2002/05/31 by Gaspar A. Bakos, G. Á. Bakos, Jozsef Lazar +7 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/342382
published as Publ.Astron.Soc.Pac.114:974-987,2002 · Submitted to PASP, 18 pages, 8 figures. See http://www-cfa.harvard.edu/~gbakos/HAT/Publ/ for more information and hi-resolution figures
arxiv created 2002/05/31 · openalex publication_date 2002/09/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
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 I C ≈ 6–13 mag with a telephoto lens and its 9 ° × 9 ° field of view, yielding a data rate of ∼10 6 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. 3