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Supported primarily by NSF, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) began building “PROMPT” and “Skynet” in 2004. PROMPT originally consisted of six 16-inch diameter fully automated, or robotic, optical telescopes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. Skynet is PROMPT’s control software, as well as sophisticated web-based, dynamic queue-scheduling software. Skynet has opened PROMPT to tens of thousands of users, and is capable of controlling scores of telescopes simultaneously, including most commercially available small-telescope hardware. In partnership with other institutions, Skynet has enabled us to grow PROMPT into a network of small, robotic telescopes. The Skynet Robotic Telescope Network now numbers 19 optical telescopes between 14 and 40 inches in diameter and spans Chile, Australia, the United States, Italy, and soon Canada. More recently, we have been funded by NSF, as well as by the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation and NASA, to expand Skynet’s geographic and wavelength footprints to include: (1) a new, 32-inch diameter robotic telescope at CTIO, with large-format optical, lucky optical, and near-infrared (NIR) imaging capabilities; (2) four new, 17-inch diameter robotic telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in Australia, enabling near-continuous, simultaneous multi-wavelength observing of southern-hemisphere targets, as well as live observing for education and public engagement (EPE) in the United States; and (3) a 20-meter diameter radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, including the development of a radio version of our Skynet software. Originally built to observe gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) – deaths of massive stars and births of black holes – simultaneously at multiple wavelengths when only tens of seconds old, PROMPT and its mission have both expanded significantly. PROMPT, and increasingly all of Skynet’s telescopes, now serve a rapidly growing, state, national, and international user community as a broad-based facility for small-telescope science. In addition to being used to study GRBs, PROMPT and the other Skynet telescopes, often in campaigns with other optical and radio telescopes around the world, and also with space telescopes, are being used to study blazars, supernovae (SNe), novae, pulsating white dwarfs, a wide variety of variable stars, eclipsing binaries, exoplanetary systems, trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs, asteroids, and near-Earth objects (NEOs). The largest of these efforts has been the CHilean Automated Supernova sEarch (CHASE). To date, Skynet has discovered 205 SNe, including at least 65 Type Ia SNe, which are used to measure Hubble’s constant and to calibrate cosmic acceleration. Skynet has also observed 76 GRBs within 15 – 70 seconds (90% range) of spacecraft notification, detecting 44 optical afterglows on this timescale. Skynet is also the leading tracker of NEOs in the southern hemisphere. Over the past nine years, but mostly over the past 4 – 5 years, Skynet observations have resulted in 56 journal articles, including three in Nature (2006, 2010, 2014) and one in Science (2014), with another approximately dozen submitted or in preparation across the network. Skynet data played the primary role in over half of these publications, and a key supporting role in most of the rest. This year, our publication rate doubled, to one journal article every 19 days, reflecting integration into Skynet of our new facilities. We expect this rate to increase further as we continue this process of integration over the next year. Additionally, we have published three conference proceedings, nearly 350 observing reports (CBET, GCN, ATel, IAUC, MPBu, MPC, MPEC), two doctoral dissertations, at least six masters theses, and at least five undergraduate honors theses. Furthermore, these publications have been of increasingly high impact, now resulting in over 1,200 citations, with nearly 1,000 of these in refereed publications. Nor do most of these citations stem from but a few publications: Skynet’s H index is currently 21 and increasing at a rate of ≈4/year. Again, we expect this rate to increase further as we continue to integrate our new facilities into Skynet, and as the effect of our increased publication rate is felt. We have achieved the impact that we have had so far by seeking out, or taking advantage of when sought out, high-impact partnerships, to make greatest use of time when no sufficiently bright GRB is observable, which is approximately 85% of the time. In most cases, this is done at no cost to the partner. In some cases, we have been able to garner private sponsorship of these partnerships, from the Robert Martin Ayers Science Fund. Finally, we have reached agreements with some of our larger partners to help offset site fees and routine maintenance costs, which, as of this year, we are now doing sustainably. When no sufficiently bright GRBs are observable, PROMPT is used by professional astronomers, students of all ages – graduate through elementary – and members of the general public across North Carolina, the United States, and the world for a wide array of research, research training, and EPE efforts. PROMPT Collaboration institutions include (1) UNC-CH, (2) 13 regional undergraduate institutions, including three minority-serving institutions (Appalachian State University, Elon University, Fayetteville State University, Guilford College, Guilford Technical Community College, Hampden-Sydney College, High Point University, NC A & T State University, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Pembroke, and Western Carolina University), (3) UNC-CH’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center (MPSC), and (4) other institutions that we have partnered with to produce additional high-impact, small-telescope science. PROMPT Collaboration access began on February 1, 2006, only a year and a half after receiving initial funding, and to date these four groups have used 12,801, 13,818, 7,969, and 29,586 hours of observing time, respectively. Skynet’s EPE efforts include: • 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「PROMPT Telescopes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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