ROITSE-III performance in the swift era

Yost S. A., Rykoff E. S., Aharonian F., Akerlof C. W., Ashley M. C. B., Barthelmy S., ...More

16th Annual Astrophysics Conference, Washington, Kiribati, 29 November - 02 December 2005, vol.836, pp.349-350 identifier

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • Volume: 836
  • City: Washington
  • Country: Kiribati
  • Page Numbers: pp.349-350
  • Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

We report the successful performance of the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) to promptly-disseminated Swift GRB triggers. ROTSE-III is a worldwide network of 4 unfiltered 0.45m optical telescopes. The telescopes operate robotically, automatically responding to GRB position triggers with a preset observations sequence. Including weather and other downtime, ROTSE-III can immediately respond to similar to 40% of Swift trigger positions, with shutter open within approximately 6-8 seconds from the trigger dissemination. We discuss improvements made possible in the automated response the the small, accurate Swift error boxes. We report ROTSE-III's general results, including OTs discovered or confirmed, the distribution of imaging start times relative to the GRB duration, and an overview of OT lightcurves.