Tenagra Observatories, Ltd.

Ad astra per aspera.

Never give up.  Never surrender.

..

Welcome to the Tenagra Observatories Website.  This is an overview of the kind of work done at Tenagra and the telescope we have available for outside use.  If you are a student and want a relatively small amount of work done please check our pro bono section.  Prospective University and College users always get free time on the telescope to determine whether or not Tenagra suits their needs and to establish exposure times appropriate to their research design.  We welcome your suggestions and comments.

In addition to the Tenagra site south of Tucson Arizona there are two satellite Tenagra stations.  The first is run by Paul Luckas in Western Australia (www.jazzistentialism.com/observatory/tenagra.html) and is primarily concerned with NEO hunting and follow-up.  The second is run by Odd Trondal in Oslo, Norway (www.geocities.com/Odd_Trondal/index.html) who continues searching for supernovae.

FOR CURRENT WEATHER CONDITIONS AT TENAGRA CLICK HERE.

What's New?

The Tenagra II Telescope, House and Land for Sale

April 4, 2008.  The Tenagra II 32" system is for sale. It will be available June, 2009.  Interested parties should contact Michael Schwartz by e-mail (mbs@tenagraobservatories.com) or call 520-287-7893, UT - 7. PLEASE look at the Tenagra II 32" specifications and answer basic questions by searching this web site.  Price for telescope, dome, land and custom house together is $1.5 million.  This is the only telescope of its kind in the world made for 100% automated imaging and spectroscopy.  To our knowledge it is also the only telescope in the world that has shown significant profit selling time to academic and other institutions, grossing over 6 figures per season for the last 3 seasons.  It can be used manually. There is no way to put an eyepiece on this scope.  The complex includes 2 additional domes that currently are not in use. The house ~2500 sq. feet, is adobe & wood (traditional southwest style), 3 bedrooms with a library on 36 acres with a 360 degree view and great seeing. One of the bedrooms is currently a control room. There is an adjacent 36 area plot for expansion.   If you wish to purchase the adjacent 36 acres to the north, the total price for all land, telescope, 3 domes, house and all accessories is $1.7 million.  The telescope and dome(s) may be purchased separately if you wish to move them to another site.  The cost for the scope and all accessories is $795,000.  Tenagra Observatories will entertain payments over time if the the buyer has suitable credit.  Dr. James Wray, the designer of the Tenagra II telescope, Dr. Paulo Holvorcem, the author of the the MU and TAO automated systems and Chris Houghten of Astrometrics will continue to support the hardware and software on the Tenagra II system whether it is moved to another site or it stays in S. Arizona.

April 2, 2008.  Dr. Rachel Street (working at Las Cumbres, this and next year's Tenagra 100% user) has announced 10 new planets discovered in part through their use of the Tenagra II 32" telescope.  This is an extraordinary contribution to the number of exo-planets discovered and we are proud that the Tenagra 32" is a major player!  Click here.

April 2, 2008.  The Tenagra station in W. Australia, run by Paul Luckas, discovers SN2008bq.  Odd Trondal, of Tenagra, Norway, performed the automated analysis to spot the SNe.

February 17, 2008.  The Tenagra II 32" telescope time has already been sold out for the 2008-2009 observing season.  Contact Michael Schwartz if you wish to use any other Tenagra telescopes.

October 6, 2007.   Long lost asteroid 6344 P-L was co-recovered as 2007 RR9 by SETI (http:/aurigid.seti.org:80) and Tenagra Observatories Western Australia station.  This is a potentially hazardous "dead" comet nucleus.  See the news section at SETI and an animated GIF made by Paulo Holvorcem requested by SETI: http:/aurigid.seti.org:80/2007_RR9_071003.gif

October 3, 2007.  Paulo Holvercem and Paul Luckas (Tenagra W. Australia) cooperate to recover 2000 TH1.  It  was found 9.8 deg from the nominal position.  If it had been 3 FOVs further out from the nominal position, it would have been missed. The search covered 21 deg along the recovery line, 10.5 deg on each side of the
nominal position.  Paulo Holvorcem and Paul Luckas once again show that when working as a team the most difficult recoveries are possible.  Congratulations to Paulo and Paul, a true intercontinental cooperation under the Tenagra name.  Without such marvelous cooperation this NEO would certainly have been lost.

October 2, 2007.  Congratulations to Peter and and friends from Sternwarte Aichwald in Germany.  He and his coworkers are starting a new observatory for public work, including imaging.  They will use the 102 CD DSS set to compare to their telescope galaxy images.  Good luck Peter!

