The All Sky Automated Survey History

The All Sky Automated Survey is a project which final goal is photometric monitoring of approx. 10^7 stars brighter than 14 magnitude all over the sky. The initial idea for the project is due to Prof. Bohdan Paczynski of Princeton University. The prototype instrument, located at the Las Campanas Observatory (operated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington), and the data pipeline were developed by Dr. Grzegorz Pojmanski (mail) of the Warsaw University Observatory. The project is supported by a grant from KBN (Polish funding agency) to G. Pojmanski, and a generous gift from Mr. William Golden to B. Paczynski. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the on site assistance by the OGLE observers.

The first step bringing us closer to the desired goal is the prototype ASAS instrument, equipped with 768x512 Kodak CCD and 135/1.8 telephoto lens, mounted on the computer controlled robotic mount, which was developed at the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory and since April 7, 1997 operates at the Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. Prototype takes about 15 3-minute exposures (covering 90 sq. deg.) per hour with limiting I-magnitude 13 and resolution of 14 arcsec/pixel. Initial setup consisted of 24 fields covering 150 sq. deg. (later increased to 50 fields - 300 sq. deg) monitored few times each night.

Prototype status

Dec 1, 1996 - The Prototype is now ready and fully operational. Currently it is operated from the roof of the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory , whenever poor Central Europe weather allows for it.

January 10, 1997 - The Prototype is out of operation due to the flying washers inside the MEADE camera head. Camera was send to US for fixing/replacement. How long it'll take - God knows. Short MEADE Service Policy story describes the situation.

Apr 3,1997 - Apr 26,1997 - Test run in Las Campanas Observatory

Apr 27, 1997 --> Now - Automatic operation on Las Campanas

Prototype data

During October and November, 1996 we have managed to get 5 clear observing hours and about 20 cloudy or foggy, which allowed us to do basic tests of the system. The mount seems to satisfy the design goals, and camera seems to be working properly. The only two major failures of the MEADE camera are two "flying washers", which from time to time drop onto the CCD surface. Nevertheless, below you can find some Prototype outcome:
Grzegorz Pojmanski / gp@sirius.astrouw.edu.pl