PIRATE

PIRATE

The piCETL Robotic Astronomical Telescope Explorer

Ulrich Kolb, Rob Lucas, Vadim Burwitz

PIRATE site

• Observatori Astronomic de Mallorca (OAM)• host observatory of SXR208

Longitude E   2° 57' 06''Latitude    N 39° 38' 38''Altitude     203 m

Main telescope Celestron 14 14 inch (35.6 cm) aperture focal length 3910 mm

SBIG camera STL1001E 1024 x 1024 pixels @ 24µm 22 arc min field of view 8 position filter wheel

Guiderscope Celestronaperture 80mm focal length 600mm SBIG camera ST402 ME 765 x 510 pixels @ 9µm 40 arcmin field of view

Mount Paramount ME (German equatorial mount)

The teaching context

• 3rd level: S382 Astrophysics, module 2– One of a choice of 2 projects– Groups of 4-6 use PIRATE in direct mode– Selection, monitoring and classification of unclassified variable

stars in the WASP archive

• 2nd level: S282, tutor-led practical activity in direct mode

• Traditional university context (Leicester):– Lab course – Project tool

lightcurve of the magnetic cataclysmic variable HU Aqr(30 sec exposures, 172 frames, clear filter)

2.0868 h orbital period, 14.6-16.1 mag maximum brightness

22 23 24

hours since 2008-08-02 0h UT (JD 2454680.5)

3.10

1.55

0

0.775

rela

tive

mag

nitu

de

1 m

ag

A WASP-detected transiting exoplanet (unpublished)data taken by Stefan Holmes

The teaching context

Outreach: demonstrate physics of the Universe

1st level: demonstration tool for “Online astronomy” sessions

all-sky camera view: good night (but full moon)

all-sky camera: bad night(and moon!)

PIRATE – a 14 inch telescope