Activities
Overview
The observatory is setup to autonomously schedule, acquire and process images, on every clear night of the year. Custom written software is employed to search for minor planets (both known and unknown, in near real time. At the end of every night, observations of known minor planets and completed sky coverage plots are sent to the Minor Planet Centre.
Minor Planet Survey
The observatory's Minor Planet Survey autonomously searches for fast moving Near Earth Objects (NEA) on a nightly basis using a 14" wide-field (F/1.9) Cassegrain telescope. A smaller 10" Ritchey-Chretien telescope is employed independently for discovery confirmation of newly discovered minor planets by professional Sky Surveys such as Catalina Sky Survey and PANSTARRS. The official code of the observatory, assigned by the Minor Planet Centre (MPC) is U55.
Transient Survey
The Golden Ears Observatory Transient Survey (GEOTS) searches for new variable stars and cataclysmic events such as Nova, Dwarf nova and Supernova. Several discoveries made by the observatory have been confirmed by the orbiting GAIA space observatory. The observatory also confirms transient discoveries made by professional Sky Surveys such as the Zwicky Transient Facility and ASAS-SN Sky Patrol.
Meteor Survey
An All Sky Camera System installed at the observatory, consisting of 7 high resolution ccd cameras and a linux computer, monitors the night sky continuously from dusk to dawn and shares time of impact, astrometry and photometry data of bright meteors and Bolides with the American Meteor Society (AMS) on a daily basis. The AMS Code for the Golden Observatory Meteor Survey is AMS126.
Solar Astronomy
All Solar observations are done using a Quark Chromosphere Ha filter mounted on a large 6-inch Refractor telescope.
Astrophotography
Several telescopes are used for Astrophotography depending on the type of the deep space objects imaged. Pixinsight is used to post process images.
Space Situational Awareness
Several Canadian Government funded research has been carried out at the site using state-of-the-art detectors for detection and classification of Geostationary and Low Earth Orbiting Satellites both in day and night.