System Description and First Light Curves of the Hungarian Automated Telescope, an Autonomous Observatory for Variability Search

Having been operational at Kitt Peak for more than a year, the prototype (HAT‐1) of the Hungarian Automated Telescope (HAT) has been used for an all‐sky variability search of the northern hemisphere. This small autonomous observatory is recording the brightness of stars in the range of IC ≈ 6–13 mag with a telephoto lens and its 9° × 9° field of view, yielding a data rate of ∼106 photometric measurements per night. We give brief hardware and software descriptions of the system, controlled by a single PC running RealTime Linux OS. We provide an overview of site‐specific details and quantify the astrometric and photometric capabilities of HAT. As a demonstration of system performance, we give a sample of 60 short‐period variables in a single selected field, all bright, with I<13 mag, where only 14 were known before. Depending on the observing strategy, a search for extrasolar planet transits is also a feasible observing program. We conclude with a short discussion on future directions. Further information can be found at the HAT Web page.

[1]  Claus Fabricius,et al.  Variable stars in the Tycho photometric observations. I. Detection , 2001 .

[2]  Zoran Ninkov,et al.  The Vulcan Photometer: A Dedicated Photometer for Extrasolar Planet Searches , 2001 .

[3]  L. Macri,et al.  A Cepheid is No More: Hubble’s Variable 19 in M33 , 2001, astro-ph/0102453.

[4]  Gáspár Á. Bakos.  RTLinux Driven Hungarian Automated Telescope for All Sky Monitoring , 2001 .

[5]  Jean Kovalevsky,et al.  Astronomical Applications of Astrometry: The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues , 2008 .

[6]  L. Kiss,et al.  Multiperiodicity in semiregular variables - II. Systematic amplitude variations , 2000, astro-ph/0006088.

[7]  C. Alard.  Image subtraction using a space-varying kernel , 2000 .

[8]  A. Drake,et al.  The MACHO Project Large Magellanic Cloud Variable-Star Inventory. IX. Frequency Analysis of the First-Overtone RR Lyrae Stars and the Indication for Nonradial Pulsations , 2000, astro-ph/0005361.

[9]  Pojmański.  The All Sky Automated Survey. A Catalog of almost 3900 variable stars , 2000, astro-ph/0005236.

[10]  B. Paczyński.  Monitoring All Sky for Variability , 2000, astro-ph/0005284.

[11]  S. Benetti,et al.  The Rise and Fall of V4334 Sagittarii (Sakurai’s Object) , 2000, astro-ph/0001534.

[12]  G. Gisler,et al.  ROTSE All-Sky Surveys for Variable Stars. I. Test Fields , 2000, astro-ph/0001388.

[13]  Jing’an Chen,et al.  Sediment particle size distribution and its environmental significance in Lake Erhai, Yunnan Province , 1999 .

[14]  L. Kiss,et al.  Multiperiodicity in semiregular variables , 1999 .

[15]  N. E. Kurochkin,et al.  Combined General Catalogue of Variable Stars , 1998 .

[16]  New Constraints on Simultaneous Optical Emission from Gamma-Ray Bursts Measured by the Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System Experiment , 1997 .

[17]  J. Tonry,et al.  DIRECT Distances to Nearby Galaxies Using Detached Eclipsing Binaries and Cepheids. I. Variables in the Field M31B , 1997, astro-ph/9712053.

[18]  Roger Ferlet,et al.  Variables stars and the astrophysical returns of the microlensing surveys : proceedings of the 12th IAP Astrophysics Meeting, July 8-12, 1996, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris , 1997 .

[19]  Peter B. Stetson,et al.  ON THE AUTOMATIC DETERMINATION OF LIGHT-CURVE PARAMETERS FOR CEPHEID VARIABLES , 1996 .

[20]  Frederick R. Chromey,et al.  THE FLAT SKY: CALIBRATION AND BACKGROUND UNIFORMITY IN WIDE FIELD ASTRONOMICAL IMAGES , 1996 .

[21]  L. B. Robinson,et al.  TEST OF CCD PRECISION LIMITS FOR DIFFERENTIAL PHOTOMETRY , 1995 .

[22]  Serre,et al.  A choatic pulsating star: The case of R Scuti. , 1995, Physical review letters.

[23]  Michael W. Richmond,et al.  THE BERKELEY AUTOMATIC IMAGING TELESCOPE , 1993 .

[24]  G. A. Croes,et al.  FITS++: An Object-Oriented Set of C++ Classes to Support FITS , 1997 .

[25]  Arlo U. Landolt,et al.  UBVRI Photometric Standard Stars in the Magnitude Range 11 , 1992 .

[26]  A. Buffington,et al.  USING IMAGE AREA TO CONTROL CCD SYSTEMATIC ERRORS IN SPACEBOURNE PHOTOMETRIC AND ASTROMETRIC TIME-SERIES MEASUREMENTS , 1991 .

[27]  M. Newberry.  SIGNAL-TO-NOISE CONSIDERATIONS FOR SKY-SUBTRACTED CCD DATA , 1991 .

[28]  Brian McLean,et al.  The Guide Star Catalog. I. Astronomical Foundations and Image Processing , 1990 .

[29]  P. Stetson.  DAOPHOT: A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR CROWDED-FIELD STELLAR PHOTOMETRY , 1987 .

[30]  L. V. Morrison,et al.  Carlsberg Automatic Meridian Circle , 1985 .

[31]  R. Genet,et al.  Fairborn Observatory Automatic Photoelectric Telescopes , 1984 .

[32]  A. Landolt.  UBVRI Photometry of stars useful for checking equipment orientation stability. , 1983 .

[33]  P. B. Fellgett,et al.  Vistas in astronomy , 1957 .

[34]  October I.  Physical Review Letters , 2022 .