We analyzed the current status of the telescope control system (TCS2) of the 1.8 m telescope in Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO), and suggest a new TCS (TCS3) for the long term development of BOAO. The TCS2 was constructed in 1998 to replace the TCS1 which was installed with the telescope itself at the commencement of BOAO. One of the important parts of TCS is PMAC (Programmable Multi-Axis Controller), which is a general-purpose multi-axis motion controller. PMAC provides the direct interactive communication environment permitting users to command the controller directly with simple operations. This makes the setup, debugging, and diagnostics very easy. The TCS2 was operated stable for a long time, but the hardware and TCS computers have been deteriorated and are out of date now. The new TCS3 needs to be constructed based on a modern computer system. And functions such as pre-calculations of telescope limiting position, interworking with virtual observatory tools, and using GUI, etc should be added. Construction of the TCS3 will be a step creating a better observation environment for the Korean astronomical society.
Even though 30inch optical telescope at Kyung Hee Astronomy Observatory has been used to produce a series of scientific achievements since its first light in 1992, numerous difficulties in operating of the telescope have hindered the precise observations needed for further researches. Since the currently used PC-TCS(Personal Computer based Telescope Control System) software based on ISA-bus type is outdated, it doesn't have a user friendly interface and make it impossible to scale. Also accumulated errors which are generated by discordance from input and output signals into a motion controller required new control system. Thus we have improved the telescope control system by updating software and modifying mechanical parts. We applied a new BLDC(brushless DC) servo motor system to the mechanical parts of the telescope and developed a control software using Visual Basic6.0. As a result, we could achieve a high accuracy in controlling of the telescope and use the user friendly GUI(Graphic User Interface).
We have improved the control and driving system of 16' reflector at Kwanak Observatory at Seoul National University, by completing encoder unit, and by developing programs for correction of errors resulting from hardware defects. The hardware defects of this telescope system are the large backlash and the nonuniform tracking and pointing. The telescope pointing accuracy for RA is improved to a few arc minutes, and that for DEC is several tens of arc minutes. The guiding error is improved to 0.7 arcsec/minute, allowing up to 3 minutes exposure for CCD imaging under typical seeing conditions at the Observatory.
We have constructed a synthetic spectrum of the 2.5 micron C2H C2H bands and compared them with diminutive structures in the near-infrared spectra of Comets P/Halley and West (1976 VI). We found that the Q branches of the C2H C2H bands coincide with two small emission peaks in the spectra of the comets. We undertook Monte Carlo simulations using observed emission intensities of C2 C2 and possibly C2H C2H in Comet P/Halley in order to derive a lifetime range of C2H C2H and a production rate at the time of observations of P/Halley. We obtained a C2H C2H production rate of 1×1027sec−1 1×1027sec−1 for P/Halley on December 20, 1985, assuming the 2.5 micron features are due to C2H C2H . We derived a very short lifetime (<100 seconds) of C2H C2H at 1AU heliocentric distance, assuming that the only parent molecule for C2H C2H and C2 C2 is C2H C2H . Using this short lifetime we were unable to fit our C2 C2 distribution model to C2 C2 distribution curves observed by O'Dell et al.(1988), because our curve shows a steep slope compared with the observed one. We conclude that there must be significant additional source(s) for C2H C2H and C2 C2 other than C2H2 C2H2 .
In this paper we describe MS-TCS, the telescope control system which was developed in Korea Astronomy Observatory. MS-TCS can control an equatorial type telescope equipped with stepping motors and incremental type optical encoders. MS-TCS consists of (1) POINT_TEL which is the program roning in a PC and (2) TCS-196 which is the electroics board to control the telescope. The communication between the PC and TCS-l96 is done through RS-232 or RS-422 serial line. MS-TCS can control the secondary mirror and dome. It also provide network function using TCP/IP for remote control of the telescope. MS-TCS is suitable for controlling medium to small size telescope for research and education.
As a continuing effort to develop an automatic control system for small telescope, we developed the software for telescope control and CCD observations under DOS operating system. For accurate pointing of the telescope in short amount of time, we modelled the angular speed of the telescope by aquadratic function of time (constant acceleration) for the first 15 second and then linear function of time (zero acceleration) aftwewards. By changing the telescope speed from 'slew' to 'fine' before the telescope reaches the desired position, we could achieve the accuracy of a few arcsecond. The CCD control software was written for model CCD-10 of CCD Technology. This CCD can be used for guiding purposes. We also conducted the study for remote control of the telescope using telephone line. Although it cannot be used for real observations at the present form, we succeded in remotely pointing the telescope to desired direction. As faster communication technologies become widely available, simple observations can be made remotely in the near future. Finally we report some observational results made with the present control system.