The Astronomer's Telegram

Last updated
The Astronomer's Telegram
Type of site
science
EditorRobert E. Rutledge
URL http://www.astronomerstelegram.org

The Astronomer's Telegram (ATel) is an internet-based short-notice publication service for quickly disseminating information on new astronomical observations. [1] [2] Examples include gamma-ray bursts, [3] [4] gravitational microlensing, supernovae, novae, or X-ray transients, but there are no restrictions on content matter. Telegrams as available instantly on the service's website and distributed to subscribers via email digest within 24 hours.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The Astronomer's Telegram was launched on 17 December 1997 by Robert E. Rutledge [5] [6] with the goal of rapidly (<1 s) sharing information of interest to astronomers. Telegrams are sent out daily by email, but especially time sensitive events can be transmitted instantly. [7] Since 2013, information is also broadcast over Twitter and Facebook.[ citation needed ]

To publish, astronomers request credentials. Credentials are issued to professional astronomers and graduate students, after verification by personal contact. [6] Once credentials have been supplied and telegrams authorized, astronomers can publish telegrams directly, with no further editing. [8]

As of August 2019, over 13000 telegrams have been published.

History

While working at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrische Physik in Garching, Bob Rutledge began the site after his experience in using the web in 1995-6 as an aid in the discovery and characterization (by multiple scientists working informally and collaboratively) of the Bursting Pulsar, GRO J1744-28. Operations began in earnest at the department of astronomy of UC Berkeley where Rutledge was a visiting post-doctoral scholar with Prof. Lars Bildsten.

The service received international attention following a March 20, 2018 when Peter Dunsby submitted a report of a "very bright optical transient near the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae". [9] Forty minutes later he posted again apologizing, saying that the object in question was "identified as Mars". [10] The Astronomer's Telegram editors presented Dunsby with a tongue-in-cheek award as discoverer of Mars. [11]

Dunsby later described the incident to Newsweek as "an honest mistake arising from simply not checking what else was in my camera frame, during an automated astrophotography session and of very little consequence in the scheme of things. The world needs to smile more, so that’s something good that has come out of this episode.” [12]

Current operations

The Astronomer's Telegram currently has an editor in chief, an editor and a co-editor.[ when? ] The ATel service is free, both for publishers and readers of the telegrams. The Astronomer's Telegram's editors remind users to report discoveries of supernovae or comets to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams as well.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palomar Observatory</span> Astronomical observatory in Southern California

Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observatory is granted to Caltech and its research partners, which include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Yale University, and the National Optical Observatories of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centaurus A</span> Radio galaxy in the constellation Centaurus

Centaurus A is a galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia. There is considerable debate in the literature regarding the galaxy's fundamental properties such as its Hubble type and distance. NGC 5128 is one of the closest radio galaxies to Earth, so its active galactic nucleus has been extensively studied by professional astronomers. The galaxy is also the fifth-brightest in the sky, making it an ideal amateur astronomy target. It is only visible from the southern hemisphere and low northern latitudes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 300</span> Galaxy in the constellation Sculptor

NGC 300 (also known as Caldwell 70) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, and probably lies between the latter and the Sculptor Group. It is the brightest of the five main spirals in the direction of the Sculptor Group. It is inclined at an angle of 42° when viewed from Earth and shares many characteristics of the Triangulum Galaxy. It is 94,000 light-years in diameter, somewhat smaller than the Milky Way, and has an estimated mass of (2.9 ± 0.2) × 1010M☉.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 66</span> Intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo

Messier 66 or M66, also known as NGC 3627, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the southern, equatorial half of Leo. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier on 1 March 1780, who described it as "very long and very faint". This galaxy is a member of a small group of galaxies that includes M65 and NGC 3628, known as the Leo Triplet or the M66 Group. M65 and M66 are a common object for amateur astronomic observation, being separated by only 20′.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3184</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

NGC 3184, the Little Pinwheel Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has two HII regions named NGC 3180 and NGC 3181.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4725</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a prominent ring structure, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices near the north galactic pole. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on April 6, 1785. The galaxy lies at a distance of approximately 40 megalight-years from the Milky Way.

