Detailed Agenda

​

Saturday, February 21, Small Telescopes, Instruments, and Observatories

The first day of the conference will describe various small telescope perspectives, followed by
descriptions of the small telescopes and their accompanying instruments that are deployed at
observatories and robotic telescope arrays and global networks used to carry out the research.
1. 9:00 The STAR perspective There are a variety of somewhat conflicting and overlapping
small telescope astronomical research perspectives. One is the use of small telescopes by
undergraduate (and high school) students and amateur researchers versus the use of large
telescopes by professional astronomers and their graduate students. Another perspective
distinguishes the use of small telescopes for recreational viewing or astrophotography versus
their use for published scientific research. Yet another perspective distinguishes between the
mass production of identical, smaller, low-cost telescopes versus one-off, expensive, large
telescopes.
10:15 Break
2. 10:45 History of small telescopes Galileo indisputably launched small telescope research
in 1610. Newton devised the first reflecting telescope and Herschel soon put them to good use.
The 60- and 100-inch telescopes at Mt. Wilson Observatory, once the world's largest, are now
used by students and amateurs for their research, placing them within what might now be
considered the domain of small telescopes.
12:00 Lunch
3. 1:00 Current small telescopes & instruments Many small refractors, Schmidt-Cassegrain,
and reflecting telescopes are mass produced. PlaneWave Instruments has produced over 100
0.7-meter and a couple of dozen 1.0-meter research telescopes. Low-cost CCD DIY cameras
were pioneered by Richard Berry and first produced in quantity by Santa Barbara Instruments
Group (SBIG). Expensive electron-multiplying cameras have been replaced by cameras
incorporating low cost, mass-produced, Sony CMOS chips.
2:15 Break
4. 2:45 Robotic telescopes, arrays, and networks Microcomputers allowed telescopes and
observatories to be computerized. In the 1980’s, the Fairborn Observatory developed and
operated a mountaintop array of seven robotic, remotely accessible telescopes at a fully
automated and unmanned observatory. Now there are many such arrays (telescope “farms”)
such as those operated by iTelescope. Las Cumbres Observatory began the operation of its
pioneering global network of telescopes in 2014. Now there are several global networks of
smaller telescopes.

3

4:00 Free time
5:00 Social Hour and Banquet

Sunday February 22, Small Telescope Astronomical Research

The second day of the conference will concentrate on small telescope astronomical research
divided into the three major research areas of astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopy. The
conference will conclude by considering the future of small telescope astronomical research
with an emphasis on the potential for future mass-produced, low-cost, small space telescopes to
be accessible to student and amateur researchers.
5. 9:00 Astrometry of known and potential binaries Students and amateur astronomers are
using CCD cameras to observe wider binaries with the Los Cumbres Observatory’s global
network, and the 60- and 100-inch telescopes at Mt. Wilson Observatory with speckle
interferometry to observe closer binaries and discover new binaries in a Gaia follow-up program.
The Astronomy Research Seminars have produced over 100 student team papers, many
published in the Journal of Double Star Observations managed by the Institute for Student
Astronomical Research.
10:15 Break
6. 10:45 Photometry of variable stars & exoplanets Time series visual photometry of
variable stars has been conducted by students and amateur astronomers for over 100 years.
Now, most variable star as well as asteroid photometry is obtained with CCD or CMOS
cameras, much of it on robotic telescopes at “farms” or with global telescope networks. Small
telescopes have excelled at discovering new exoplanets via time-series photometry of
exoplanet transits. Follow-up timing of subsequent transits can infer additional exoplanets in
transiting systems.
12:00 Lunch
7. 1:00 Stellar spectroscopy Long considered the province of larger telescopes, due to its
dispersion of light, the high quantum efficiency of today’s electronic cameras allows smaller
telescopes to conduct useful spectroscopic research of brighter stars. A group of amateur
astronomers (but professional engineers) has developed a fully automated spectrograph for use
on smaller telescopes. Los Cumbres Observatory’s 1.0-meter telescopes now feature very high-
resolution spectrographs capable of measuring changes in stellar radial velocities induced by
orbiting exoplanets.
2:15 Break
8. 2:45 Future of small telescope research Continued development of low-cost computers
and sensors, as well as the mass production of ever-larger telescopes, bode well for the future
of small-telescope, ground-based scientific research. The era of reusable boosters and mass-
produced spacecraft will, it is hoped, eventually result in mass-produced, small space
telescopes accessible to undergraduate students and amateur astronomers for published
research projects.
4:00 Conference adjourns
Post-Conference Tour of Haleakala Telescopes

Monday, February 23

​

Haleakala Observatory insider’s tour, including visits to the 2.0-meter
Faulks Telescope North (part of the Las Cumbres Observatory’s global network), the Pan-
STARRS telescopes that survey the sky every clear night, and the Atlas wide field telescope.
The tour is being organized by Dr. James D. Amstrong, University of Hawaii’s Institute for
Astronomy, Maui. The tour will be followed in the evening by visual observing on telescopes
provided by the Maui Amateur Astronomy Association.