Implementation and Operation of a Robotic Telescope on Skynet

Abstract

We describe the implementation of a remotely operated telescope on the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network, a system developed and run by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Our telescope, operated by Appalachian State University at its Dark Sky Observatory, runs robotically on this queue-scheduled system, automatically taking calibration images and acquiring program images, and responding to Internet commands to image the afterglow of accessible Gamma-Ray Burst events. We describe the process of implementing a Skynet-run telescope from our client-side view, and offer advice for others who might consider putting telescopes on Skynet. The implementation has proven very successful, obtaining over a hundred thousand images over the past six years, of various targets for research and educational purposes, and has responded to several GRB observation requests with several afterglow detections.