News Archive
28 Oct
2011
PIRATE impresses at PTST inauguration. See
full story here.
8 Oct
2011
PIRATE concept paper appeared in this month's
BAA journal.
10 Sept
2011
PIRATE captures pinwheel moments before explosion.
See full news item.
24 Aug
2011
PIRATE commissioning paper accepted
for publication in PASP. See preprint on
astro-ph.
First light with new main camera.
PIRATE boasts a new SBIG STX-16803 camera with 4kx4k 9 microns pixels. The first light image of the moon image demonstrates the large field of view.
15 June 2011
2011 campaign of OU module “Astrophysics†draws to a close, after 32 out of 42 observing nights were useable for differential photometry; 20 nights delivered long, good-quality time series of periodic variable stars.
4 April 2011
PIRATE web pages updated
to reflect current status of PIRATE Mark 2. Also cloud sensor chart added to S382 tab.
1 April 2011
PIRATE's big brother dome arrives
Hamburg University's PTST 4.5 dome takes pride of place on OAM west tower - to the left on OAM webcam.
December 2010
PIRATE Mark 2 now four months in operation
In August 2010 PIRATE's optical tube assembly was upgraded to a 17 inch Planewave CDK17. PIRATE Mark 2 delivers high-quality data.
July 2010
Partnership signed in Palma de Mallorca
Read full press
release.
20 July
2010
New website design by Stefan Holmes.
26 June 2010
PIRATE discovers nova in M31.
See The
Astronomer's Telegram.
June 2010 -
Seasonal view of M51
by Stefan Holmes
May 2010
-
PIRATE contributes to Hubble Space Telescope discovery of a
star eating its planet.
More
details and scientific paper.
April
2010 -
Successful start of S382. Twentyfive students are
using PIRATE in turn for time-series photometry of periodic
variable stars.
January
2010 -
PIRATE co-discovers first M31
nova of 2010
and
confirms a second M31 nova. See IAU
CBET entries
and PUBLICATIONS
tab for copy of IAU discovery telegram CBET 2124.
4 November 2009 -
PIRATE confirms nova in M31
see IAU
CBAT entry and
Rochester
Extragalactic Novae page.
24
October 2009 -
PIRATE featured at MK
Science Festival's MoonDay.
18
October 2009 -
PIRATE All-Sky camera witnesses rocket fuel dump.
Click
here to see movie.
See also spaceweather.com
September
2009 -
PIRATE website updated
to reflect the new Baader Planetarium
All-Sky
3.5 m dome.
Experimental new web page design. Several links and
diagnostics are still off-line after a recent lightning strike
at the OAM. Software installation continues.
19 August
2009 -
Presentation on PIRATE at the
GIREP-EPEC 2009
conference. See the new Publciations tab.
August
2009 -
PIRATE is in its new dome!
See the webcam views (Home tab). Software installation
continues.
July 2009 -
PIRATE to move into a new
dome! PIRATE will move into a new 3.5 m All-Sky
clamshell dome by Baader Planetarium. Preparations are in full
swing.
Main OAM dome is being dismantled.
New foundation, ready to take new dome.
June 2, 2009 -
Live demonstration
of PIRATE to the Astronomy Club.
M82 (2/6/3009)
May 5, 2009 -
PIRATE measures transit of
exoplanet.
XO-1 lightcurve 28/3/2009 (Holmes)
Click
here for the full news item on the departmental webpage.
March 31, 2009 -
PIRATE featured in a lecture
on Robotic Telescopes by Ulrich Kolb in
Rickmansworth for the South
West Herts Astronomical Society. The connection to the
weather sensors was lost about one hour before the talk, and a
rain storm approaching from the south looked perilously close
on the satellite images. Luckily, a slightly out-of-focus
image of M51 could be taken live, to the delight of the
audience.
M51 (27/3/3009)
August 2, 2008 -
remote operation and commissioning underway
M57 (Burwitz & Kolb)
July 22, 2008 -
new PIRATE webpage design
May 2, 2008 - OU -
OU
news item