The multi-frequency robotic facility REM: first results

Author(s): Covino, S; Zerbi, FM; Chincarini, G; et al.

Conference: 3rd Potsdam Thinkshop Meeting on Robotic Astronomy Location: Potsdam, GERMANY Date: JUL 12-15, 2004

Source: ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN  Volume: 325   Issue: 6-8   Pages: 543-548   DOI: 10.1002/asna.200410276   Published: 2004

The REM Observatory, recently installed and commissioned at la Silla Observatory Chile, is the first moderate aperture robotic telescope able to cover simultaneously the visible-NIR (0.45-2.3 microns) wavelength range. Due to its very fast pointing and its full robotization REM is conceived for fast transients observation. The high throughput Infrared Camera (REMIR) and the Visible imaging spectrograph (ROSS), simultaneously fed by a dichroic, allow to collect high S/N data in an unprecedented large spectral range on a telescope of this size. The REM observatory is an example of a versatile and agile facility necessary complement to large telescopes in fields in which rapid response and/or target pre-screening are necessary. This paper describes the principal Characteristics and operation modes of the REM observatory and gives on overview of the preliminary results obtained during the commissioning phase.