Expectations focused on the performance of ‘BOOTES’, a robot telescope network built over a long period of time to capture astronomical events that occur in an instant in space.
Completed over 25 years ago on the 14th of last month, ‘Botis’ is a robotic telescope network that connects the five continents of the earth. ‘BOOTES’, which also means shepherd’s seat, is an abbreviation of ‘Burst Observer and Optical Transient Explorer’. It is literally a device for capturing brief cosmic events that pass intensely.
‘Botis’ is the world’s first terrestrial space observation network connecting all five continents through telescopes. There are a total of seven observatories, two in Spain, which conduct the survey, and one each in New Zealand, China, Mexico, South Africa, and Chile.
These observatories were numbered serially, such as ‘BOOTES-1’. The first observatory, ‘Botis-1’, was established in 1998 in Huelva, in south-west Spain. As the last observatory, ‘Vortis-7’, entered the Atacama Desert in Chile at the end of last year, the construction of ‘Vortis’ was completed in a total of 25 years.
“Each observatory has different equipment,” said an official at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA), which is in charge of the ‘Botis’ project. We can respond,” he said.
The main aim of this project is astronomical events that leave a strong impact in a very short period of time, such as a gamma-ray burst (GRB). A GRB is a phenomenon where gamma rays are seen emitted in short bursts. Those shorter than 2 seconds are called short gamma-ray bursts (SGRB), and those longer than 2 seconds are called long gamma-ray bursts (LGRB).
GRBs, which can happen when and where they do, are the largest energy explosions in the universe. After a high-energy explosion occurs in a few seconds to thousands of seconds, electromagnetic waves with a wide range of wavelengths ranging from X-rays to radio waves are emitted and gradually decrease. Scholars speculate that LGRBs are related to supernova explosions, and in the case of SGRBs, GRBs are a mystery to the astronomical community, as little information has been revealed.
An official from the IAA said, “‘Vortis’ was built to solve many GRB mysteries,” adding, “It is expected that, at some point, we will reveal the identity of a GRB, which we do not yet know, by conducting additional observations of waves electromagnetic field produced after the explosion.” was told
‘Vortis’ simultaneously observes the light emitted by celestial bodies that cause a GRB and detects electromagnetic waves of a wide range at the same time. It is also used to observe the causes of neutrinos and gravitational waves, astronomical objects that threaten the Earth such as asteroids and comets, and astronomical objects with different characteristics such as various stars and supernovae. It will also carry out monitoring activities to reduce space debris, which has recently become a problem.
Since Observatory 1 was installed in 1998, ‘Botis’ has already detected various astronomical events. There were five GRBs captured by the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory operating up to 2000, and a chilonova (neutron binary or in a binary system containing neutron stars and black holes) according to the gravitational wave signal ‘GW170817’ detected on August 17, 2017 The momentary phenomenon caused by the collision of two celestial bodies was also captured. In 2020, the fast radio burst ‘FRB200428’ was caught and in 2021, ‘GRB200415A’, which appears to be caused by a massive flare emitted by a neutron star.
The IAA emphasized that ‘Botis’, which is expected to be operational in the future, is an automated robot observatory. Like the robot arm installed on the International Space Station (ISS), the proportion of robots is increasing in space development, and automated robots that operate independently of humans are also being adopted in the field of astronomical observation.
An official from the IAA said, “Since the middle of the 20th century, automation where robots carry out commands, remote control, and power supply through self-generation has been revised.” “We can actively respond to passing GRB observations in an instant and collect data from them.”
Reporter Jeong Ian anglee@sputnik.kr
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