Andrew Yee
October 21st 04, 11:59 PM
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Cambridge, Massachusetts
For more information, contact:
David Aguilar, Director of Public Affairs
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7462 Fax: 617-495-7468
Christine Pulliam
Public Affairs Specialist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7463, Fax: 617-495-7016
For Release: October 20, 2004
Release No.: 04-32
I, Robotic Telescope
Amado, AZ -- 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.
Located at the Fred L. Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, the Peters
Automated Infrared Imaging Telescope (PAIRITEL) is the first fully "robotic"
infrared telescope in North America dedicated to observing transient
astronomical events. The telescope, used for several years in a major all-sky
survey (2MASS), has been refurbished to work autonomously. It will operate in
tandem with NASA's new gamma-ray burst satellite "Swift," to be launched on
November 8 from Kennedy Space Center.
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.
Additional information about Swift and PAIRITEL is available online at:
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/swiftsc.html
http://pairitel.org/
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.
Note to Editors:
Images to accompany this release are available online at
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/press/pr0432image.html
Cambridge, Massachusetts
For more information, contact:
David Aguilar, Director of Public Affairs
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7462 Fax: 617-495-7468
Christine Pulliam
Public Affairs Specialist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7463, Fax: 617-495-7016
For Release: October 20, 2004
Release No.: 04-32
I, Robotic Telescope
Amado, AZ -- 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.
Located at the Fred L. Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, the Peters
Automated Infrared Imaging Telescope (PAIRITEL) is the first fully "robotic"
infrared telescope in North America dedicated to observing transient
astronomical events. The telescope, used for several years in a major all-sky
survey (2MASS), has been refurbished to work autonomously. It will operate in
tandem with NASA's new gamma-ray burst satellite "Swift," to be launched on
November 8 from Kennedy Space Center.
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.
Additional information about Swift and PAIRITEL is available online at:
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/swiftsc.html
http://pairitel.org/
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.
Note to Editors:
Images to accompany this release are available online at
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/press/pr0432image.html