Heterogeneous Telescope Networks

Notes from the 2nd HTN Workshop Meeting, July 2006

From TelescopeNets

First day and a half of the meeting was focused on interesting project talks from possible subscribers and authors of HTN operations. The talks were divided into topics ranging from operations to the science. Opening talks brought new particpants up to speed on relevant topics from the HTN-I workshop.


The main topic was an examination of possible prototype studies that could be performed by the HTN as an example of its capability. This study would be a one time operation as a proof of concept. No long term collaborations are implied by this prototype test.

Possible studies:
A. M-Dwarf flare stars
B. Brown dwarf,/M star rotation rates
C. PMS rotation rates in clusters
D. O.T. follow-ups
E. Satellite support observations (Chandra, Swift, GLAST)
F. AGN monitoring
G. Activity cycles in Am. Herc.
H. G.C. Microlensing
I. Supernovae follow-up
J. Luminous blue variable stars
K. Cepheids in dwarf galaxies
M. Astrosiesmology

A vote was then taken amongst all the participants as to their preferred study with the following outcome.
A. 7
B. 5
C. 15
D. 16
E. - pass for now in anticipation of GLAST launch
F. 6
G. 2
H. - determined to be too difficult for a prototype
I. 9
J. 1
K. - determined to be too difficult for a prototype
M. - some lack of support and direct competition, passed over

The HTN then took it upon itself to initiate necessary procedures to set up and then implement the two prototype studies.
1. Target of Opportunity Study – OT Follow-up. This will be done with RAPTOR initiating the alerts from its sky monitoring operations with its new 16 camera system. The HTN will be utilized as both an alert response mechanism via VOEvent (http://www.estar.org.uk/wiki/index.php/VOEvent) broadcast and as a dedicated observation request mechanism. The dedicated request systems will then help the RAPTOR team determine the classification of the target by using additional types of instrumentations (spectrographs, polarimeters, etc.). Once a greater confidence in the classification of the target is obtained then additional broadcast alerts and follow-up requests will be generated. The RAPTOR team does not guarantee that any alerts will even be generated during this period or that the alert will be of any particular class of object.

2. PMS rotation rates in clusters – This will be a monitoring study and has a greater assurance of being performed during the study period. Eric Saunders (University of Exeter) will initiate this study by providing optimized observation sequence requests to telescopes within the HTN. Some continuous monitoring of the target areas would also be requested in order to determine when flaring events are occurring. This may or may not then cause an adjustment of the sequenced schedule. Flare events would be distributed by broadcast VOEvents to the entire network.

For both of these studies it is realized that an application for observation time must be submitted to those telescope systems that are under TAC control. Those members of the HTN identified as requiring this would be : UKIRT, JCMT, and Liverpool. In addition the telescopes at LCOGT might be available at the time of the study ( FTN and FTS), but they would also need to be petitioned for time formally.

Robert White will put together the initial proposal for the OT follow-up study and Eric Saunders will prepare the proposal for the PMS study. Both proposals will then be passed among the participants for improvement and adjustment. Each of these proposal leads (RAPTOR team, and Eric Saunders and team) will serve as primary author on the fall out papers from the studies (should they happen in the case of the OT follow-up) with all participating members of the HTN serving as co-authors. These papers are to serve as an announcement to the general community of the availability and capability of the HTN and to be a formal invitation for participation.


Possible Participants:
UKIRT		4m	        IR Various instruments	R ~500-5000
LT		2m	        CCD, IR, Polarimetry	R ~500
LCOGT		2m (North)	CCD			R ~500
		2m	(South)	CCD			R ~500
Prompt		0.4mx6		CCD, IR?, Polarimetry?
Wendelstein	0.8m	        CCD
                0.4m		CCD
RAPTOR		0.4m		CCD                     R ~500
                0.4x4		CCD – RBVI
		0.5m		CCD
		200mmx16	CCD
		85mmx4x2	CCD
		400mmx4		CCD
Eudoxos		0.6m		CCD			R ~60
		1.5m		CCD			R ~60
KVA		0.6m		CCD, Polarimeter<br/>
STELLA		1.2mx2		CCD			R ~40,000
Monet		1.2m (North)	CCD
		1.2m (South)	CCD
JCMT		15m		200MHz Submillimeter
Future possible outside support:
ING 		2.5m
WHT		4.2m
Bonn		100m			
NRAO/VLA	various		various 		
NOAO		various		various
HET/SALT

Prototype will demonstrate:


Action items for everyone:

    Preparation of a RTML Phase 0 document
    A registry identification
    A VO Event / RTML Receiver software installed on system


Other available resources:


Some undecided issues:

    Certificates and security
    Sociological aspects beyond the prototype demonstration
    Additional RTML elements
      <VOEventReference/>
      <RejectionCriteria/>
      <RespondTo/>
      <DigitalSignature/>
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