The Jay Baum Rich telescope: a Centurion 28 at the Wise Observatory

TL;DR

The paper describes the installation and capabilities of the Jay Baum Rich telescope, a 0.70-m robotic telescope at Wise Observatory, highlighting its design, scientific applications, and cost-effective implementation.

Contribution

It introduces a new, cost-effective 0.70-m robotic telescope with wide-field imaging, demonstrating its utility for various astronomical studies and its viability in the era of large telescopes.

Findings

Successful deployment of a robotic 0.70-m telescope for diverse astronomical observations.

Wide-field imaging capability of approximately one square degree.

Cost and labor investment details showing feasibility for small observatories.

Abstract

We describe the third telescope of the Wise Observatory, a 0.70-m Centurion 28 (C28IL) installed in 2013 and named the Jay Baum Rich telescope to enhance significantly the wide-field imaging possibilities of the observatory. The telescope operates from a 5.5-m diameter dome and is equipped with a large-format red-sensitive CCD camera, offering a ~one square degree imaged field sampled at 0".83/pixel. The telescope was acquired to provide an alternative to the existing 1-m telescope for studies such as microlensing, photometry of transiting exo-planets, the follow-up of supernovae and other optical transients, and the detection of very low surface brightness extended features around galaxies. The operation of the C28IL is robotic, requiring only the creation of a night observing plan that is loaded in the afternoon prior to the observations. The entire facility was erected for a component and infrastructure cost of well under 300k$ and a labor investment of about two person-year. The successful implementation of the C28IL, at a reasonable cost, demonstrates the viability of small telescopes in an age of huge light-collectors.