One night’s observing with SuperWASP will generate a vast amount of data, up to 60 GB – about the size of a typical modern computer hard disk (or 42000 floppy disks). This data is then processed using sophisticated software and stored in a public database within the Leicester Database and Archive Service of the University of Leicester.
The Principal Investigator for the Project, Dr Don Pollacco (Queens University Belfast), said, “While the construction and initial commissioning phases of the facility have been only 9 months long, SuperWASP represents the culmination of many years work from astronomers within the WASP consortium. Data from SuperWASP will lead to exciting progress in many areas of astronomy, ranging from the discovery of planets around nearby stars to the early detection of other classes of variable objects such as supernovae in distant galaxies.”
Dr Ren Rutten (Director of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes) said, “SuperWASP is a very nice example of how clever ideas to exploit the latest technology can open new windows to explore the universe around us, and shows that important scientific programmes can be done at very modest cost.”
The history of the project over the last ten years includes the exciting discovery of the Sodium Tail of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997.
The SuperWASP facility is operated by the WASP consortium involving astronomers from the following institutes: Queen’s University Belfast, University of Cambridge, Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias, Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (La Palma), University of Keele, University of Leicester, Open University and University of St Andrews.
The SuperWASP instrument has cost approximately 400K and was funded by major financial contributions from Queen’s University Belfast, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and the Open University. SuperWASP is located in the Spanish Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, Canary Islands, which is operated by the Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias (IAC).
SuperWASP has a novel optical design comprising up to eight scientific cameras (currently starting operation with five cameras), each resembling in operation a household digital camera, and collectively attached to a conventional telescope mount. SuperWASP has a field-of-view some 2000 times greater than a conventional astronomical telescope. The instrument, which will eventually be capable of running under robotic control, is housed in its own customised building.