Announcements
| Prompt maintenance trip | Posted on Oct 14, 2009 by Kevin Ivarsen |
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| We will be visiting Prompt for our annual maintenance trip from Oct 15 through Oct 25. During this time we may take telescopes offline temporarily while we perform tests and maintenance tasks. Prompt 2 will likely be offline for most of the trip. We will try not to take more than one additional scope offline at any given time. We will try to post updates at least a day in advance if we know that a scope will be offline, but given our limited timeframe and the unpredictable nature of this work we may not always be able to give advance notice. Please let us know if you have a time-critical observation that requires a particular telescope to be online on a given night. | |
| Ghosting issues | Posted on Sep 28, 2009 by Cluze |
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| Some of you may have noticed that we have experienced some ghosting issues in the past. This problem occurs when a very bright object is observed and a residual "ghost" image appears in subsequent observations. This ghost image fades with time and after about 20 minutes effectively disappears. While this is normally not much of an issue, we have students here at UNC using the PROMPT telescopes for observations of Jupiter for the next two weeks for a lab course. As such, we expect that this may impact some of you. Please have a careful look at your images taken over the next two weeks. If there is significant ghosting that impacts your images, please re-submit your observations. We appreciate your patience while this lab course is going on. | |
| Prompt 4 shutter replaced | Posted on Aug 26, 2009 by Kevin Ivarsen |
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| The camera shutter on Prompt 4 was replaced yesterday morning, and the system now seems to be working much better. If you see any images that appear to indicate a shutter problem, please contact [skynetweb (at) physics.unc.edu] | |
About
SKYNET is a distributed network of robotic telescopes controlled by a central server operated by students and faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In January 2006, the first six telescopes (PROMPT) officially began operation. Two more telescopes (TTT and GORT) joined during the first year, and many more are scheduled to come online in the year to come!
Science
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions the Universe has seen since the Big Bang. They occur approximately once per day and are brief, but intense, flashes of gamma radiation. They come from all different directions of the sky and last from a few milliseconds to a few hundred seconds. The primary mission of the robotic array is to obtain early time data of these transient phenomena in multiple bands.
While the array is not imaging GRB afterflows, individual telescopes perform scheduled observations of targets of scientifc interest for researchers around the globe. Observers can track their observations through the automated system and ultimately retrieve their data directly from the world wide web.
Outreach
A large fraction of PROMPT's observing time is dedicated to outreach. High schools and universities across the state of North Carolina use SKYNET to teach a unit on astronomy.