Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Robotic optical telescopes global network MASTER II. Equipment, structure, algorithms

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Experimental Astronomy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Presented paper describes the basic principles and features of the implementation of a robotic network of optical telescopes MASTER, designed to study the prompt (simultaneous with gamma radiation) optical emission of gamma-ray bursts and to perform the sky survey to detect unknown objects and transient phenomena. With joint efforts of Sternberg astronomical institute, High altitude astronomical station of the Pulkovo observatory, Ural state university, Irkutsk state university, Blagoveshchensk pedagogical university, the robotic telescopes MASTER II near Kislovodsk, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk and Blagoveshchensk were installed and tested. The network spread over the longitudes is greater than 6 h. A further expansion of the network is considered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://www.cyanogen.com/cloud_main.php

  2. http://www.alliedvisiontec.com/uploads/media/Prosilica_Camera_News_-_Issue_10_-_April_2009.pdf

  3. See http://curl.sai.msu.ru/mass/download/doc/sv_ug.pdf.

  4. http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/

References

  1. Paczyński, B.: Astronomy with small telescopes. PASP 118, 1621 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jelínek, M., Castro-Tirado, A.J., de Ugarte Postigo, A., Kubánek, P., Guziy, S., Gorosabel, J., Cunniffe, R., Vítek, S., Hudec, R., Reglero, V., Sabau-Graziati, L.: Four Years of Real-Time GRB Followup by BOOTES-1B (2005–2008). Advances in Astronomy 2010, article id. 432,172 (2010)

  3. Reichart, D., Nysewander, M., Moran, J., Bartelme, J., Bayliss, M., Foster, A., Clemens, J.C., Price, P., Evans, C., Salmonson, J., Trammell, S., Carney, B., Keohane, J., Gotwals, R.: PROMPT: Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes. Nuovo Cim. 28(4), 767 (2005)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Akerlof, C.W., Kehoe, R.L., McKay, T.A., Rykoff, E.S., Smith, D.A., Casperson, D.E., McGowan, K.E., Vestrand, W.T., Wozniak, P.R., Wren, J.A., Ashley, M.C.B., Phillips, M.A., Marshall, S.L., Epps, H.W., Schier, J.A.: The ROTSE-III robotic telescope system. PASP 115, 132 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Klotz, A., Vachier, F., Boër, M.: TAROT: Robotic observatories for gamma-ray bursts and other sources. Astron. Nachr. 329(3), 275 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lipunov, V.M., Kornilov, V.G., Krylov, A.V., Tyurina, N.V., Belinskii, A.A., Gorbovskoi, E.S., Kuvshinov, D.A., Gritsyk, P.A., Antipov, G.A., Borisov, G.V., Sankovich, A.V., Vladimirov, V.V., Vybornov, V.I., Kuznetsov, A.S.: Optical observations of gamma-ray bursts, the discovery of supernovae 2005bv, 2005ee, and 2006ak, and searches for transients using the “MASTER” robotic telescope. Astron. Rep. 51, 1004 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Lipunov, V.M., Kornilov, V.G., Gorbovskoy, E.S., Krylov, A.V., Tyurina, N.V., Kuvshinov, D.A., Belinski, A.A., Gritsyk, P.A., Sankovich, A.V., Vladimirov, V.V.: Discovery of an optical flare from GRB 060926 by the MASTER robotic telescope: Possible formation of a marginally rotating black hole. Astron. Lett. 34, 145 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lipunov, V., Kornilov, V., Gorbovskoy, E., Shatskij, N., Kuvshinov, D., Tyurina, N., Belinski, A., Krylov, A., Balanutsa, P., Chazov, V., Kuznetsov, A., Kortunov, P., Sankovich, A., Tlatov, A., Parkhomenko, A., Krushinsky, V., Zalozhnyh, I., Popov, A., Kopytova, T., Ivanov, K., Yazev, S., Yurkov, V.: Master robotic net. Advances in Astronomy 2010, article id. 349,171 (2010)

  9. Tyurina, N., Lipunov, V., Kornilov, V., Gorbovskoy, E., Shatskij, N., Kuvshinov, D., Balanutsa, P., Belinski, A., Krushinsky, V., Zalozhnyh, I., Tlatov, A., Parkhomenko, A., Ivanov, K., Yazev, S., Kortunov, P., Sankovich, A., Kuznetsov, A., Yurkov, V.: MASTER prompt and follow-up GRB observations. Advances in Astronomy 2010, article id. 763,629 (2010)

