for nice batchs
Robotic application for AudeLAA Tcl/Tk event loop that calls C/C++ functions
CGI to process web formulars (to acces to requests & processed data)
The TAROT observatory - SOFTWARE
input (e.g. a raw image)
output (e.g. processed image)
USERSUser account, Priority (0 to 100), Quota (0% to 100%)Must publish or teaching.Fit TAROT Tcl/Tk scripts for each user programSend their program using a customized TAROT web interface
REQUESTS & SCENESConversion of the user program into a common description :An observation REQUEST is composed by a series of SCENESA SCENE is the basic observation block :
a slew to coordinates1 to 6 exposures (time + filter)constraints (range of dates, minimum elevation, moon)
SCHEDULESelection : sorts scenes by priority and by date of set.Insertion : each sorted scene is included if the user quota is not over~95% of the night is occupied and every user is satisfied
The TAROT observatory - PLANNING
THE MAIN LOOPChecks that every hardware module is alive and readyAsk to the planning the next scene to observeConvert scene parameters
Pointing model (telescope flexures, etc.)Convertion of angles to motors unitsetc...
Send converted scene parameters to each hardware component
SECURITYAn independant software checks that everything is alive
The TAROT observatory - DRIVING
COMMON PROCESSINGDark and flat correctionsSpecial filter in the case of trailed images (GRBs, occultations, satellites)Sextractor listUSNO-A2 listMatch the lists to compute WCS keywords for astrometryComplete header informations (FWHM, number of matched stars, etc.)Archive of FITS image and the corresponding Sextrator list
SPECIAL PROCESSINGReduce data from image to a form directly usable for the user
e.g. (julian day, magnitude) for the RRLyr programe.g. the image of star trail for a star occultation by an asteroide.g. Web pages to help to analyze quickly a GRB event
The TAROT observatory - PROCESSING
SCHEDULER SEQUENCER
SUPERVISION OF THE OBSERVATORY STATES
SECURITY
GRB ALERTS
MOTORS, METEO, CAPTORS, POWER SUPPLY
MOTORS, METEO, CAPTORS, POWER SUPPLY, CAMERA
REQUESTS
STANDARD IMAGES PROCESSING
SPECIALIZED DATA PROCESSING
PROCESSED IMAGES
PROCESSED DATA
GLOBAL VIEW OF THE TELESCOPE CONTROL
element visible by users (WEB) software hardwareLégend :
Data
Bases
of
TAROT
USERS
The TAROT observatory – STATISTICS: 50 000 images / years
Efficiency : 90% of time ready to observe
The TAROT observatory – SKY COVERAGE
The TAROT observatory – SOME RESULTS
GRB 050730z=4
SupernovaNGC 6946
occultation of star by Wallia
ASTRA
The TAROT observatory – A SECOND OBSERVATORY IN CHILE
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