Getting Started

The Andreas Michalitsianos Telescope

The Andreas Michalitsianos is a 60cm Cassegrain type remotely controlled robotic telescope. It consists of a fully autonomous computerized telescope, automated enclosure, meteorological sensors, and a large format imaging CCD camera with photometric filters as well as a fleet of peripheral instruments currently under construction.

The facility is located 16 km SE of Argostoli, Kefallonia Island, Greece at a plateau 600m below the peak of mount Ainos (height 1628m). It is housed in a former military communications base of the Hellenic Air Force, 30.000 m² in extend, donated to the "Eudoxos" establishment.

All equipment is completely controlled by two central computers which communicate via a local ISP to the participating secondary schools and institutions. An innovative automated telescope control and analysis software system controls the entire installation which is backup-powered by 4x15-kW emergency generators.

The Andreas Michalitsianos Telescope was constructed by TORUS Technologies USA according to the specifications set by the "Eudoxos" collaboration. It is a computer-controlled classical cassegrain telescope system designed for serious research. The optics, mechanical construction, and control system are of the highest-quality. The tracking, pointing accuracy, and precision of this telescope system are extraordinary, making them ideal for CCD imaging, search programs requiring high repeatability, remote operation, automated operation, and other demanding applications. The Andreas Michalitsianos Telescope control system supports observations through internet and is governed by ΛETAM an evolved version of "TALON", in such a way that highly successful robotic observatory software is linked with one of the most sophisticated and powerful control systems designed for ASTs.

A Web-based interface allows anyone with internet access to select, observe, and retrieve their own astronomical images.

The Telescope was named "Andreas Michalitsianos" to honour the memory of Andreas Michalitsianos (1947-1997) the eminent Cephalonian Astrophysicist and Director of the Laboratory for Astronomy & Solar Physics of NASA, not only symbolically -for his early contact with robotic astronomy at Kitt Peak (in the-70s)- but for his profound scientific originality, experimental skills and steep rise in astronomy since the age of 16, which offers a unique bright paradigm to the younger generation.