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Vieques Observatory
&
The Skynet Robotic Telescope
Network
At the scheduled
Observation is
time, Skynet sends
automatically
instructions to
scheduled by
remote observatory
Skynet computer at
to begin observing
UNC-Chapel Hill
Robotic telescope
points to selected
object, takes
picture, and sends it
back to Skynet
User
Userrequests
downloads
observation
picture from
using
Skynet
a
web
via browser
the Internet
andto
Internet
view and
connection
analyze
Skynet Robotic
Telescope Network
Effective Diameter = 1.3 meters
Current Skynet Telescopes
Telescopes to be Added in Coming Year
The Telescope
•
•
•
•
•
RCOS 16”
Paramount ME
Apogee Alta Camera
ACE Filter wheel
Hurricane-Resistant
Enclosure & Dome
PROMPT
UNC - CTIO, Chile
PROMPT
UNC - CTIO, Chile
PROMPT
UNC - CTIO, Chile
Gamma Ray Bursts
GRBs are the MOST POWERFUL EXPLOSIONS SINCE THE BIG BANG!
A Very Massive Rotating Star Collapses into
a Black Hole and Explodes into a Narrow Jet
Gamma Ray Bursts
GRBs are the MOST POWERFUL EXPLOSIONS SINCE THE BIG BANG!
A Pair of Neutron Stars
Merge and Detonate in a Thermonuclear Explosion
GRB 080319B (“Naked-eye GRB”)
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
32 seconds after burst
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)
50 Meters Wide...Impact would be
Equivalent to 20 Megatons of TNT, or
1,000 Hiroshima Atomic Bombs.
And This Was a Small One!
Small, Flexible Robotic Telescopes are Ideal for Monitoring
Near-Earth Asteroids...Could Save the Earth One Day!
CHilean Automatic Supernova sEarch
(CHASE)
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...

SN 2009ao in NGC 2939, discovered by CHASE in early March, 2009, using
PROMPT-5.
We Also Take Pretty Pictures...
Spiral Galaxy NGC 2613
6 hr exposure
Emission Nebulae NGC 2014/2020
1.5 hr exposure
Thackery Globules in Emission Nebula IC 2944
7.5 hr exposure
Skynet Educational Interface