TOAST Transient Object Automated Search Telescope

1
TOAST (Transient Object Automated Search
Telescope)
Abstract This poster is a progress report on the
status of equipment installed and the science
that will be conducted at TOAST. The system is
currently at the Planetary Science Observatory,
near Grand Forks, ND. The 10 GPS LX200 Meade
telescope is housed in a Technical Innovations
robotic dome and can/will be used remotely and
can be programmed to be in automated mode. The
science initiative will be the discovery of
transient events and follow-up observations of
these transient events. The original purpose was
to determine the orbits of newly found asteroids,
but has shifted emphasis to search for
supernovae, novae, gamma-ray bursts, and new
asteroids and comets.
Timothy R. Young1, Lohit Gaddampally2, Tricia
Johnson1, Chris Milford1, Michael Sprengeler3
1. Physics Department- University of North
Dakota 2. Computer Science - University of North
Dakota 3. Physics Concordia University, MN

Automated Observation Scheduling Algorithm
An Automated Program was developed to access onl
ine data of asteroids (and soon supernovae,
gamma-ray bursts, and novae). The program devises
an observing schedule based on objects that are
visible during the run time of the telescope,
objects that are bright enough, filter, and
length of exposure. This software is run during
the day, when the telescope is off-line. The site
accessed is at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ.
Transient Objects TOAST is designed to look for
objects that change in brightness or position.

1. Gamma-ray Bursts Bright unknown event,
however they are thought to be due to the
explosion of a Hypernova. Mainly are seen in
gamma-rays. TOAST has a possibility of detecting
these because of its response time.
Runtime Automated Software Programs
The main automation program is called Orchestrate
a comercial program that controls the telescope
software (TheSky), the camera software (CCDSoft),
and the robodome (DDW3). Program to be written
1) Interruptible observing sequence This will
be important when gamma-ray triggers are reported
and TOAST must search the area of the sky given
by the possible candidate.
Figure 4. Composite of Four Minor Pla
nets
GOAL To discover and revisit transient
astronomical events in an automated observing
program.
2. Supernovae Type II Massive stars that end
their lives in a catastrophic explosion. Type Ia
the annihilation of a white dwarf.
3. Asteroids Rocks that also called minor
planets. Thought to be material from the
formation of the solar system. Most that come
near Earth are kicked out from the asteroid belt.
4. Comets Balls of rock and ice that when near
the Sun slowly evaporate.
5. Variable Stars Stars that show a variability
in the light output. Mainly due to instabilities
in the atmosphere.

• Current Operations
• TOAST is currently not in operational mode. In
  place is the following
  
• Dome, pier, foundation, power, and internet are
  permanently installed.
  
• 10 LX200 Telescope mounted and polar aligned.
• TOAST computer on-line and all software
  installed.
  
• CCD camera is operational but not tested.

6. Novae A medium explosion of the surface of a
white dwarf. The material from a companion star
is accreted onto the surface of the white dwarf
and provokes it to explode.
Figure 1 Telescope 10 Meade GPS LX200
The telescope is mounted equatorially on a Meade
10 mount. The mount is attached to an aluminum
base designed by the TOAST team and Rob
Czapiewski . The base has 2 plates attaching one
to the telescope mount and the other to the
cement pier.
Figure 2. Late time light curve fits
CCD Camera with the 10 f/6.3 has a field of view
(FOV) of 15 x 10 (arcminutes). The limiting
magnitude is 17.0 with a 5 minute exposure.
DATA Images of objects in five filters will be
2.5 Megabytes in size. TOAST is expected to view
about 100 objects a night. In four nights we will
have over a Gigabyte of data. These objects will
be a high priority list, being newly discovered
asteroids, supernovae, or hypernovae. This data
will be sent to Minor Planet Center, IAU
circular, or NASA gamma-ray burst Center.
Figure 5. Supernova 1999em
Figure 3. Robodome with 10 Telescope
The Robodome with the shutter open. The dome is
slaved to the commands of the telescope. The dome
is about 4 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter. The
dome can be controlled remotely or can be
operated in automation mode. We would like to
acknowledge land usage, power, and wireless
internet from the Space Studies Department.
Without this TOAST would not be a working
observatory.
Figure 6. Pictured is the SBIG ST-7e CCD chip.
The ST-7e camera is currently attached to the
TOAST telescope.
Searching TOAST has a large enough FOV to condu
ct searches over galaxies and clusters of
galaxies. Currently all images are scanned by
human intervention for new objects. We expect
this search process to be automated in the future.
Figure 2. Telescope mount, base, circuitry
Telescope mount (Black, Meade) is attached to t
he aluminum base (silver, 2-plates). The aluminum
base is attached to the concrete pier (gray).
Power and internet cables are inside the conduits
seen at the right. The dome is in the background
(white).
Digital Dome Works The TOAST dome is call the Rob
odome. A robotic dome that can be slaved to the
telescope. The software DDW3 accesses telescope
position files and sends commands to properly
orient the dome slit to where the telescope is
pointing.
This work is supported by 1. NASA ND EPSCoR 4074-
0403 2. AAS small grants program 3. NSF DMR 9732
661