The Remote Observatories of the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA)
William C. Keel, Terry Oswalt, Peter Mack, Gary Henson, Todd Hillwig,, Daniel Batcheldor, Robert Berrington, Chris De Pree, Dieter Hartmann, Martha, Leake, Javier Licandro, Brian Murphy, James Webb, and Matt A. Wood

TL;DR
The paper details the operation, capabilities, and benefits of the SARA remote observatories, highlighting their flexible scheduling, collaborative potential, and technical setup over nearly two decades.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive overview of the SARA remote observatories' infrastructure, operational principles, and lessons learned from long-term remote astronomical observations.
Findings
Remote operation enables flexible scheduling and long-term observational campaigns.
Multiple users can share telescopes for training and collaborative research.
The observatories support rapid switching between imaging and spectroscopic modes.
Abstract
We describe the remote facilities operated by the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA), a consortium of colleges and universities in the US partnered with Lowell Observatory, the Chilean National Telescope Allocation Committee, and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. SARA observatories comprise a 0.96m telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona; a 0.6m instrument on Cerro Tololo, Chile; and the 1m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain. All are operated using standard VNC or Radmin protocols communicating with on-site PCs. Remote operation offers considerable flexibility in scheduling, allowing long-term observational cadences difficult to achieve with classical observing at remote facilities, as well as obvious travel savings. Multiple observers at different locations can share a telescope for training, educational use, or collaborative…
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