Vieques Observatory&

The Skynet Robotic Telescope

Network

User requests observation using a web browser and Internet connection

Observation is automatically scheduled by Skynet computer at UNC-Chapel Hill

At the scheduled time, Skynet sends instructions to remote observatory to begin observing

Robotic telescope points to selected object, takes picture, and sends it back to Skynet

User downloads picture from Skynet via the Internet to view and analyze

Current Skynet TelescopesTelescopes to be Added in Coming Year

Skynet Robotic Telescope Network Effective Diameter = 1.3 meters

The Telescope

• RCOS 16”• Paramount ME• Apogee Alta Camera• ACE Filter wheel• Hurricane-Resistant

Enclosure & Dome

PROMPTUNC - CTIO, Chile

PROMPTUNC - CTIO, Chile

PROMPTUNC - CTIO, Chile

Gamma Ray Bursts

A Very Massive Rotating Star Collapses intoa Black Hole and Explodes into a Narrow Jet

GRBs are the MOST POWERFUL EXPLOSIONS SINCE THE BIG BANG!

Gamma Ray Bursts

A Pair of Neutron StarsMerge and Detonate in a Thermonuclear Explosion

GRBs are the MOST POWERFUL EXPLOSIONS SINCE THE BIG BANG!

GRB 080319B (“Naked-eye GRB”)

32 seconds after burst

7 Billion Light Years Away...Halfway Across the Known Universe

Bright Enough to See Without a Telescope!

The Most Luminous Event Ever Observed...30,000,000,000,000,000,000(30 Billion Billion) Times the Luminosity of the Sun, or as Bright as 100 Million Galaxies!

Very Easy to Make Scientific Observations with a Small Telescope

GRB 080319B (“Naked-eye GRB”)

84 seconds after burst

GRB 080319B (“Naked-eye GRB”)

230 seconds after burst

GRB 080319B (“Naked-eye GRB”)

6.2 minutes after burst

GRB 080319B (“Naked-eye GRB”)

33 minutes after burst

Asteroid 2009 DD45 – Seen Here in a PROMPT Image Taken Only 3 Days After its Discovery. This Asteroid Passed within 75,000 km of Earth (5 Times Closer than the Moon)

Small, Flexible Robotic Telescopes are Ideal for MonitoringNear-Earth Asteroids...Could Save the Earth One Day!

50 Meters Wide...Impact would be Equivalent to 20 Megatons of TNT, or1,000 Hiroshima Atomic Bombs. And This Was a Small One!

CHilean Automatic Supernova sEarch(CHASE)

SN 2009ao in NGC 2939, discovered by CHASE in early March, 2009, using PROMPT-5.

43 supernovae discovered since March 2007 Robotic Telescopes Ideal for Monitoring Many Galaxies Every Night Supernovae Can Tell Us How Fast the Universe is Accelerating, And What its Ultimate Fate Will Be...

Spiral Galaxy NGC 26136 hr exposure

We Also Take Pretty Pictures...

Emission Nebulae NGC 2014/2020 1.5 hr exposure

Thackery Globules in Emission Nebula IC 2944 7.5 hr exposure

Skynet Educational Interface