VOEvent is a standardized language used to report observations of astronomical events; it was officially adopted in 2006 by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA). Though most VOEvent messages currently issued are related to supernovae, gravitational microlensing, and gamma-ray bursts, they are intended to be general enough to describe all types of observations of astronomical events, including gravitational wave events. Messages are written in XML, providing a structured metadata description of both the observations and the inferences derived from those observations. The rapid dissemination of event data with a formalized language was the original impetus for the creation of VOEvents and the network used to transport the messages; indeed VOEvent messages are designed to be compact and quickly transmittable over the internet. The VOEvent language continues to evolve; the latest version is 2.0.

The Palomar Transient Factory, was an astronomical survey using a wide-field survey camera designed to search for optical transient and variable sources such as variable stars, supernovae, asteroids and comets. The project completed commissioning in summer 2009, and continued until December 2012. It has since been succeeded by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF), which itself transitioned to the Zwicky Transient Facility in 2017/18. All three surveys are registered at the MPC under the same observatory code for their astrometric observations.

SN 2011dh was a supernova in the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). It was discovered on 31 May 2011, with an apparent magnitude 13.5. and confirmed by several sources, including the Palomar Transient Factory. A candidate progenitor was detected in Hubble Space Telescope images. The progenitor may have been a highly luminous yellow supergiant with an initial mass of 18-24 solar masses. The supernova peaked near apparent magnitude 12.1 on 19 June 2011. Emission spectra indicated that the explosion was a type II supernova, in which a massive star collapses once nuclear fusion has ceased in its core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time-domain astronomy</span> Study of how astronomical objects change with time

Time-domain astronomy is the study of how astronomical objects change with time. Though the study may be said to begin with Galileo's Letters on Sunspots, the term now refers especially to variable objects beyond the Solar System. Changes over time may be due to movements or changes in the object itself. Common targets included are supernovae, pulsating stars, novas, flare stars, blazars and active galactic nuclei. Visible light time domain studies include OGLE, HAT-South, PanSTARRS, SkyMapper, ASAS, WASP, CRTS, and in a near future the LSST at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fast radio burst</span> Astronomical high energy transient pulse

In radio astronomy, a fast radio burst (FRB) is a transient radio pulse of length ranging from a fraction of a millisecond to 3 seconds, caused by some high-energy astrophysical process not yet understood. Astronomers estimate the average FRB releases as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun puts out in three days. While extremely energetic at their source, the strength of the signal reaching Earth has been described as 1,000 times less than from a mobile phone on the Moon. The first FRB was discovered by Duncan Lorimer and his student David Narkevic in 2007 when they were looking through archival pulsar survey data, and it is therefore commonly referred to as the Lorimer Burst. Many FRBs have since been recorded, including several that have been detected to repeat in seemingly irregular ways. Only one FRB has been detected to repeat in a regular way: FRB 180916 seems to pulse every 16.35 days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SN 2014J</span> Supernova in Messier 82

SN 2014J was a type-Ia supernova in Messier 82 discovered in mid-January 2014. It was the closest type-Ia supernova discovered for 42 years, and no subsequent supernova has been closer as of 2023. The supernova was discovered by chance during an undergraduate teaching session at the University of London Observatory. It peaked on 31 January 2014, reaching an apparent magnitude of 10.5. SN 2014J was the subject of an intense observing campaign by professional astronomers and was bright enough to be seen by amateur astronomers.

The Zwicky Transient Facility is a wide-field sky astronomical survey using a new camera attached to the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. Commissioned in 2018, it supersedes the (Intermediate) Palomar Transient Factory (2009–2017) that used the same observatory code. It is named after the astronomer Fritz Zwicky.

SN 2009ip was a supernova discovered in 2009 in the spiral galaxy NGC 7259 in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus. Since the brightness waned after days post-discovery, it was redesignated as Luminous blue variable (LBV) Supernova impostor.

