Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:39:53.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Zadko Telescope: A Southern Hemisphere Telescope for Optical Transient Searches, Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

D. M. Coward ,
M. Todd ,
T. P. Vaalsta ,
M. Laas-Bourez ,
A. Klotz ,
A. Imerito ,
L. Yan ,
P. Luckas ,
A. B. Fletcher  and
M. G. Zadnik
...Show all authors
D. M. Coward*
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
M. Todd
Affiliation:
Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Bldg 301, Curtin University of Technology, Kent St, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
T. P. Vaalsta
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
M. Laas-Bourez
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Observatoire de Haute-Provence, F–04870 Saint Michel l'Observatoire, France
A. Klotz
Affiliation:
CESR, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, BP 44346, F–31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France Observatoire de Haute-Provence, F–04870 Saint Michel l'Observatoire, France
A. Imerito
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
L. Yan
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
P. Luckas
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
A. B. Fletcher
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
M. G. Zadnik
Affiliation:
Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Bldg 301, Curtin University of Technology, Kent St, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
R. R. Burman
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
D. G. Blair
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
J. Zadko
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
M. Boër
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Haute-Provence, F–04870 Saint Michel l'Observatoire, France
P. Thierry
Affiliation:
CESR, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, BP 44346, F–31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
E. J. Howell
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
S. Gordon
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
A. Ahmat
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
J. A. Moore
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
K. Frost
Affiliation:
School of Physics, M013, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
*
ECorresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The new 1 m f/4 fast-slew Zadko Telescope was installed in June 2008 about 70 km north of Perth, Western Australia. It is the only metre-class optical facility at this southern latitude between the east coast of Australia and South Africa, and can rapidly image optical transients at a longitude not monitored by other similar facilities. We report on first imaging tests of a pilot program of minor planet searches, and Target of Opportunity observations triggered by the Swift satellite. In 12 months, 6 gamma-ray burst afterglows were detected, with estimated magnitudes; two of them, GRB 090205 (z = 4.65) and GRB 090516 (z = 4.11), are among the most distant optical transients imaged by an Australian telescope. Many asteroids were observed in a systematic 3-month search. In September 2009, an automatic telescope control system was installed, which will be used to link the facility to a global robotic telescope network; future targets will include fast optical transients triggered by high-energy satellites, radio transient detections, and LIGO gravitational wave candidate events. We also outline the importance of the facility as a potential tool for education, training, and public outreach.

Keywords

instrumentation: miscellaneousgamma rays: burstsminor planets asteroidstelescopes
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , 2010 , pp. 331 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2010

References

Abadie, J. et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the VIRGO Collaboration), 2010, LSC Document LIGO-P0900125, e-print (arxiv:1003.2480v2 [astro-ph.HE])Google Scholar
Abbott, B. et al. , 2007, PhRvD, 76, 062003Google Scholar
Andor Technology PLC, 2007, iKon-L DW436-BV Technical Document (Belfast, N. Ireland: Andor Technology PLC)Google Scholar
Barbieri, C., 2007, Fundamentals of Astronomy (Boca Raton FL, USA: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis), 292Google Scholar
Bertin, E. & Arnouts, S., 1996, A&AS, 117, 393Google Scholar
Bourez-Laas, M., Vachier, F., Klotz, A., Damerdji, Y. & Boër, M., 2008, Proc. SPIE, 7019, 701918CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coward, D. M., Guetta, D., Burman, R. R. & Imerito, A., 2008, MNRAS, 386, 111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, D. B. et al. , 2005, Nature, 437, 845CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnston, S. et al. , 2008, ExA, 22, 151Google Scholar
Klotz, A., Boër, M., Eysseric, J., Damerdji, Y., Laas-Bourez, M., Pollas, C. & Vachier, F., 2008a, PASP, 120, 1298Google Scholar
Klotz, A., Vachier, F. & Boër, M., 2008b, AN, 329, 275Google Scholar
Klotz, A., Gendre, B., Atteia, J. L., Boër, M., Coward, D. M. & Imerito, A. C., 2009, ApJ, 697, L18CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLean, I. S., 2008, Electronic Imaging in Astronomy: Detectors and Instrumentation (2nd ed; Chichester, UK: Springer-Praxis Publ. Ltd.), 46Google Scholar
Saha, A., Dolphin, A. E., Thim, F. & Whitmore, B., 2005, PASP, 117, 37Google Scholar
Sathyaprakash, B. S. & Schutz, B. F., 2009, Living Reviews in Relativity, 12(2), 99–102 (arxiv:0903.0338v1 [gr-qc])Google Scholar
Zombeck, M. V., 1990, Handbook of Space Astronomy & Astrophysics (2nd ed; Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press), 100Google Scholar