Global Small-Telescope Network including Maidanak Observatory

Wen-Ping ChenNational Central University

Taiwan2010 June 21

Earth at Night

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

Lulin Observatory TaiwanE120o52’; N23o28’

Maidanak Observatory UzbekistanE66o56’; N38o41’

Yunnan ObservatoryChinaE102o47’; N25o02’

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 (2002.08)

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 250th 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 DEPA 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

www.tenagraobservatories.com/

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 --- 2.4 m, site available, wet, but clear skyThailand --- 2.4 m, site difficult, wet, clear sky?Uzbekistan --- excellent astroclimate, new scopes? India --- 3.6 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?