RoboNet-1.0 was a prototype global network of UK-built 2-metre

robotic telescope A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human. In astronomical disciplines, a telescope qualifies as robotic if it makes those observations without being operated ...

s, the largest of their kind in the world, comprising the

Liverpool Telescope The Liverpool Telescope (LT) is a two-metre-aperture robotic Ritchey–Chrétien telescope that observes autonomously (without human intervention). However professional astronomers, school groups and other credible registered users submit specif ...

on La Palma (Canary Islands), the

Faulkes Telescope North The Faulkes Telescope North is a clone of the Liverpool Telescope, and is located at Haleakala Observatory in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is a f/10 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. The telescope is owned and operated by LCOGT. This telescope an ...

on Maui (Hawaii), and the

Faulkes Telescope South The Faulkes Telescope South is a clone of the Liverpool Telescope and is located at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. It is a Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. It was designed to be operated remotely with the aim of encourag ...

in Australia, managed by a consortium of ten UK universities under the lead of

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

. For the technological aims of integrating a global network to act effectively as a single instrument, and maximizing the scientific return by applying the newest developments in

e-Science E-Science or eScience is computationally intensive science that is carried out in highly distributed network environments, or science that uses immense data sets that require grid computing; the term sometimes includes technologies that enable dis ...

, RoboNet adopted the intelligent-agent architecture devised and maintained by the

eSTAR project The eSTAR project was a multi-agent system that aimed to implement a heterogeneous network of robotic telescopes for automated observing, and ground-based follow-up to transient events. The project is a joint collaboration between the Astrophysi ...

. With the flexible scheduling and short response time of robotic telescopes being ideal for

time-domain astronomy Time-domain astronomy is the study of how astronomical objects change with time. Said to have begun with Galileo's '' Letters on Sunspots'', the field has now naturally expanded to encompass variable objects beyond the Solar System. Temporal varia ...

, RoboNet-1.0 had two major science goals that critically depend on these requirements: the determination of origin and nature of

gamma-ray bursts In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic events occurring in distant galaxies which represent the brightest and most powerful class of explosion in the universe. These extreme electromagnetic emissions are second o ...

, and the detection of cool

extra-solar planets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first detect ...

by means of

gravitational microlensing Gravitational microlensing is an astronomical phenomenon caused by the gravitational lens effect. It can be used to detect objects that range from the mass of a planet to the mass of a star, regardless of the light they emit. Typically, astronom ...

. Apart from their science use, the telescopes forming the RoboNet-1.0 have also been made available for two educational programmes, the

Faulkes Telescope Project The Faulkes Telescope Project (FTP) is supported by the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust. It provides access to 1,500 hours of observing time on two 2-metre class telescopes located in Hawaii ( Faulkes Telescope North in Hawaii) and Australia ( Fa ...

and the National Schools‘ Observatory. The RoboNet microlensing programme, led by the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, engages in a common campaign with the

PLANET A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

collaboration since 2005. With the official end of RoboNet-1.0 in October 2007, and the earlier acquisition of the two Faulkes Telescopes by

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is a network of astronomical observatories run by a non-profit private operating Foundation (charity), foundation directed by the technologist Wayne Rosing. Its offices are in Goleta, California. The telescopes are lo ...

, the microlensing programme is carried on as RoboNet-II. Starting in 2008, RoboNet-II has been using the expert system for microlensing anomaly detection that is being provided by the

Automated Robotic Terrestrial Exoplanet Microlensing Search Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

(ARTEMiS). RoboNet-II aims at obtaining a first census of cool terrestrial

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...

Research highlights

RoboNet data have contributed to the detection of several

(in the order of announcement of their discovery) *

OGLE-2005-BLG-071L OGLE-2005-BLG-071L is a distant, magnitude 19.5 galactic bulge star located in the constellation Scorpius, approximately 11,000 light years away from the Solar System. The star is probably a red dwarf with a mass 43% of that of the Sun. Pl ...

b *

OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb (known sometimes as Hoth by NASA) is a super-Earth ice exoplanet orbiting OGLE-2005-BLG-390L, a star from Earth near the center of the Milky Way, making it one of the most distant planets known. On January 25, 2006, Probing ...

(the most Earth-like planet at the time of its discovery) * OGLE-2005-BLG-169Lb * OGLE-2006-BLG-109Lb and OGLE-2006-BLG-109Lc (a pair similar to Jupiter and Saturn in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

) * OGLE-2007-BLG-368Lb a cold Neptune-Mass planet * MOA-2009-BLG-319Lb a massive planet orbiting an M dwarf * MOA-2009-BLG-387Lb * MOA-2009-BLG-266Lb a cold, ~10 Earth Mass planet

References

''AN , 330, 1, 4 (2009)'' - RoboNet-II: Follow-up observations of microlensing events with a robotic network of telescopes''MNRAS, 396, 2087–2102 (2009)'' - A Metric and Optimisation Scheme for Microlens Planet Searches
{{Reflist

External links

RoboNet homepageeSTAR homepageARTEMiS homepageLJMU Astrophysics Research InstituteUniversity of St Andrews Astronomy GroupLas Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT)''The Sky at Night'' episode on RoboNet (August 2007)Microlensing Observations in AstrophysicsBurst Observer and Optical Transient Exploring System (BOOTES) Robotic Telescope Network
Robotic telescopes