Observatory team

Observatory Team:

• Tone Špenko
• Rok Palčič
• Brane Vasiljevič
• Javor Kac

Copyrights ©

All materials on these pages are copyrighted. Unless otherwise noted, authors of images and texts are R.Palčič, T.Špenko, B.Vasiljevič and J.Kac.

Terms of distribution: We restricted further circulation of materials to other web sites. Automated copying of images to other locations is therefore prohibited. Materials from these pages may be freely extracted for personal use or for scientific and educational purposes, providing that credit is given to the author(s). Please ask for permission if you intend to use materials for commercial or any other purposes than stated. Please contact (rok.palcic@rezman-obs.com).

Observatory building

Observatory building is made of wood and stands on concrete base. The roof consists of two roll-off parts, one for basic building and second for Rezman III telescope. Both parts are motorized. Safety mechanisms were added including motion sensors (switches) and safety cameras. Special electronics, computer server, weather station together with cloud sensor are installed to enable remote (automated) imaging.

We're using DSL wireless connection. From the server (Windows Server 2003) we control the observatory and it's electronics and sensors with simple Excel program (for remote work) and win32 (.exe) program and custom Windows service for automated work. We use Siemens automation system. Observatory control panel software package was put in operations in March 2005. Software packages monitors telescopes, weather data, roof sensors, alarm and GSM module. In case of any error (telescope, or weather), special procedure is triggered which parks telescopes and/or closes roof and calls the operator which is usually not present at observatory. Also automatic shutdown of telescopes roof and computers can be done when the night is over.

We are working on automating image processing for supernovae search and asteroid detection.

The southern building can be moved from the control room of remote via internet. It's weight is almost 2 tones and the telescope inside is well protected against heat, rain or snow.Brane, Tone and Rok (taking photo) in control room at observatory during the night (it's very rare that we are all present at the same time).

All-sky camera

Remote and especially robotic observations require accurate weather information. To solve this we installed weather station, cloud sensor and all-sky camera. Weather station and cloud sensor are running all the time but all-sky camera runs only when the roof is opened. During observations cloud sensor and weather station data are checked every few minutes and if weather/cloud conditions become unsuitable for observations, telescopes are parked automatically and roof is closed in case of rain otherwise message is sent to astronomer who takes care of observations that night.

Cloud sensor

In fall 2004 we installed cloud sensor from Boltwood Systems. It is working as advertised and it simplifies remote observations when observatory operator can check for weather when opening roofs and also during observations when the sensor is detecting cloud presence. Operator is called via GSM (cellular) phone when sky temperature falls below the value which represents clouds well before the rain comes.

Meteor cameras

In late summer 2005 camera for meteors detections was installed. The camera itself is Watec Wat-120 with 6 mm lens attached. The system is running when observatory is in operation (opened roof). Meteors detection and analysis is done with special software Metrec. The camera is automated as all other instruments at the observatory so it can be started and stopped from remote location or scheduled to run as wanted.

New camera (Štefka) added in late 2007

In August and September2011 we added new cameras in order to have 3 meteor cameras (Stefka, Rezika, Cvetka) covering most of the sky + meteor camera (Smetka) which is able to record meteor spectrum.