FZU operates a total of 5 FRAM robotic telescopes at 3 locations around the world. Thanks to them, we have a map of the entire night sky with the best resolution in the world. The whole image is composed of more than 512,000 individual images (about 16 TB).
The maps are bilingual, containing Czech and English names of constellations, the most famous stars and deep-sky objects such as nebulae, star clusters and galaxies. You can use the maps as a unique teaching tool and an interesting interior decoration.
See the data in the Aladin online sky atlas or download the PDF map:
We have also produced the maps in paper form – separate views of the southern and northern sky, each 1x1 m in size. The limited edition of the printed map is available for purchase at Planetum – Štefánik and Ďáblice Observatories and Planetum e-shop.
About
The data were acquired by the FRAM robotic telescopes operated by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences at 3 locations as part of the extreme energy cosmic ray observatories (Pierre Auger Observatory and Cherenkov Telescope Array). The FRAM telescopes are primarily used to analyse instantaneous atmospheric conditions – their task is to monitor the wavelength dependence of light extinction in the atmosphere and also to monitor conditions along the trajectories of anomalous cosmic ray showers – which contributes to high accuracy of the reconstructed properties of cosmic ray particles.
The telescopes are also involved in gamma-ray burst (GRB) monitoring and complementary astrometric measurements and other astronomical programme. All FRAMs have a wide-angle set-up (G4 CCD with 300 or 135 mm objective), and the FRAMs in Argentina and La Palma also include a medium astronomical telescope (30 and 25 cm, with G4 and G2 cameras, respectively).
All 88 constellations are marked on the map, as well as 148 stars, 46 star clusters, 1 star cloud, and more than 55 nebulae and 11 galaxies.
How the FRAM telescope was built in Chile
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Pierre Auger Observatory
The Observatory is located in the Argentine pampas near the town of Malargüe and named after Pierre Auger, the French discoverer of cosmic ray showers. The Pierre Auger Observatory uses two different methods to detect cosmic rays – fluorescence telescopes (27 telescopes in total at 4 sites) and a network of surface detectors (1660 stations). The observatory has a huge detection area of 3000 km2 and, in conjunction with the two detection systems, provides a very accurate calibration of the cosmic ray shower energy.
The project is international – more than 500 physicists from about 90 laboratories are involved and the Czech Republic is one of the 18 countries involved. The Czech participation in the project is significant – among others, half of the mirrors of the fluorescence telescopes were produced in the Joint Laboratory of Optics of the FZU and the Palacky University in Olomouc (read how the mirrors were made). Scientists from the FZU are also involved in regular shifts at the Observatory (remote monitoring from 2020 onwards) and especially in measuring the composition of cosmic rays, testing models of hadronic interactions using measured data, searching for anisotropies in the directions of cosmic ray arrivals and upgrading surface detectors. They are also involved in monitoring the instantaneous state of the atmosphere, knowledge of which is essential for the correct reconstruction of individual showers. The Olomouc laboratory is very active in the field of fluorescence detector calibration.
The Observatory's detectors are currently undergoing extensive upgrades and new detection capabilities are in development, such as the FAST telescopes.
Cosmic rays
Cosmic rays or cosmic radiation is a stream of particles (usually protons or atomic nuclei) arriving from space, where it originates in supernovae, pulsars, active galactic nuclei, etc. When cosmic ray particles interact with the Earth's atmosphere, a cascade reaction produces a cosmic ray shower, which consists of millions or billions of particles. Shower resulting from a single original particle can cover an area of several units to tens of km2 on the Earth's surface, which is why observatories for cosmic ray detection are very large.
Cosmic rays were discovered in 1912 by Austrian physicist Victor Hess during balloon experiments (he also launched from the territory of the present-day Czech Republic). Hess won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936 for his discovery.
What do we already know about cosmic rays and what are we striving to discover? Read more in an interview with physicist Jakub Vícha.
Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory
The CTA observatory, which is currently under construction, will be the next generation detector for ground-based gamma-ray detection. Existing ground-based gamma-ray observing telescope arrays typically consist of only a few individual telescopes. The CTA will have over 60 telescopes of varying sizes, and the entire observatory, with its significantly larger collecting area and wider sky coverage, will be the largest and most sensitive experiment in the field, surpassing the current achieved sensitivity more than a tenfold, while providing greater accuracy in determining the energy and directions of arrival of the observed gamma photons. In order to observe the whole sky, the observatory is based in two locations, the Atacama Desert (Chile) in the southern hemisphere and on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands) in the northern hemisphere.
More than 1,500 scientists and engineers from 25 countries across five continents are involved in CTA's scientific and technological development. FZU researchers were initially heavily involved in the search and selection of sites for the observatory, collecting many years of data on observing conditions at sites on four different continents. Currently, we are contributing with the construction and operation of FRAM telescopes, all-sky cameras, and other equipment to characterize the detailed atmospheric conditions at the sites that were ultimately selected, and we will continue during the CTA operation by providing real-time atmospheric monitoring systems.
Czech participation is also strong in the development of one of the proposed telescope types for the CTA, known as SST-1M, where Czech scientists are responsible for the optical and mechanical design of the imaging system. The long-term Czech experience with optics for similar experiments is also used in the evaluation and selection of technical options for the implementation of optical elements across the CTA subsystems. The Laboratory for Astroparticle Physics at the FZU also includes a darkroom where we test optical components and photodetectors not only for the CTA but also for other future observatories such as SWGO, GRAND, etc.
Gamma rays
Gamma rays are very high-energy electromagnetic radiation emitted by the hottest and most powerful objects in the Universe, such as supermassive black holes, supernovae and perhaps the remnants of the Big Bang itself. As with cosmic rays, Cherenkov radiation is produced when gamma photons enter the Earth's atmosphere. By measuring the properties of this radiation, scientists can then track the direction of arrival of the gamma photon to its cosmic source. Unlike cosmic ray particles, the trajectory of gamma photons as they pass through space is much easier to follow to the source (the photons have no charge, thus they are not as easily influenced).
By tracking gamma rays, the CTA Observatory will explore the so-called extreme universe, environments as exotic as the immediate vicinity of black holes, as well as the vast cosmic gaps between the filaments of the large-scale structure. CTA observations even have the potential to reveal entirely new physical phenomena, as gamma photons are probes into the nature of matter itself and forces beyond the Standard Model.
SST telescopes are one of the three types of telescopes in the CTA Observatory. We have been involved in the development and production of the Swiss-Polish-Czech prototypes of the SST-1M telescopes, which have the advantage that they can be used outside the CTA Observatory at other international observatories. Two telescopes are now installed at the Ondřejov Observatory, making them the largest telescopes in the Czech Republic.
The Czech team supplies the telescopes with large mirror segments (produced in the Joint Laboratory of Optics of the FZU and the Palacky University in Olomouc). These are hexagonal glass segments coated with a thin reflective layer optimised for the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The optical simulations, optimizations, design and development of support systems and methods for the proper functioning of the telescope are also carried out in Czechia. We have developed new procedures for adjusting and controlling the positions and orientation of individual mirror segments. We are also involved in the development of pointing and stability control of the entire optical system. Of course, we are also working on observations and data analysis, which have already yielded very interesting results.
We thank to S. Karpov, M. Mašek, J. Ebr for their work in the data processing and map creation. Thank you!
Do you have any questions? Email us at pr [at] fzu [dot] cz!