Automation of research telescopes

Sep 1, 2021

Research telescopes have been automated for various automated observations over the course of a few years, notably including (novel!) automated speckle interferometry, described in the paper “Automated Speckle Interferometry of Known Binaries”.

Telescope
Leon Bewersdorff
Leon Bewersdorff
Computational observational astronomy, sensor network automation & development

Posts

Mt. Wilson 2025 - May and October 2.5-meter telescope observations
Semi-automated speckle interferometry observations taken at Mt. Wilson in May and October 2025.
Leon Bewersdorff
Oct 18, 2025
Project
Mt. Wilson 2025 - May and October 2.5-meter telescope observations
Mt. Wilson 2024 - June and October 2.5-meter telescope observations
Semi-automated speckle interferometry observations taken at Mt. Wilson in June and October 2024.
Leon Bewersdorff
Nov 2, 2024
Project
Mt. Wilson 2024 - June and October 2.5-meter telescope observations
Testing the limits of Interferometry; Resolving Charon, Pluto's Moon
Attempts at direct imaging of Pluto’s moon Charon using a 1.0-meter telescope
Leon Bewersdorff
Nov 6, 2023
Project
Testing the limits of Interferometry; Resolving Charon, Pluto's Moon
Mt. Wilson 2023 - "Automating" the 2.5-meter telescope
Semi-automated interferometry observations taken at Mt. Wilson in June 2023.
Leon Bewersdorff
Jul 1, 2023
Project
Mt. Wilson 2023 - "Automating" the 2.5-meter telescope
James Webb Space Telescope seen from Earth after Sunshield Deployment
The JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) was observed live using a telescope from the desert in Chile, a few hours after it extended its sunshield while on its way to orbit L2 to take first images.
Leon Bewersdorff
Jan 3, 2022
Project
James Webb Space Telescope seen from Earth after Sunshield Deployment

