TAROT-South robotic observatory

TAROT (French: Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires, "Quick-action telescope for transient objects") is a project of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) aimed at rapidly reacting to particular data from other astronomical surveying facilities to monitor for and registering fast changing astronomical objects and phenomena. The target of this particular project is so-called gamma-ray bursts (GRB).[1]

TAROT-South robotic observatory

The 25cm TAROT telescope on La Silla
Alternative names	Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires
Part of	La Silla Observatory
Location(s)	Coquimbo Region, Chile
Coordinates	29°15′40″S 70°43′53″W
Organization	European Southern Observatory
Altitude	2,375 m (7,792 ft)
First light	9 September 2006
Telescope style	Newtonian telescope optical telescope robotic telescope
Diameter	25 cm (9.8 in)
Secondary diameter	14 cm (5.5 in)
Angular resolution	3.5 arcsecond
Mounting	equatorial mount
Website	www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/tarot/
Location of TAROT-South robotic observatory
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The TAROT-South facility is a 25 cm very fast moving optical robotic telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. Able to accelerate at 120°/s² to a top speed of 80°/s, it can begin observing within 1–1.5 seconds[2] of being notified by a gamma-ray telescope that a gamma-ray burst is in progress and can provide fast and accurate positions of transient events within seconds.

In addition to its own observations, an important purpose of the telescope is to find an accurate source location. With its wide field of view, it can take an approximate location (±1°) from a gamma-ray detector and produce a location accurate to 1″ within a minute,[2] for the benefit of follow-on observations by larger telescopes with longer reaction times.

It is a duplicate of the original TAROT telescope located at the Calern observatory, in France.[1]