Observation scheduling and automatic data reduction for the Antarctic telescope, ASTEP+

• Published in: Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems IX
• Main Authors: Dransfield, Georgina, Mekarnia, Djamel, Triaud, Amaury, Guillot, Tristan, Abe, Lyu, García, Lionel, Timmermans, Mathilde, Crouzet, Nicolas, Schmider, François-Xavier, Agabi, Abdelkarim, Suarez, Olga, Bendjoya, Philippe, Guenther, Maximilian, Lai, Olivier, Martin, Bruno, Stee, Philippe
• Other Authors: School of Physics and Astronomy Birmingham, University of Birmingham Birmingham, Joseph Louis LAGRANGE (LAGRANGE), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Université Côte d'Azur (UCA)-Université Côte d'Azur (UCA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Astrophysics and Geophysics Institute Liège, Université de Liège, Parc National des Calanques, ESA - ESTEC (Netherlands), Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation (CFHT), National Research Council of Canada (NRC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-University of Hawai'i Honolulu (UH), ESA Scientific Support Office, Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: Exoplanets; Transit; TTV; Antarctica; TESS; ExoFOP; Photometry; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Antarctic; Austral; Canada; Concordia Station; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04106813; https://hal.science/hal-04106813/document; https://hal.science/hal-04106813/file/2208.04501%281%29.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629920

The possibility to observe transiting exoplanets from Dome C in Antarctica provides immense benefits: stable weather conditions, limited atmospheric turbulence, and a night that lasts almost three months due to the austral winter. However, this site also presents significant limitations, such as limited access for maintenance and internet speeds of only a few KB/s. This latter factor means that the approximately 6 TB of data collected annually must be processed on site automatically, with only final data products being sent once a day to Europe. In this context, we present the current state of operations of ASTEP+, a 40 cm optical telescope located at Concordia Station in Antarctica. Following a successful summer campaign, ASTEP+ has begun the 2022 observing season with a brand-new two-colour photometer with increased sensitivity. A new Python data analysis pipeline installed on a dedicated server in Concordia will significantly improve the precision of the extracted photometry, enabling us to get higher signal-to-noise transit detections. The new pipeline additionally incorporates automatic transit modelling to reduce the amount of manual post-processing required. It also handles the automatic daily transfer of the photometric lightcurves and control data to Europe. Additionally, we present the Python and web-based systems used for selection and scheduling of transit observations; these systems have wide applicability for the scheduling of other astronomical observations with strong time constraints. We also review the type of science that ASTEP+ will be conducting and analyse how unique ASTEP+ is to exoplanet transit research.