Publications

Speckle Interferometry of 25 Gaia Two-Parameter Potential Binaries
Gaia two-parameter (G2P) stars have cumulative errors in parallax and proper motion so great that only their mean positions were …
Paul McCudden, Russell Genet, John Major, Zachary Hartman, A. U. Kovic, Rick Wasson, Michael-James Ellis, Lou Jackson, Bradley Brungardt, Zaida Weems, Astrid Wehlitz, Evan Wille, Leon Bewersdorff, Nick Hardy, Rachel Freed, David Rowe, Thomas C. Smith, Reed Estrada, Thomas Meneghini, Reggie Jones, Tom Mason, Dwight Collins, Mark Copper
Project DOI
ExoClock Project IV: A homogeneous catalogue of 620 updated exoplanet ephemerides
The ExoClock project is an open platform aiming to monitor exoplanets by integrating observations from space and ground based …
A. Kokori, A. Tsiaras, G. Pantelidou, A. Jones, A. Siakas, B. Edwards, G. Tinetti, A. Wünsche, Y. Jongen, F. Libotte, M. Correa, L. V. Mugnai, A. Bocchieri, A. R. Capildeo, E. Poultourtzidis, C. Sidiropoulos, Leon Bewersdorff, G. Lekkas, and 200+ observers
Project
ExoClock Project IV: A homogeneous catalogue of 620 updated exoplanet ephemerides
Speckle Interferometry Camera Checkout on the 100-Inch Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory
A new speckle interferometry camera system was checked out during a four-night run on the 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson observatory …
Dale Ghent, Geoff Stone, Dave Rowe, Tom Smith, Tom Meneghini, Nick Hardy, Leon Bewersdorff, Reed Estrada, Mark Copper, Lou Jackson, Russell Genet, Paul McCudden, Douglas Walker, Evan Wille, Michael Ellis
Project
Students as Citizen Scientists: Observations and Measurements of 43 Exoplanet Targets
Automated exoplanet observations taken with OurSky telescopes for use by students in Stanford Online High School classes
Jett Peters, Sabine Mazzeo, Alex Hamrick, Leon Bewersdorff, Nick Hardy, Dave Rowe, Maiya Qiu, Emerson Tiller, Mia Ella Antonio, Pierce Arora, Reid Barry, Ella Barthel, Sophia Bhatti, Kavi Bidlack, Nathan Bowman, Corbin Breeden, Madeleine Cheung, Nicholas Dunn, Atria Freeman, Kyler Gandrup, Kiera Higgins, Amiya Iqbal, Duncan Keefe, Cole Kim, Eden (Songxiao) Li, Denis Levine, Elina Lobanov, Jules Miller, Morgan Mescher, Khensa Musaddequr Rahman, William O’Donnell, Kingsley Panigrahi, Lily Parry, Nicholas Peh, Michael Pylypovych, Tala Reyes, Hannah Hyeonseo Ryou, Sage Sawhney, Zoe Schurman, Karthikeya Vattem, Leonid Vishnevskiy, Weston Yoo, Fenton Zarlengo, David Oparko, Kalée Tock, Pat Boyce, Scott Dixon
Project
Known Binaries Speckle Interferometry with a 1.0-m Telescope in Chile
Over the past several months, students and instructors from three schools—supported by experienced observers—have been making automated …
Russell Genet, Roger Wholly, Leon Bewersdorff, Nick Hardy, Mark Harris, James Armstrong, Rachel Freed, Paul McCudden, Maaike Calvin, Mario Terrazas, S. Stephen Rajkumar Inbanathan, Shane Christopher, David Rowe, Scott Dixon, Thomas Smith, Christopher Giavarini, Marie Davis, Ron Snyder, Robert Buchheim
Project
Automated Speckle Interferometry of Known Binaries
Astronomers have been measuring the separations and position angles between the two components of binary stars since William Herschel …
Nick Hardy, Leon Bewersdorff, David Rowe, Russell Genet, Rick Wasson, James Armstrong, Scott Dixon, Mark Harris, Tom Smith, Rachel Freed, Paul McCudden, S. Stephen Rajkumar Inbanathan, Marie Davis, Christopher Giavarini, Ronald Snyder, Roger Wholly, Maaike Calvin, Sumner Cotton, Julia Carter, Mario Terrazas, Shane Christopher, Arun Kumar, Sithara Naskath, Mariam Ronald Rabin
Project
Automated Speckle Interferometry of Known Binaries
ExoClock Project III: 450 new exoplanet ephemerides from ground and space observations
The ExoClock project has been created with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the Ariel mission. It will achieve this by …
A. Kokori, A. Tsiaras, B. Edwards, A. Jones, G. Pantelidou, G. Tinetti, Leon Bewersdorff, A. Iliadou, Y. Jongen, G. Lekkas, A. Nastasi, E. Poultourtzidis, C. Sidiropoulos, F. Walter, A. Wünsche, and 100+ observers
Project Project
ExoClock Project III: 450 new exoplanet ephemerides from ground and space observations
Exploring Short Period Red Dwarf Binaries in the Solar Neighborhood Speckle Interferometry and Gaia - IV
Speckle Interferometry observations were made of double stars within 30 parsecs of Earth with a late K or M dwarf component using the …
Sophia Risin, Josephine Stockton, Jack Duerk, Keshav Narang, Rohan Satapathy, Nathan Lehenbauer, Leon Bewersdorff, Scott Dixon, Liam Dugan, Dave Rowe, Hermione Hernandez, Alexander Vasquez, Russell Genet
Project
Exploring Short Period Red Dwarf Binaries in the Solar Neighborhood Speckle Interferometry and Gaia - IV
ExoClock Project. II. A Large-scale Integrated Study with 180 Updated Exoplanet Ephemerides
The ExoClock project is an inclusive, integrated, and interactive platform that was developed to monitor the ephemerides of the Ariel …
A. Kokori, A. Tsiaras, B. Edwards, M. Rocchetto, G. Tinetti, Leon Bewersdorff, Y. Jongen, G. Lekkas, G. Pantelidou, E. Poultourtzidis, A. Wünsche, and 50+ observers
Project Project
ExoClock Project. II. A Large-scale Integrated Study with 180 Updated Exoplanet Ephemerides