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The Centurion 18 telescope of the Wise Observatory

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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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Wise Observatory and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Noah Brosch, Avi Shporer & Shai Kaspi

  2. The Wise Observatory and Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    David Polishook

  3. Tel Aviv, Israel

    Assaf Berwald

  4. Technoda Center for Education in Science and Technology, P.O. Box 1144, Givat Olga, Hadera, 38110, Israel

    Ilan Manulis

Authors
  1. Noah Brosch
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  2. David Polishook
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  3. Avi Shporer
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  4. Shai Kaspi
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  5. Assaf Berwald
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  6. Ilan Manulis
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Correspondence to Noah Brosch.

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Brosch, N., Polishook, D., Shporer, A. et al. The Centurion 18 telescope of the Wise Observatory. Astrophys Space Sci 314, 163–176 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-008-9752-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-008-9752-4

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