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Long-term Monitoring with Small and Medium-sized Telescopes on the Ground and in Space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2012

P. A. Charles ,
M. M. Kotze  and
A. Rajoelimanana
P. A. Charles
Affiliation:
School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK email: [email protected] South African Astronomical Observatory, Observatory 7935, South Africa Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
M. M. Kotze
Affiliation:
South African Astronomical Observatory, Observatory 7935, South Africa Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
A. Rajoelimanana
Affiliation:
South African Astronomical Observatory, Observatory 7935, South Africa Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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Abstract

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The last 20 years have seen revolutionary developments of large-scale synoptic surveys of the sky, both from the ground (e.g., the MACHO and OGLE projects, which were targetted at micro-lensing studies) and in space (e.g., the X-ray All-Sky Monitor onboard RXTE). These utilised small and medium-sized telescopes to search for transient-like events, but they have now built up a huge database of long-term light-curves, thereby enabling archival research on a wide range of objects that has not been possible hitherto. This is illustrated with examples of long time-scale optical and X-ray variability studies from the field of X-ray binary research: the high-mass BeX binaries in the SMC (using MACHO and OGLE), and the bright galactic-bulge X-ray sources (mostly LMXBs, using RXTE/ASM). As such facilities develop greater capabilities in future and at other wavelengths (developments in South Africa will be described), real-time data processing will allow much more rapid follow-up studies with the new generation of queue-scheduled large telescopes such as SALT.

Keywords

telescopesastronomical data bases: miscellaneousX-rays: binariesaccretionaccretion disks
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 7 , Symposium S285: New Horizons in Time-Domain Astronomy , September 2011 , pp. 23 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2012

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