Thai Robotic Telescope Network : TRT
Located at Latitude 5 - 20 degrees north, astronomical telescopes in Thailand has inherently limited access to the southern hemisphere. Reaching out to the fascinating targets in the south, such as the Galactic Center, the Magellanic Clouds, and virtually the other half of the sky requires deploying facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.
Likewise, the observing season in Thailand is largely governed by the two monsoon seasons, with consistently clear sky months being only around October - April of each year. Remote facilities to take advantage of some of the best observing sites in the world, hence, has the potential to serve as an insurance that we have at least one open eye on the sky at any given time. When multiple observatories are available at the same time across the globe, they can further join forces to provide continuous monitoring of an object without a temporal gap.
For these reasons, NARIT deployed off-the-shelf robotic telescopes, supplied by PlaneWave Instrument, of 0.6 - 0.7-meter in diameters in four continents. The control software, developed by NARIT, automatically schedules observing requests on the first possible telescope that matches observing requirements. This network aims at facilitating astronomical researches and astronomy education and outreach in both hemispheres — at any moment.