26–29 May 2026
Radisson Blu Marina Palace Hotel
Europe/Helsinki timezone

New and upgraded observing facilities at Tartu Observatory

26 May 2026, 12:06
1m
Room A+B

Room A+B

Speaker

Tõnis Eenmäe

Description

The AZT-12 1.5-m telescope at Tartu Observatory offers unique guaranteed access to objects in the Northern Hemisphere, facilitating long-term monitoring of various targets. This instrument has recently undergone significant upgrades, including the installation of a medium-resolution fibre-fed echelle spectrograph covering a wavelength range from 380 nm to 910 nm. This spectrograph offers flexibility with input options between two different fibre sizes, delivering spectral resolutions of R=33,000 and R=17,000.

Moreover, a custom-designed 4-channel instrument cube has been integrated, allowing attachment of two additional instruments. One of these is a high-speed CCD-photometer equipped with Johnson-Cousins BVRcIc, Sloan u'g’r’i’z’, and Hα filters, with a field of view of 3.7×3.7 arcminutes. A fourth port is currently available for custom compact instruments.

Complementing the main telescope, a remotely-controllable 31 cm telescope RAITS provides a CCD-photometer with Johnson-Cousins BVRcIc as well as an Hα and Luminance filters. This instrument is suitable for stellar photometry with a wide field of view of 38×38 arcminutes.

These upgrades expand our spectroscopic and photometric capabilities, particularly for long-term monitoring of massive stars, measuring exoplanet transits, estimating properties of exoplanet host stars, photometric studies of asteroids, and transients. In the presentation, we will provide a brief description of these instruments, their parameters, suitability for different types of observations, and the options for community access to these instruments.

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