Tenerife Telescope Hardware
Telescope.org is the home of the OpenScience Observatories. The Autonomous Robotic Telescope (ART, the former Bradford Robotic Telescope) was decommissioned in 2017, and two new fully autonomous robotic facilities, PIRATE and COAST, have taken its place.
The Open University has installed PIRATE and COAST at the Observatorio del Teide as part of its OpenSTEM Labs initiative that provides remote-access experiments to distance teaching students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects. COAST will also become available for anyone to use, by subscription via telescope.org, much as was the case for ART.
Construction began in Spring 2016 with the preparation of concrete foundations and utility supply, while the installation of the clam-shell 4.5m and 3.5m Baader Planetarium All-Sky domes and their astronomical hardware was completed in August 2016. The formal inauguration on 6 July 2017 marks the end of the commissioning phase. In July 2021 a major upgrade replaced the optical assemblies of both telescopes further improving the quality of the images returned.
PIRATE
PIRATE (Physics Innovations Robotic Astronomical Telescope Explorer) has moved from its former home at the Observatori Astronomic de Mallorca and is continuing its photometric monitoring programme of variable stars, transients and transiting exoplanets. The 24 inch f/6.5 Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph telescope (a PlaneWave CDK24) is equipped with an FLI ProLine KAF-16803 CCD camera and a choice of broadband and narrow-band filters. The mount is a 10Micron GM4000 robotic German equatorial model.
COAST
COAST (COmpletely Autonomous Survey Telescope) consists of a 17 inch f/6.8 Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph telescope (a PlaneWave CDK17), equipped with an FLI ProLine KAF-0900 CCD camera, broadband and narrow-band filters, also mounted on a GM4000.
The control software, Abot by Sybilla Technologies, supports fully autonomous operations in queue-scheduled mode as well as remote-controlled real-time use for both facilities.
Specifications
| PIRATE Mark IV | COAST Mark III | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | W 16° 30' 36.7", N 28° 17' 57.3" | W 16° 30' 36.6", 28° N 17' 56.6" |
| Dome | Baader Planetarium All-Sky 4.5m | Baader Planetarium All-Sky 3.5m |
| Mount | 10Micron GM4000 | 10Micron GM4000 |
| OTA | CDK24 corrected Dall-Kirkham | CDK17 corrected Dall-Kirkham |
| Aperture | 24 inch (60 cm) | 17 inch (42 cm) |
| Focal length | 3974 mm (f/6.5) | 2939 mm (f/6.8) |
| Camera | FLI ProLine KAF-16803 | FLI ProLine KAF-09000 |
| CCD | KAF-16803, 4096x4096 | KAF-09000, 3056x3056 |
| Pixel size | 9 microns | 12 microns |
| Filters | Clear, Johnson U B V R I, Baader Halpha, OIII and SII | Clear, Johnson BVR, Halpha, OIII and SII |
| Field of view | 32 arcmin | 43 arcmin |
| Plate scale | 0.47 arcsec/px | 0.84 arcsec/px |
