BIG SCIENCE WITH SMALL TELESCOPES
The role of 2- to 4-Meter Telescopes in the Era of Large and
Extremely Large Telescopes
19 - 22 October 2010, Dornburg castle, Germany
Two members of the AOB staff, Dr. Milan Bogosavljević and Dr. Oliver Vince participated recently in the work of the meeting held in Dornburg, near Jena, Germany. Their main contribution at this meeting was a poster presentation entitled: "The Milanković Telescope Project: A Robotic Observatory in Serbia". Their poster presented the current status of our most recent effort towards the design and construction of the “Milanković” Telescope, a 1.5-meter class telescope to be constructed at Astronomical Station Vidojevica, near Prokuplje, Serbia.
The poster is given here. The construction of this instrument is a key part of the project BELISSIMA. The exhibition of this poster about our project has led to a number of discussions with researches both from Europe and from overseas. The main goals of these discussions were:
1) To inform the wider scientific community about the “Milanković” telescope project;
2) To create the basis for future research collaborations between AOB and leading European institutions;
3) With the aim to make the new telescope complementary to the existing astronomical infrastructure in Europe we have consulted a number of experts in the field of modern observatory technical design;
4) To identify a broader range of research topics where 1.5m-class telescopes can provide a substantial contribution.
Our project has met with overall support, with a number of researchers in the field expressing their willingness to participate in future planned events (e.g. workshops and a conference) to be organized by AOB within the scope of the BELISSIMA project and provide expert advice during the design stage of telescope “Milanković”. In this regard, the following contacts are of special note:
1. Dr. Iain Steele, Director, Liverpool Telescope
2. Dr. Michael Weber, Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, Stella Robotic Observatory
3. Dr. Igor Di Varano, Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam
4. Dr. Yiannis Tsapras, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
5. Dr. Avi Shporer, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
6. Dr. Gavin Ramsay, Armagh Observatory
7. Dr. ShaoMing Hu, Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
8. Dr. Ulrich Hopp, University Observatory Munich and MPE Garching
9. Dr.Yan Haojing, Ohio State University, USA
10. Dr. Željko Ivezić, University of Washington, USA
From left to right: Dr. Milan Bogosavljević and Dr. Oliver Vince in front of their poster at the meeting in Dornburg castle.
