UA News

Through the Sierra Stars Observatory Network, astronomers eventually will be able to get viewing time on the 32-inch telescope atop Mount Lemmon from virtually anywhere in the world.

The University of Arizona Mount Lemmon SkyCenter has joined an innovative network of observatories that will expand the center's acclaimed program around the world.

The UA and the Sierra Stars Observatory Network, or SSON, have announced an agreement that will allow users almost anywhere access to the Schulmann 32-inch telescope perched at the top of the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Ariz.

Ed Beshore, the SkyCenter faculty adviser and a senior staff scientist at the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said SSON gives the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter a number of advantages.

"They bring the remote-access technology, which means we don't have to develop or support infrastructure related to that. They have an established marketing presence and customer base. They can provide the technology to split a large allocation of viewing time among multiple users, such as a school and its students. And they have a growing global network of telescopes, which means a user can select the right telescope for the particular object he or she wants to observe.

"Soon, we hope that SSON will grow to allow some highly interesting objects to be covered 24 hours per day because it's always dark somewhere. SSON has a sophisticated database system to reconcile financial transactions, log credit use, dispense funds to partner observatories for time allocated to the network and handle all direct interactions with the end users," he said.

Here's how it works. Users will log onto the SSON website and request observation times, enter coordinates, exposure times, filters and other means to collect their data.  SSON will forward those requests to a computer at Mount Lemmon every afternoon. The observations will be gathered by computer control and the images transferred back to SSON for distribution. Users will only pay for actual exposure time. If the results are unsatisfactory because of cloud cover or improperly focused, they are not charged.

"This is very attractive for researchers or schools who are budgeting for certain amounts of data because they are guaranteed to get that data for their budgeted amount. There are no hidden costs to chew up budgets," Beshore said. "Of course, we can't guarantee they will always get their data when they want it because weather, technical problems and prior claims on the telescope could affect this."

Anna Spitz, the program manager for the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, said she is very enthusiastic about using the remote capability of the network to expand existing workshops to a larger national, and even global market.

"Novel programs such as video conferencing and other media could be combined with remote access to allow distant users to have access to our facilities without having to bear the costs or time constraints of traveling to Arizona," she said.

"This also opens up a new and much wider audience audience for the material generated by the SkyCenter's noted resident astronomer Adam Block," Spitz said. Many of Block's images of deep space taken from Mount Lemmon have been circulated worldwide via the Internet.