Peter Dunsby is a full professor of gravitation and cosmology at the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He was the co-director of the Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravity Centre at the university until 2016. He also serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Modern Physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SN 2018cow</span> Supernova event of June 2018 in the constellation Hercules

SN 2018cow was a very powerful astronomical explosion, 10–100 times brighter than a normal supernova, spatially coincident with galaxy CGCG 137-068, approximately 200 million ly (60 million pc) distant in the Hercules constellation. It was discovered on 16 June 2018 by the ATLAS-HKO telescope, and had generated significant interest among astronomers throughout the world. Later, on 10 July 2018, and after AT 2018cow had significantly faded, astronomers, based on follow-up studies with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), formally described AT 2018cow as SN 2018cow, a type Ib supernova, showing an "unprecedented spectrum for a supernova of this class"; although others, mostly at first but also more recently, have referred to it as a type Ic-BL supernova. An explanation to help better understand the unique features of AT 2018cow has been presented. AT2018cow is one of the few reported Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) observed in the Universe. In May 2020, however, a much more powerful FBOT than AT2018cow was reportedly observed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1325</span> Galaxy in the constellation Eridanus

NGC 1325 is a flocculent spiral galaxy situated in the constellation of Eridanus. Located about 75 million light years away, it is a member of the Eridanus cluster of galaxies, a cluster of about 200 galaxies. It was discovered by William Herschel on 19 December 1799.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fast blue optical transient</span> Astronomical observation

In astronomy, a fast blue optical transient (FBOT) is an explosion event similar to supernovas and Gamma-ray bursts which presents high optical luminosity between those but rises and decays faster and has its spectra concentrated on the blue range. It is caused by some very high-energy astrophysical process not yet understood but thought to be a type of supernova with events occurring at not more than 0.1% of the typical rate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nova Cassiopeiae 2021</span> Nova in the constellation Cassiopeia seen in 2021

Nova Cassiopeiae 2021, also known V1405 Cassiopeiae, was a nova in the constellation Cassiopeia. It reached a peak brightness of magnitude 5.449 on May 9, 2021, making it visible to the naked eye. It was discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Nakamura of Kameyama, Japan, at 10:10 UT on March 18, 2021. The nova was first seen by Nakamura in four 15 second CCD exposures with a 135mm F/4 lens, when it was at magnitude 9.3. Nothing was seen brighter than magnitude 13.0 with the same equipment in exposures taken at 10:12 UT on March 14, 2021. For the first seven months after discovery, the nova's brightness stayed at a rough plateau, fading and rebrightening at least eight times; it is considered a very slow nova. After the seven month long series of peaks, Nova Cassiopeiae began a linear decline in brightness. This nova has been detected throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to gamma rays.

References

  1. ↑ Rutledge, R. (June 1998). "The Astronomer's Telegram: A Web-based Short-Notice Publication System for the Professional Astronomical Community". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 110 (748): 754–756. arXiv: astro-ph/9802256 . Bibcode:1998PASP..110..754R. doi:10.1086/316184. ISSN   0004-6280.
  2. ↑ Michael J. Way; Jeffrey D. Scargle; Kamal M. Ali; Ashok N. Srivastava (29 March 2012). Advances in Machine Learning and Data Mining for Astronomy. CRC Press. pp. 50–. ISBN   978-1-4398-4173-0.
  3. ↑ Gamma signature, Astronomer's Telegram cast light on dazzling blazar,Symmetry, 30 April 2009
  4. ↑ Josep M. Paredes; Olaf Reimer; Diego F. Torres (12 November 2007). The Multi-Messenger Approach to High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources: Third Workshop on the Nature of Unidentified High-Energy Sources. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 5–. ISBN   978-1-4020-6117-2.
  5. ↑ Mark R. Kidger; I. Pérez-Fournon; Francisco Sánchez (1999). Internet Resources for Professional Astronomy: Proceedings of the IX Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics. CUP Archive. pp. 24–. ISBN   978-0-521-66308-3.
  6. 1 2 Fox, Derek B. "A Transient Astronomy "Free for All" at The Astronomer's Telegram". Caltech. VO Events Meeting. Archived from the original (ppt) on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Rutledge, Robert E. (1 June 1998). "The Astronomer's Telegram: A Web‐based Short‐Notice Publication System for the Professional Astronomical Community". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 110 (748): 754–756. arXiv: astro-ph/9802256 . Bibcode:1998PASP..110..754R. doi:10.1086/316184.
  8. ↑ "Policies". Astronomer's Telegram. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  9. ↑ Dunsby, Peter (28 March 2018). "Very bright optical transient near the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae". The Astronomer's Telegram.
  10. ↑ "For 40 minutes he thought he had discovered a new object, but it turned out to be Mars". Newsweek. 2018-03-22. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  11. ↑ "ATel on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  12. ↑ Godlewski, Nina (22 March 2018). "Professor who mistook Mars for new space object is glad his mistake made some people smile". Newsweek.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.