PROMPT observatory

PROMPT Observatory is the Australian arm of the Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes network, sited at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales.

About PROMPT Observatory

PROMPT is a distributed telescope network run by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), built to respond rapidly to fast-changing events in the sky. The Australian station, PROMPT-Australia, consists of four 17-inch (0.43m) telescopes constructed in 2013, with UNC holding 90% access to the four instruments, known as PROMPT A1 through A4.

Telescopes & research

The network's primary purpose is rapid-response monitoring of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and other short-lived transient events, work that depends on being able to slew a telescope onto a target within moments of an alert. Beyond research, PROMPT's telescopes are also used for education and amateur astronomy projects, and are controlled remotely through the Skynet robotic telescope network.

Location & getting there

PROMPT Observatory sits within Siding Spring Observatory in Oceania, in New South Wales, Australia, one of the country's premier dark-sky astronomical sites.

Visiting PROMPT Observatory

As a robotically operated research instrument, PROMPT itself is not generally open for walk-in visits, though Siding Spring Observatory hosts a visitor centre; check its website for current tour information before travelling.

See your named star from here

A network built to slew onto precise sky coordinates within moments is a fitting place to picture how a star named through Star Register can be found: name it, get its coordinates, and any telescope, robotic or otherwise, can point the way. Name a star and look it up in our catalogue.