Alberto J. Castro-Tirado

Robotic Astronomy

We present a status report on the study of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the era
of rapid followup using the world's largest robotic optical telescopes—the 2 m Liverpool
and Faulkes telescopes. Within the context of key unsolved issues in GRB
physics, we describe (1) our innovative software that allows real-time automatic
analysis and interpretation of GRB light curves, (2) the novel instrumentation that
allows unique types of observations (in particular, early time polarisation measurements),
and (3) the key science questions and discoveries to which robotic observations
are ideally suited, concluding with a summary of current understanding of GRB
physics provided by combining rapid optical observations with simultaneous observations
at other wavelengths.

C. G. Mundell

C. Guidorzi

I. A. Steele

Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Era of Rapid Followup

Construction of robotic observatories has developed into an important and thriving field of astronomy. Their large field of view combined with the capability to be pointed at any direction makes robotic astronomical systems indispensable for tasks involving searches for transients like GRB, supernovae explosions, novae, and so forth, where both the time and direction of the search are impossible to predict. This paper describes prompt GRB observations made with MASTER-VWF wide-field cameras and the methods of image analysis and classification of transients used for real-time data processing. During seven months of operation six synchronous observations of gamma-ray bursts have been made using MASTER VWF facilities deployed in Kislovodsk and Irkutsk. In all cases high upper limits have been obtained.

Evgeny Gorbovskoy

Kirill Ivanov

Vladimir Lipunov

Victor Kornilov

Alexander Belinski

Nikolaj Shatskij

Dmitry Kuvshinov

Nataly Tyurina

Pavel Balanutsa

Vadim Chazov

Artem Kuznetsov

Petr Kortunov

Andrey Tlatov

Alexander Parkhomenko

Vadim Krushinsky

Ivan Zalozhnyh

Alexander Popov

Taisia Kopytova

Sergey Yazev

Alexander Krylov

Transient Detections and Other Real-Time Data Processing from MASTER-VWF Wide-Field Cameras

We presented the results of  last years GRB observations obtained on the MASTER robotic telescope, which is the only telescope of its kind in Russia. These results include 5 prompt observations of GRB in 2008 and 2009, follow-up observations of 15 other GRBs in 2008-2009, the  first observations in different polarization angles of optical emission from the gamma-ray bursts GRB091020, and observations in different polarization angles  for GRB091127 and GRB090820.

Peter Kortunov

Anatoly Sankovich

Vladimir Yurkov

MASTER Prompt and Follow-Up GRB Observations

Any project dealing with large astronomical datasets should consider the use of a relational database server (RDBS). Queries requiring quick selections on sky regions, objects cross-matching and other high-level data investigations involving sky coordinates could be unfeasible if tables are missing an effective indexing scheme. In this paper we present the Dynamic Index Facility (DIF) software package. By using the HTM and HEALPix sky pixelization schema, it allows a very efficient indexing and management of spherical data stored into MySQL tables. Any table hosting spherical coordinates can be automatically managed by DIF using any number of sky resolutions at the same time. DIF comprises a set of facilities among which SQL callable functions to perform queries on circular and rectangular regions. Moreover, by removing the limitations and difficulties of 2-d data indexing, DIF allows the full exploitation of the RDBS capabilities. Performance tests on Giga-entries tables are reported together with some practical usage of the package.

Luciano Nicastro

Giorgio Calderone

Multiple Depth DB Tables Indexing on the Sphere

This paper presents a historical introduction to the field of Robotic Astronomy, from the point of view of a scientist working in this field for more than a decade. The author discusses the basic definitions, the differing telescope control operating systems, observatory managers, as well as a few current scientific applications.

Alberto Javier Castro-Tirado

Robotic Autonomous Observatories: A Historical Perspective

The Rapid Eye Mount (REM) is a 60&#x2009;cm robotic telescope located at La Silla, Chile. Its Observing Software (REMOS) is constituted by a set of distributed intercommunicating processes organized around a central manager.
Together they grant the system safety, automatically schedule and perform observations with two simultaneous cameras of user-defined targets, and drive fast reaction to satellite alerts. Subsequent data reduction is left to pipelines managed by each camera.

