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I, robotic telescope HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS NEWS RELEASE Posted: October 20, 2004 Today, the world of astronomy meets the science fiction world of Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" with the commissioning of a new robotic telescope. While it lacks the humanoid qualities of the movie version, this robot will aid in humanity's quest to understand the early universe by observing the most distant and powerful explosions known.
With PAIRITEL, a team of astronomers led by Dr. Joshua Bloom of the Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and UC Berkeley, hopes to pinpoint the gamma-ray burst explosions from the first and most distant stars in the universe. A gamma ray burst (GRB) is a quick flash of gamma-ray radiation lasting about a minute, accompanied by an afterglow emission of X-rays, visible, infrared, and radio light. The afterglow may be observable for days to weeks afterward. The majority of GRBs are believed to be due to massive stars that explode violently and release tremendous blasts of energy. "Innovatively exploring the night sky in the time domain - seeing how things change from night to night, and even from minute to minute - is the next big frontier in astronomy," said Bloom. "PAIRITEL was optimized to study cosmic events like GRBs that are here today and gone tomorrow." Peering back to a time when the universe was less than 1 billion years old is the holy grail of observational astronomy. So far, only energetic galaxy cores known as quasars have been used to probe the early universe. But gamma-ray burst afterglows, if astronomers are able to image them quickly, hold clear advantages over quasars. For up to one hour after the burst, afterglow brightnesses can reach up to 1000 times that of the brightest known quasar in the universe. Also, explained Bloom, "The stars that create GRBs likely formed before the black holes that create quasars. So by looking for the youngest and most distant GRBs, we can study the earliest epochs of the universe." A key feature of PAIRITEL that will allow the location of distant GRBs is its rapid response time. PAIRITEL will receive signals from Swift and automatically move, in under 2 minutes, to the part of the sky where a GRB has appeared. "My ultimate vision is to have astronomy robots talking to robots, deciding what to observe and how, with no human intervention," said Bloom. "As it is, PAIRITEL only e-mails us when it's found a particularly interesting source, or when something goes wrong and it needs help!" Another key feature of PAIRITEL is its sensitivity at infrared wavelengths, setting this system apart from the bevy of visible-light robotic telescopes already in existence. Images taken with infrared filters (about twice the wavelength of visible light) are indispensable: visible light emitted from more than 12 billion light-years away is completely extinguished for observers on Earth. Bloom explained, "Forget about the dimming due to the extreme distances: the hydrogen gas between us and the explosions makes it like searching for a firefly behind a thick London fog. In the infrared we can peer through the shroud to the good stuff." In addition, the unique camera on PAIRITEL takes pictures simultaneously at three different wavelengths of light, allowing for instantaneous full-color snapshots. The Swift spacecraft will find GRBs at a rate 10 to 20 times higher than currently feasible, and should find more bursts in 6 months than all well-studied bursts to date. Bloom said he is most excited about using Swift and PAIRITEL "together to find the golden needle in the haystack - a high-redshift GRB that's farther away than the most distant known galaxy or quasar." When PAIRITEL is not chasing down GRBs, it will be used to make precision measurements of supernovae to help determine the few fundamental parameters that dictate the expansion of the universe. Among other projects, Dr. Michael Pahre (CfA) will use PAIRITEL to study the near-infrared light of nearby galaxies to compare it with mid-infrared light in images obtained with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Harvard graduate student Cullen Blake, who has written software for the project, will also use PAIRITEL to try to find Earth-mass planets around brown dwarfs.
Other PAIRITEL team members include: Prof. Mike Skrutskie (Univ. of Virginia), Dr. Andrew Szentgyorgyi (CfA), Prof. Robert Kirshner (Harvard University/CfA), Dr. Emilio Falco (CfA), Dr. Thomas Matheson (NOAO), and Dan Starr (Gemini Observatory, Hawaii). The staff of Mt. Hopkins - Wayne Peters, Bob Hutchins, and Ted Groner - worked on the automation of the telescope. PAIRITEL, nearly 2 years after the inception of the project, is being dedicated today to the late Jim Peters, who worked for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, first on satellite tracking and then as a telescope operator on Mt. Hopkins for 25 years. His widow and son will be in attendance at the ceremony. The project was funded by a grant from the Harvard Milton Fund. The telescope is owned by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the infrared camera is on loan from the University of Virginia. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe. |
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The five crew members aboard the International Space Station answer questions during this in-flight news conference from Wednesday, Oct. 20. (29min 26sec file)
Expedition 10 commander Leroy Chiao and Expedition 9 flight engineer Michael Fincke answer questions from a reporter with KPIX television in San Francisco. (8min 52sec file)
CBS Radio's Peter King and Bill Harwood chat with space station astronauts Leroy Chiao and Michael Fincke during the handover activities between Expedition crews. (11min 06sec file)
This narrated movie provides a look back at the six-month Expedition 9 mission aboard the International Space Station with commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Michael Fincke. (8min 24sec file)
The Russian Soyuz TMA-5 capsule successfully docks to the International Space Station, delivering the Expedition 10 crew for its half-year mission. (3min 21sec file)
This longer-length broadband clip follows the Soyuz TMA-5 capsule's approach and docking to the station's Pirs module. (8min 47sec file)
Russian and U.S. space officials hold a post-docking press conference from the mission control center outside Moscow. (23min 04sec file)
The Russian Soyuz rocket blasts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying the Expedition 10 crew International Space Station for a six-month mission. (2min 25sec file)
This longer-length broadband clip follows the launch of Expedition 10 from the final minute of the countdown through deployment of the Soyuz capsule from the third stage. (10min 15sec file)
The State Commission hears from senior Russian and American officials before giving final approval to launch Expedition 10 to the International Space Station. (13min 46sec file)
