论文标题

基于开源软件和市售望远镜硬件的太阳系中小体的机器人观察管道

Robotic observation pipeline for small bodies in the solar system based on open-source software and commercially available telescope hardware

论文作者

Hoffmann, Tobias, Gehlen, Matti, Plaggenborg, Thorsten, Drolshagen, Gerhard, Ott, Theresa, Kunz, Jutta, Santana-Ros, Toni, Gedek, Marcin, Reszelewski, Rafał, Żołnowski, Michał, Poppe, Björn

论文摘要

在太空环境中对小体的观察是天文学中持续的重要任务。虽然如今大多数在较大的天空调查中检测到新对象,但通常需要进行几个后续观察以提高轨道测定的准确性。在绕地球附近绕的物体中,所谓的近地物体特别关注,因为它们的一小部分但不容易忽略的分数可能与地球具有非零的影响概率。望远镜通常由业余观察者托管。通过非常广泛的视野望远镜进行新的NEO搜索活动,例如Vera C. Rubin天文台,NASA的NEO Surveyor Space Mission和ESA的Flyeye望远镜,NEO发现的数量将大大增加。这将需要越来越多的有用望远镜来进行不同地理位置的后续观察。设备齐全的业余天文学家经常容纳可能能够创建有用的测量值的工具,但观察计划和调度都可以进行,而且分析仍然是许多观察者的主要挑战。在这项工作中,我们提出了一个完全机器人的计划,调度和观察管道,该计划扩展了广泛使用的开源跨平台软件KSTARS/EKOS用于INDI设备。该方法由算法组成,该算法会根据ESA的NEOCC自动选择具有优先级的NEO候选者。然后,它使用次要行星中心的初步埃菲米尔(Ephemeris)分析可检测的对象(基于限制幅度,地理位置和时间)。计算和安排在夜间的最佳观察插槽。在测量之前,将重新计算小体的精确位置,最后拍摄图像。除了对所有组件的详细描述外,我们还将根据我们的方法展示一个完整的机器人硬和软件解决方案。

The observation of small bodies in the Space Environment is an ongoing important task in astronomy. While nowadays new objects are mostly detected in larger sky surveys, several follow-up observations are usually needed for each object to improve the accuracy of orbit determination. In particular objects orbiting close to Earth, so called Near-Earth Objects are of special concern as a small but not negligible fraction of them can have a non-zero impact probability with Earth. Telescopes are often hosted by amateur observatories. With upcoming new NEO search campaigns by very wide field of view telescopes, like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, NASA's NEO surveyor space mission and ESA's Flyeye telescopes, the number of NEO discoveries will increase dramatically. This will require an increasing number of useful telescopes for follow-up observations at different geographical locations. While well-equipped amateur astronomers often host instruments which might be capable of creating useful measurements, both observation planning and scheduling, and also analysis are still a major challenge for many observers. In this work we present a fully robotic planning, scheduling and observation pipeline that extends the widely used open-source cross-platform software KStars/Ekos for INDI devices. The method consists of algorithms which automatically select NEO candidates with priority according to ESA's NEOCC. It then analyses detectable objects (based on limiting magnitudes, geographical position, and time) with preliminary ephemeris from the Minor Planet Center. Optimal observing slots during the night are calculated and scheduled. Immediately before the measurement the accurate position of the minor body is recalculated and finally the images are taken. Besides the detailed description of all components, we will show a complete robotic hard- and software solution based on our methods.

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