New Robotic Telescope: The big eye to observe the transient Universe

TL;DR

The paper discusses the development of the New Robotic Telescope (NRT), a large, fast-response robotic telescope designed for time domain astronomy, leveraging previous experience and advanced optics to observe transient celestial events.

Contribution

It presents the current status, optical development, and construction plans for the NRT, a major international project building on previous telescope expertise.

Findings

NRT will have a 4m segmented primary mirror.

It aims for a response time under 30 seconds.

The project builds on 20 years of Liverpool telescope experience.

Abstract

NRT is an international project to build and operate the world's largest robotic telescope. The telescope will have a segmented primary mirror with an equivalent diameter of 4 m, a set of simultaneously mounted optical and near-infrared instruments, and a response time of less than 30 seconds. The project builds on the experience gained with the successful twenty-year operation of the Liverpool telescope, and with the GTC optics and control system. All of the above together with the excellent conditions for astronomical observation of La Palma, represents a solid base and guarantees that NRT will be one of the leading facilities in the field of time domain astronomy. This contribution will analyze the current status of the project with special emphasis on the development of its optics, and the plans for its construction and operation.