September 21, 2007.  Congratulations to Mark Johnson and friends from San Jose, CA, for writing a beautiful message about how he can use RealSky on his notebook for his own visual observations and those of his friends.  He has chased down Stephan's Quintet of galaxies with his C11!  We hope that further use of RealSky will help him find those "fuzzies" and that he and his friends keep holding public nights.  Good luck Mark!  The 102 CD set of the DSS is still available to interested parties.

August 31, 2007.  FREE!  We have a copy of RealSky and the DSS (102 CD Digital Sky Survey) free to the first amateurs who request them by writing a paragraph or two about what they will do with them.  We will even pay the shipping.  Both sets of CDs are made from the original Palomar Sky Survey (and UK Schmidt in Australia for the southern sky).  We are simply not using them and would like to see them go to an individual or club who would use them for research or fun.  Send your submission to Michael Schwartz at mbs@tenagraobservatories.com. 

August 13, 2007.   Tenagra Observatories Western Australia recovers MP 2002SV not far from the southern celestial pole:

K02S00V  C2007 08 11.88203 03 56 22.13 -76 48 40.3          19.3 R EP041D21
K02S00V  C2007 08 11.88652 03 56 19.02 -76 48 40.0          19.2 R EP041D21
K02S00V  C2007 08 11.89029 03 56 16.26 -76 48 39.0          19.1 R EP041D21
K02S00V  C2007 08 12.88581 03 45 03.37 -76 43 39.2          18.3 R EP041D21
K02S00V  C2007 08 12.88933 03 45 00.88 -76 43 38.3          18.8 R EP041D21
K02S00V  C2007 08 12.89284 03 44 57.83 -76 43 37.5          19.2 R EP041D21

Observer details:
D21 Shenton Park.  Observers P. Luckas, P. R. Holvorcem, M. Schwartz.
    Measurer P. R. Holvorcem.  0.35-m f/9.4 Schmidt-Cassegrain + CCD.
 

August 10, 2007.   Tenagra Observatories is honored by long-time user, J.C. Merlin of France, who has named one of his asteroid discoveries after us.   Henceforth, asteroid 2005 UD4 discovered 2005 Oct. 26 by Jean-Claude Merlin at Tenagra II will be known as asteroid "(155142) Tenagra" with the following official citation:  "The name Tenagra comes from a mythic island in a Star Trek series episode.  It is an exploration of how far people can go in the spirit of cooperation.  The Tenagra observatories are operated by Michael Schwartz and Paulo Holvorcem.  This minor planet has been found from the discoverer's home in France with the fully robotic 32 inch (81 cm) telescope of the Nogales station (Arizona)." 

Thank you, Jean-Claude for honoring us.  We are flattered and appreciative.  We really do thank you for your patronage and support.
 

June 19, 2007.   Tenagra creates another "first" by fully automating the 14" telescope at Tenagra, W. Australia, as an MP/Comet hunting system.  It is a totally automated system for moving object search and detection.  Scheduling and moving object detection software by Paulo Holvorcem reports ONLY true moving objects from the W. Australia site.  Paul Luckas, the operator of Tenagra W. Australia, has done an excellent job of upgrading the computers and reducing the focal length such that this project can cover as much sky as possible.  Bravo Paul and Paulo!  Anyone interested in using a Paramount-based system for totally automated moving object detection should contact Paulo Holvorcem at holvorcem@mpc.com.br.

April 1, 2007.  Tenagra hosts team of French astronomers for observation of the occultation of a star by Pluto.  We had a great time!  Good company, fine cooperation and good science.  All photography courtesy Dr. Bruno Sicardy: 

http://calys.obspm.fr/~sicardy/18_march_07_photos/Tenagra/index.html
 

March 15, 2007.  The Tenagra station in W. Australia, run by Paul Luckas, discovers SN2007as close to the southern galactic pole.  Odd Trondal, of Tenagra in Norway, performed the automated analysis to spot the SNe.

March 11, 2007.  How busy can a fully automated telescope get?  Here are some stats for the Tenagra II 32" this year (from November 1, 2006 to March 11, 2007):

125 active nights out of 131 clear nights (95.4% up time)
25,592 slews
Total slew distance in RA: 113,448.6 degrees
Total slew distance in Dec: 107,829.8 degrees
804 bias frames
620 dark frames
4,481 flat fields
18,455 science exposures
563.63 h of total science exposure time
11,559 filter changes
1,229 automated focusings

September 24, 2006.  Professor Michael Joner of Brigham Young University snaps the RR Lyrae variables (shown in blue) in globular cluster M15 using the Tenagra II 32" telescope.  The period of RR Lyrae variables is an excellent predictor of distance to the cluster.  The image looks pixelated because it has been reduced for display.

How Does the Tenagra II 32" Telescope Work?

Tenagra Overview and Services.

 Requesting Observing Time.

Pro Bono Telescope Time.

Who Are We?

Telescope Site.