Telescope Fabra ROA Montsec: a new robotic wide-field Baker-Nunn facility

TL;DR

The paper describes the refurbishment and capabilities of the Telescope Fabra ROA Montsec, a robotic wide-field telescope based on a historic Baker-Nunn Camera, now used for astronomical surveys including exoplanet transits and space debris tracking.

Contribution

It introduces a fully robotic, wide-field telescope with unique specifications, repurposed from a historic camera, and demonstrates its application in astronomical surveys.

Findings

Successful refurbishment of a historic Baker-Nunn Camera into a robotic telescope

First results from surveys on super-Earth transits and space debris detection

Demonstration of wide-field survey capabilities for various astronomical programs

Abstract

A Baker-Nunn Camera (BNC), originally installed at the Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada (ROA) in 1958, was refurbished and robotized. The new facility, called Telescope Fabra ROA Montsec (TFRM), was installed at the Observatori Astron\`omic del Montsec (OAdM). The process of refurbishment is described in detail. Most of the steps of the refurbishment project were accomplished by purchasing commercial components, which involve little posterior engineering assembling work. The TFRM is a 0.5m aperture f/0.96 optically modified BNC, which offers a unique combination of instrumental specifications: fully robotic and remote operation, wide-field of view (4.4 deg x 4.4 deg), moderate limiting magnitude (V~19.5mag), ability of tracking at arbitrary right ascension and declination rates, as well as opening and closing CCD shutter at will during an exposure. Nearly all kind of image survey programs can benefit from those specifications. Apart from other less time consuming programs, since the beginning of science TFRM operations we have been conducting two specific and distinct surveys: super-Earths transiting around M-type dwarfs stars, and geostationary debris in the context of Space Situational Awareness / Space Surveillance and Tracking (SSA/SST) programs. Preliminary results for both cases will be shown.