Mauro Stefanon

Stefano Covino

Dino Fugazza

Emilio Molinari

Francesco D'Alessio

Giuseppe Malaspina

Vincenzo Testa

Gino Tosti

Fabrizio Vitali

The REM Observing Software

Four years of BOOTES-1B GRB follow-up history are summarised for the first time in the form of a table. The successfully followed events are described case by case. Further, the data are used to show the GRB trigger rate in Spain on a per-year basis, resulting in an estimate of 18 triggers and about 51 hours of telescope time per year for real-time triggers. These numbers grow to about 22 triggers and 77 hours per year if we include also the GRBs observable within 2 hours after the trigger.

Martin Jel&#xed;nek

Antonio de Ugarte Postigo

Petr Kub&#xe1;nek

Sergey Guziy

Javier Gorosabel

Ronan Cunniffe

Stanislav V&#xed;tek

Ren&#xe9; Hudec

Victor Reglero

Lola Sabau-Graziati

Four Years of Real-Time GRB Followup by BOOTES-1B (2005&#x2013;2008)

RTS2 is an open source observatory manager. It was written from scratch in the C++ language, with portability and modularity in mind. Its driving requirements originated from quick follow-ups of Gamma Ray Bursts. After some years of development it is now used to carry tasks it was originally not intended to carry. This article presents the current development status of the RTS2 code. It focuses on describing strategies which worked as well as things which failed to deliver expected results.

Petr Kub&#225;nek

RTS2&#x02014;The Remote Telescope System

Recent and forthcoming advances in instrumentation, and giant new surveys, are creating astronomical data sets that are not amenable to the methods of analysis familiar to astronomers. Traditional methods are often inadequate not merely because of the size in bytes of the data sets, but also because of the complexity of modern data sets. Mathematical limitations of familiar algorithms and techniques in dealing with such data sets create a critical need for new paradigms for the representation, analysis and scientific visualization (as opposed to illustrative visualization) of heterogeneous, multiresolution data across application domains. Some of the problems presented by the new data sets have been addressed by other disciplines such as applied mathematics, statistics and machine learning and have been utilized by other sciences such as space-based geosciences. Unfortunately, valuable results pertaining to these problems are mostly to be found in publications outside of astronomy. Here we offer brief overviews of a number of concepts, techniques and developments that are vital to the analysis and visualization of complex datasets and images. One of the goals of this paper is to help bridge the gap between applied mathematics and artificial intelligence on the one side and astronomy on the other.

Meyer Z. Pesenson

Isaac Z. Pesenson

Bruce McCollum

The Data Big Bang and the Expanding Digital Universe: High-Dimensional, Complex and Massive Data Sets in an Inflationary Epoch

About this journal

Advances in Astronomy publishes in all areas of astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, and accepts observational and theoretical investigations into celestial objects and the wider universe.

Journal profile

Meet the editorial board

Chief Editor, Professor Trigo-Rodríguez (ICE, IEEC-CSIC), has a background in the formation of primitive solar system minor bodies, the study of their fragments in space and the analysis of their surviving rocks that arrived on the Earth.

Editor spotlight

Submit to Special Issue

We currently have a number of Special Issues open for submission. Special Issues highlight emerging areas of research within a field, or provide a venue for a deeper investigation into an existing research area.

Special Issues

Author guidelines

Editorial board

Databases and indexing

title

Advances in Astronomy publishes in all areas of astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, and accepts observational and theoretical investigations into celestial objects and the wider universe.

description

https://images.hindawi.com/journals/aa/aa.banner.jpg

twitter:card

twitter:description

twitter:site

twitter:title

twitter:url

twitter:image

Advances in Astronomy | Hindawi

Advances in Astronomy

This Issue is now open for submissions.
Papers are published upon acceptance, regardless of the Special Issue publication date.

Advances in Astronomy

Robotic Astronomy

Robotic Astronomy

Articles