An Introduction to the Semi-Automatic Lulin Wide-Field Telescope

Abstract

Lulin Wide-field Telescope (LWT, with Minor Planet Center Observatory Code of D37) is a newly installed telescope at the Lulin Observatory. LWT consist of a 0.4m astrograph, with a focal ratio of 3.8, and a large format CCD, providing a ~2 degree squared field-of-view. LWT is joining the trend of automating telescopes in the world. Software packages that enable automatic observations for LWT include commercial software such as The SkyX, MaxIm DL and ACP Observatory Control Software (ACP), as well as in-house developed python codes. The Se python codes will generate an observing script executed by ACP to perform automatic observations. We presented the measured limiting magnitude of LWT. At an exposure time of 300 second, LWT can reach to a depth of 19.1 magnitude in V-band (under new moon). We also presented our successful efforts of tracking and follow-up observations of one near Earth asteroid, 2004 XP14, with LWT on 03 January 2019.