  10. Yost, S.A., Aharonian, F., Akerlof, C.W., Ashley, M.C.B., Barthelmy, S., Gehrels, N., Göğüş, E., Güver, T., Horns, D., Kızıloǧlu, Ü., Krimm, H.A., McKay, T.A., Özel, M., Phillips, A., Quimby, R.M., Rowell, G., Rujopakarn, W., Rykoff, E.S., Schaefer, B.E., Smith, D.A., Swan, H.F., Vestrand, W.T., Wheeler, J.C., Wren, J., Yuan, F.: The dark side of ROTSE-III prompt GRB observations. Astrophys. J. 669, 1107 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Castro-Tirado, A.J., Soldán, J., Bernas, M., Páta, P., Rezek, T., Hudec, R., Mateo Sanguino, T.J., de La Morena, B., Berná, J.A., Rodríguez, J., Peña, A., Gorosabel, J., Más-Hesse, J.M., Giménez, A.: The Burst Observer and Optical Transient Exploring System (BOOTES). Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. 138, 583 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Kornilov, V., Shatsky, N., Voziakova, O., Safonov, B., Potanin, S., Kornilov, M.: First results of a site-testing programme at Mount Shatdzhatmaz during 2007–2009. MNRAS 408, 1233 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Gorbovskoy, E., Ivanov, K., Lipunov, V., Kornilov, V., Belinski, A., Shatskij, N., Kuvshinov, D., Tyurina, N., Balanutsa, P., Chazov, V., Kuznetsov, A., Kortunov, P., Tlatov, A., Parkhomenko, A., Krushinsky, V., Zalozhnyh, I., Popov, A., Kopytova, T., Yazev, S., Krylov, A.: Transient detections and other real-time data processing from MASTER-VWF wide-field cameras. Advances in Astronomy 2010, article id. 917,584 (2010)

  14. Yurkov, V.: Blagoveschensk astronomical station—50 years. Bulletin of the Far Eastern Branch of RAS (1), 104 (2009)

  15. Sánchez, S.F., Thiele, U., Aceituno, J., Cristobal, D., Perea, J., Alves, J.: The night sky at the Calar Alto Observatory II: the sky at the near-infrared. PASP 120, 1244 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Marchant, J., Smith, R.J., Steele, I.A.: Calibration of the boltwood cloud sensor. In: Stepp, L.M., Gilmozzi, R. (eds.) Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes II. Proc. of the SPIE, vol. 7012, p. 70123U (2008)

  17. Varela, A., Muñoz-Tuñón, C., de Gurtubai, A., Saviron, C.: Site-testing results at the Teide Observatory. In: Vernin, J., Benkhaldoun, Z., Muñoz-Tuñón, C. (eds.) Astronomical Site Evaluation in the Visible and Radio Range. ASP Conference Series, vol. 266, p. 454 (2002)

  18. Cinzano, P., Falchi, F., Elvidge, C.D.: The first World Atlas of the artificial night sky brightness. MNRAS 328, 689 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Benn, C.R., Ellison, S.L.: Brightness of the night sky over La Palma. New Astron. Rev. 42, 503 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Barthelmy, S.: GCN and VOEvent: a status report. Astron. Nachr. 329, 340 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Bissaldi, E., von Kienlin, A., Lichti, G., Steinle, H., Bhat, P.N., Briggs, M.S., Fishman, G.J., Hoover, A.S., Kippen, R.M., Krumrey, M., Gerlach, M., Connaughton, V., Diehl, R., Greiner, J., van der Horst, A.J., Kouveliotou, C., McBreen, S., Meegan, C.A., Paciesas, W.S., Preece, R.D., Wilson-Hodge, C.A.: Ground-based calibration and characterization of the Fermi gamma-ray burst monitor detectors. Exp. Astron. 24, 47 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Bertin, E., Arnouts, S.: SExtractor: software for source extraction. Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. 117, 393 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Høg, E., Fabricius, C., Makarov, V.V., Urban, S., Corbin, T., Wycoff, G., Bastian, U., Schwekendiek, P., Wicenec, A.: The Tycho-2 catalogue of the 2.5 million brightest stars. Astron. Astrophys. 355, L27 (2000)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Monet, D.G., Levine, S.E., Canzian, B., Ables, H.D., Bird, A.R., Dahn, C.C., Guetter, H.H., Harris, H.C., Henden, A.A., Leggett, S.K., Levison, H.F., Luginbuhl, C.B., Martini, J., Monet, A.K.B., Munn, J.A., Pier, J.R., Rhodes, A.R., Riepe, B., Sell, S., Stone, R.C., Vrba, F.J., Walker, R.L., Westerhout, G., Brucato, R.J., Reid, I.N., Schoening, W., Hartley, M., Read, M.A., Tritton, S.B.: The USNO-B Catalog. Astron. J. 125, 984 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Paturel, G., Petit, C., Prugniel, P., Theureau, G., Rousseau, J., Brouty, M., Dubois, P., Cambrésy, L.: HYPERLEDA. I. Identification and designation of galaxies. Astron. Astrophys. 412, 45 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Pruzhinskaya, M., Gorbovskoy, E., Lipunov, V.: “Pure” Supernovae and Accelerated Expansion of the Universe. Pis’ma Astron. Z. 37(10), 723 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Tsvetkov, D., Balanutsa, P., Lipunov, V.: Photometric observations of SN 2009nr. Pis’ma Astron. Z. 37(11), 837 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Bowell, E., Muinonen, K., Wasserman, L.H.: A Public-Domain Asteroid Orbit Data Base. In: Milani, A., di Martino, M., Cellino, A. (eds.) Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 1993, IAU Symposium, vol. 160, p. 477 (1994)

