The motivation for these volumes is to provide a vision for the future of small telescopes. While this is an admirable task, ultimately I believe that as happens all the time in science - the prognostications will be overtaken by a rapidly changing scientific reality. As Virginia Trimble points out in chapter 1, the kinds of big questions that face us as astronomers today are rather different than the ones that drove the construction of astronomical facilities through much of the twentieth century. Right now, it appears that small telescopes will not have a lot of influence in answering those questions, though they will of course contribute enormously to the many issues discussed throughout the three volumes. Weare on the verge of opening a whole new parameter space that may revolutionize the way we think of small telescopes and their role in astronomy - the domain of the rapidly variable sky. While the LSST is the most prominent example, it is a long way in the future. Nemiroff & Rafert (chapter 2) consider the value of monitoring large parts of the sky on a continuous basis, using technology similar to a webcam. They have installed their CONCAM2 at four locations, including Kitt Peak. A related project, built and operated by the Harvard graduate student Gaspar Bakos - HAT-l (Hungarian Automated Telescope) - also is in operation at Kitt Peak.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
From the reviews:
".The contributed papers cover a wide range of astronomical topics and form a superb case for the regeneration of small-telescope observational research. For astronomers at all levels. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. (A. R. Upgren,
Choice
, June 2004)
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Illustrationen
Dateigröße
ISBN-13
978-94-010-0253-0 (9789401002530)
DOI
10.1007/978-94-010-0253-0
Schweitzer Klassifikation
1. Small is as Small Does.- 2. The Future of Small, Inexpensive, Continuously Operating, Wide Field Cameras.- 3. The All Sky Automated Survey.- 4. The Carlsberg Meridian Telescope.- 5. Astrometric Projects at the Bordeaux CCD Meridian Circle.- 6. The USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC) Project and Beyond.- 7. The Future of Automated Telescopes and the Bradford Robotic Telescopes.- 8. The Liverpool and Faulkes Telescopes.- 9. The Dutch Open Telescope.- 10. Building a Global Education and Science System Based on Modest-Aperture Telescopes: The Hands On Universe System.- 11. The OTHER Keck Observatories.- 12. The Sun from Big Bear.- 13. The Four-College Consortium and the Future of APT's.- 14. The National Undergraduate Research Observatory.- 15. Advantages of Automated Observing with Small Telescopes.- 16. Astronomy Back East: The Future of the University Telescope.- 17. Research in a Virtual Astronomy Department: The Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) and the Future of Small Telescopes.- 18. The CHARA Visible/IR Array on Mt. Wilson: Small Telescopes with Large Baselines.- 19. A Dedicated 1-Meter Telescope for High Precision Astrometric Sky Mapping of Faint Stars.- 20. AST/RO: A Small Submillimeter Telescope at the South Pole.- 21. The APO 3.5-m Remote Observing Program - Present and Future.- 22. Scientific Priorities and Scheduling of the UK Infrared Telescope in the Eight-Meter Era.- 23. Small Radio Interferometer Arrays in Solar Physics.- 24. The Educational Role of Small Telescopes in Radio Astronomy.
