Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle

Antipodal Transient Observatory

IIA and McDonell Center for the Space Sciences of Washington University, St. Louis, USA, will operate two 0.5-m f/10 Cassegrain telescopes for monitoring Active Galactic Nuclei. One of these telescopes is located at IAO and the other in Arizona, USA. The two telescopes, 180 deg apart in longitude, would together constitute the Antipodal Transient Observatory.

The telescopes are equipped with an optical CCD imager and will be made available in both robotic and remote observing modes. 70% of the telescope time will be used for continuous photometric monitoring of AGN, while the remaining time will be used for photometry of targest of opportunity and other programmes of interest.

  • Specifications:
  • TELESCOPE

    Aperture

    0.5 metres

    Optics

    Ritchey-Chretien

    Mount

    Equatorial

    F-ratio

    f/3 primary; f/10 cassegrain

    Image scale

    41 arcsec/mm

    FOV

    7 arcmin; 60arcmin with corrector

    OPTICAL IMAGER

    Detector

    1K X 1K CCD of 24 micron pixel

    Image scale

    0.98 arcsec/pixel

    FOV

    17 X 17 arcmin

    Filters

    Bessell UBVRI

Last updated on: February 20, 2024