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arXiv · 0802.0821

The Centurion 18 telescope of the Wise Observatory

Noah Brosch·David Polishook·Avi Shporer·Shai Kaspi·Assaf Berwald·Ilan Manulis
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Abstract

We describe the second telescope of the Wise Observatory, a 0.46-m Centurion 18 (C18) installed in 2005, which enhances significantly the observing possibilities. The telescope operates from a small dome and is equipped with a large-format CCD camera. In the last two years this telescope was intensively used in a variety of monitoring projects. The operation of the C18 is now automatic, requiring only start-up at the beginning of a night and close-down at dawn. The observations are mostly performed remotely from the Tel Aviv campus or even from the observer's home. The entire facility was erected for a component cost of about 70k$ and a labor investment of a total of one man-year. We describe three types of projects undertaken with this new facility: the measurement of asteroid light variability with the purpose of determining physical parameters and binarity, the following-up of transiting extrasolar planets, and the study of AGN variability. The successful implementation of the C18 demonstrates the viability of small telescopes in an age of huge light-collectors, provided the operation of such facilities is very efficient.

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Noah Brosch, David Polishook, Avi Shporer, Shai Kaspi, Assaf Berwald, Ilan Manulis. 2008-02-06. The Centurion 18 telescope of the Wise Observatory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-008-9752-4

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