The research at GAL Hassin is carried out through two robotic telescopes named Galhassin Robotic Telescope 1 (GRT 1) and Galhassin Robotic Telescope 2 (GRT2).

The Corrado Lamberti Astrograph and the Wide-field Mufara Telescope (WMT), the latter located on Mount Mufara (1865 meters) will become operational in the coming months.

GALHASSIN ROBOTIC TELESCOPE 1 (GRT1)

The Galhassin Robotic Telescope 1 (GRT1) is a reflector telescope in Ritchey-Chrétien (RC) optical configuration, fast, made by Officina Stellare, with 400 mm aperture and f3.8 focal ratio and equipped with a large field of 83x83arcmin corrected thanks to the integrated leveller.

The telescope is placed on a 10 micron GM3000-HPS mount, which allows tracking with an accuracy of 1″/15 min and a maximum pointing speed of about 10°/sec.

The optical train is composed of a focuser, an FLI filter wheel with 10 housings currently occupied by four L-RGB filters, four SLOAN photometric filters u’, g’, r’, z_2s and two narrowband filters OIII and H-alpha. Finally, the camera is an FLI ProLine 16803, with a 52 mm diagonal KAF-16803 sensor and 4096×4096 9 μm pixels, for a resolution of 1.22″/px.

GRT1 is currently located in a 3 m astronomical dome purchased through funds awarded by The Planetary Society (Pasadena, California), which selected GAL Hassin as one of the 2019 Shoemaker NEO Grant winners with $11,700 in funding.

Along with the dome, it was possible to purchase two devices for time synchronization of the PC clocks controlling GRT1. The entire instrumentation is fully remote and able to start, point and begin the observation of a target within 7 minutes.

The GRT1 is mainly dedicated to the confirmation and monitoring of Near Earth Objects (NEO), Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNO) and comets.

GALHASSIN ROBOTIC TELESCOPE 2

The Galhassin Robotic Telescope 2 (GRT2) became operational in early 2020, completely built on a project developed by Carmelo Falco, who is also finishing the Corrado Lamberti Astrograph. It will become operational at GAL Hassin in 2021.

The optical configuration Ritchey-Chrétien is a standard configuration; the primary mirror is parabolic with a focal f/8 much longer than conventional. This allowed the instrument to operate without correctors. The GRT2 is equipped with a camera of absolute excellence with a CCD sensor KAF-16803, 36.9mm x 36.9mm.

The GRT2 is a very performing instrument in the search for exoplanetary transits and photometry in general, particularly in the search for unknown variable stars.

Wide-field Mufara Telescope (WMT)

The Wide-field Mufara Telscope (WMT) is the future of research at GAL Hassin.

It is a 1-meter wide-field telescope, a world prototype for this kind of observational instrument. Its location on the top of Mount Mufara, at 1865 meters of altitude, makes it even more special, giving it the record of highest observatory in Italy.

The low latitude and high elevation of the site will offer an unique position for the study of a region of sky up to DEC ~ -40° declinations – usually inaccessible to the telescopes of the northern hemisphere – and of the Galactic Center. This region is full of stars and energetic events of great astrophysical interest. Among them, the supermassive black hole of 4 million times the mass of our Sun.

The WMT is a unique and versatile instrument, suitable for multiple research activities: from the discovery of asteroids potentially dangerous for the Earth to the tracking of large and medium-sized space debris, from the detection of optical counterparts of gravitational waves to the discovery and characterization of exoplanets through the method of transits, from the detection and photometric follow-up of novae events to the study of galactic and extragalactic variable sources.
Objects and phenomena completely different, but all “transient events”, i.e. characterized by rapid changes in position or brightness. Variations that the WMT is able to capture thanks to its wide- field of observation, as large as 25 full moons.

The WMT will also be an excellent tool for the immediate confirmation of the detections provided by the future NEOSTED telescope (also called FlyEye) of the European Space Agency (ESA), which will be located at a short distance from the WMT, on Mount Mufara, within the next 5 years.