Download references

Acknowledgements

The MASTER II project was supported by Russian foundation of basic researches No 09-02-12287-ofim, and by Ministry of Education and Science—the Innovative programme of Ural university and Contract 02.740.11.0249. The bulk of support for the project came from the Development Programme of Lomonosov Moscow state university. The authors are grateful to authorities of the Moscow state university, Sternberg astronomical institute, Pulkovo observatory, Ural state university, Irkutsk state university and Blagoveshchensk pedagogical university who contributed to the practical implementation of the project. They also thank the staff of observatories involved in the MASTER II network. The authors express their gratitude to the Director of the Teide observatory for his willingness to host the fifth MASTER network node.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Victor G. Kornilov, Vladimir M. Lipunov, Evgeny S. Gorbovskoy, Aleksander A. Belinski, Dmitry A. Kuvshinov, Natalia V. Tyurina, Nikolai I. Shatsky, Anatoly V. Sankovich, Aleksander V. Krylov, Pavel V. Balanutsa, Vadim V. Chazov, Artem S. Kuznetsov, Dmitry S. Zimnuhov & Victor A. Senik

  2. High Altitude Astronomical Station, Pulkovo Observatory, St. Peterburg, Russia

    Andrey G. Tlatov, Aleksander V. Parkhomenko & Denis V. Dormidontov

  3. Ural State University, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    Vadim V. Krushinsky, Ivan S. Zalozhnyh & Aleksander A. Popov

  4. Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia

    Sergey A. Yazev, Nikolai M. Budnev, Kirill I. Ivanov, Evgeny N. Konstantinov, Oleg A. Gress & Oleg V. Chvalaev

  5. Blagoveshchensk Pedagogical University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia

    Vladimir V. Yurkov, Yury P. Sergienko & Irina P. Kudelina

Authors
  1. Victor G. Kornilov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vladimir M. Lipunov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Evgeny S. Gorbovskoy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Aleksander A. Belinski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Dmitry A. Kuvshinov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Natalia V. Tyurina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Nikolai I. Shatsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Anatoly V. Sankovich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Aleksander V. Krylov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Pavel V. Balanutsa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Vadim V. Chazov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Artem S. Kuznetsov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Dmitry S. Zimnuhov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Victor A. Senik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Andrey G. Tlatov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Aleksander V. Parkhomenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Denis V. Dormidontov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Vadim V. Krushinsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Ivan S. Zalozhnyh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Aleksander A. Popov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Sergey A. Yazev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Nikolai M. Budnev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Kirill I. Ivanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Evgeny N. Konstantinov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Oleg A. Gress
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Oleg V. Chvalaev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Vladimir V. Yurkov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Yury P. Sergienko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  29. Irina P. Kudelina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victor G. Kornilov.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kornilov, V.G., Lipunov, V.M., Gorbovskoy, E.S. et al. Robotic optical telescopes global network MASTER II. Equipment, structure, algorithms. Exp Astron 33, 173–196 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-011-9280-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-011-9280-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation