A One-meter Robotic Telescope for Western Canada

Abstract

1-m class telescopes are arguably the workhorses of modern astronomy and represent an excellent return of science for a relatively modest capital investment. Such instruments can be used in large-field survey work, high precision photometry as well as in providing HQP opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Currently there exists a dearth of such instruments in Canada and in the prairie provinces specifically. In this poster we argue for the development of a 1-m, robotic instrument to be situated in western Canada. The proposed instrument will address two central concerns. First, the instrument that we envision will be multi-purpose and through appropriate optical design will function as both a wide field survey instrument and a narrow field instrument capable of high precision photometry. A remote, robotic access telescope will also maximize on-sky efficiency and data output. Second, this telescope will serve as a prototype for a similar remote telescope for the high arctic. Lessons learned in this project should provide valuable insights into many of the issues expected for operation of a remote telescope in the arctic (extreme cold, problems of data transmission etc). We solicit comments and expressions of interest from other researchers who would benefit from such an instrument.