Automatic control system for small telescopes at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory
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Abstract
We present a software and hardware complex of the control system for small telescopes (D = 20–64 cm), which is
primarily used to observe objects in near-Earth space and those in the Solar system (comets, asteroids). The complex
allows observing both in operator mode and fully automatically, according to a given program. This makes it possible
to implement various observation methods: surveys of the selected areas of the sky, search and tracking of objects
according to target designations. The angular velocities of tracked objects can reach about 1 deg/sec. The complex
provides power supply management for telescope components, control of the telescope mount drives, and operation
of auxiliary equipment. The roof of the pavilion is also controlled. Full control of the telescope camera is organized,
from power supply and cooling to setting exposure and transferring frames to the image processing system. Failure-
free operation for 16 years has demonstrated the reliability of the developed system. The acquisition of more than
20 million measurements of coordinate and photometric information has shown its efficiency. The control system is
being gradually improved and is expected to be robotic in the future.
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