Automated Telescope Facility The ATF software controls the telescope, CCD cameras, dome and filter wheel in a complelely automated way. The telescope mount, dome, and filter wheel are all operated with stepper motors using an intelligent controller (Oregon Microsystems PC-34). The software consists of several UNIX drivers, hardware interface daemons, and X-Windows Motif client applications. Communication is via stream pipes. Some feature of the system include: Complete control of all hardware (telescope, dome, filter wheel, focus, and CCD camera). User-friendly script language for observing requests. Optimization of scheduling requests using a sorting algorithm to minimize time between observation and transit. Built-in stellar and non-stellar catalogs so objects can be specified by name only (e.g. SOA, YBSC, NGC, Messier, GCVS). Catalogs for solar system objects with built-in orbital elements. Automated CCD calibration (dark field subraction and flat field) using archived calibration images. Thermal frames are scaled appropriately by exposure time. Automated logging on a per-schedule basis. Automated archiving of images. Optional compression of images using H-compression. Real-time display (with optional analysis) of images as they are acquired. Automated start/stop at astronomical dusk/dawn. The Automated Telescope Facility has now produced a CD-ROM containing ~600 Megabytes of images, software, and laboratory exercises used in our classes at the University of Iowa and supported by the Automated Telescope Facility.

Current Version:   ?? License Type:   ??

Home Site: http://www-astro.physics.uiowa.edu/ Source Code Availability:   Yes Available Binary Packages: Debian Package:   No RedHat RPM Package:   No Other Packages:   Yes Targeted Platforms: Windows, UNIX (Linux and Solaris binaries available on CD-ROM) Software/Hardware Requirements: ANSI C compiler and Motif library is compiled from source. Don't know the binaries are Motif statically linked or not.

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