AAVSOnet
The AAVSO Robotic Telescope Network
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The AAVSO now maintains a network of remote, robotically controlled, and automatically queued telescopes for the use of its members. Five telescopes, all located in the southwestern United States, are currently active and taking data right now.
The telescopes are all automatically scheduled using ACP, with image acquisition and telescope control by Maxim-DL. Time on the telescopes is shared between AAVSO key projects (primarily surveys and field calibrations) and AAVSO member programs. Time on AAVSOnet telescopes is awarded on a nominally competitive basis, although the systems may be used by members for any reasonable purpose if time is available.
To request time on these telescopes, you must be a current member of the AAVSO in good standing, or have the approval of the AAVSO Time Allocation Committee. To submit a proposal to use these telescopes, please complete the Proposal Submission Form. For a list of previous observing runs, click here.
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SRO50 is a 50-cm, f/4 telescope located at the Sonoita Research Observatory near Sonoita, Arizona (UT-7)
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W28 (Wright-28) is a 28-cm Celestron C-11 located at the Astrokolkhoz telescope facility near Cloudcroft, New Mexico (UT-7). This telescope was donated to the AAVSO by the late Paul Wright.
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W30 (Wright-30) is a 30-cm Meade LX200 also located at the Astrokolkhoz telescope facility near Cloudcroft, New Mexico (UT-7). This telescope was donated to the AAVSO by the late Paul Wright.
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BSM, the AAVSO Bright Star Monitor is a 6-cm wide-field telescope located at the Astrokolkhoz telescope facility near Cloudcroft, New Mexico (UT-7). It is intended for photometry and monitoring of bright stars (V < 9.0).
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APASS, the AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey is made of two 20-cm telescopes co-mounted on the same platform, and capable of monitoring the same field in two filters simultaneously. It is located at the Dark Ridge Observatory near Weed, New Mexico (UT-7).
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Future Additions
The following telescopes will be added to AAVSOnet in the coming months. Stay tuned to be notified when they are online and operational!
Cohen/Menke Observatory
At the AAVSO HQ, a 12-inch LX200 telescope (Cohen30) will be installed. This telescope will have an ST8XME camera and filter wheel, with a pixel scale of 0.62arcsec/pix and a field of view of 15.7x10.5arcmin. Boston is not well known as a great observing site, so we expect less than 100 nights per year to be useable, and with the bright urban light dome, this facility will not go as faint as our other sites. The advantages of the Cohen30 will be as a testbed for new instrumentation, for circumpolar objects, and to provide observations during the Southwestern July/August monsoon (when weather is best in the Boston area).
Online Forum
We have an online forum where you can get more information, updates and ask questions about AAVSOnet.
Last Updated: April 14, 2011 - 8:46am
