The Future of Small Telescopes in the New Millennium - Volume I - Perceptions, Productivities, and Policies Volume II - The Telescopes We Use Volume III - Science in the Shadows of Giants

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.

List of contents

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.

About the author

Dr. Terry D. Oswalt, an astronomer, is Head of the Department of Physics and Space Sciences and Associate Provost for Research at Florida Institute of Technology. He has also served the U.S. National Science Foundation as program officer for Stellar Astronomy and Astrophysics. He earned his Ph.D. in Astronomy at The Ohio State University specializing in photoelectric and spectroscopic studies of binary star systems, late stages of stellar evolution, minor planets, and comets. Since coming to Florida Tech in 1982, Dr. Oswalt has taught astronomy and physics, while continuing his primary research interest in studies of collapsed stars called white dwarfs. Because such objects are very faint, this work often takes him to Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, where telescopes as large as 10-meters are available on a competitive basis to scientists. Oswalt is the founding Chairman of the Southeast Association for Research in Astronomy, a consortium of 10 universities which operates an automated 1-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. In 2007 SARA will assume operations of a similar telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile. Oswalt also has been director of the SARA summer internship program, which brings undergraduate students from around the U.S. to the SARA facility at Kitt Peak each summer to do research in astronomy. Dr. Oswalt has written over 100 scientific articles and edits the I.A.P.P.P. Communications, an international journal for advanced amateurs, students, teachers and professionals who collaborate on research and educational projects in astronomy. He is also the editor for a three-volume set of Springer books, 'The Future of Small Telescopes in the New Millennium'.

Summary

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.

Additional text

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)

Report

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)

Product details

• Assisted by: Terr D Oswalt (Editor), Terry D Oswalt (Editor), Terry Oswalt (Editor), Terry D. Oswalt (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 17.10.2013
• EAN: 9789401039482
• ISBN: 978-94-0-103948-2
• No. of pages: 1031
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 19 mm x 235 mm
• Weight: 546 g
• Illustrations: XXIII, 1031 p.
• Series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library; Astrophysics and Space Science Library
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > Astronomy; C, Physics and Astronomy, Astronomy, Observations and Techniques, Astronomy—Observations, Observations, Astronomical, CCD;Observatories;astronomy;cosmology;stars