The Automated Palomar 60 Inch Telescope

TLDR

The paper describes the design requirements, hardware and software upgrades, lessons learned, and performance overview of the robotic Palomar 60‑inch telescope, and outlines future upgrades. The automated system, operational since 2004, enables rapid (≤3 min) and deep (R≲23 mag) observations of GRB afterglows and other transients, interrupts queue‑scheduled observations, and uses a real‑time data‑reduction pipeline that archives results in a searchable web archive. The Palomar 60‑inch telescope has been successfully converted from a night‑assistant‑operated instrument to a fully robotic facility.

Abstract

We have converted the Palomar 60 inch (1.52 m) telescope from a classic night‐assistant‐operated telescope to a fully robotic facility. The automated system, which has been operational since 2004 September, is designed for moderately fast (t≲3 minutes) and sustained (R≲23 mag) observations of gamma‐ray burst afterglows and other transient events. Routine queue‐scheduled observations can be interrupted in response to electronic notification of transient events. An automated pipeline reduces data in real time, which is then stored on a searchable Web‐based archive for ease of distribution. We describe here the design requirements, hardware and software upgrades, and lessons learned from roboticization. We present an overview of the current system performance as well as plans for future upgrades.