“BHTOM is a cutting-edge research infrastructure, part of the ACME grant, revolutionising time-domain astronomy. It connects a global network of over 120 optical telescopes—ranging from 0.25 to 2.5 meters in aperture—including professional facilities, amateur setups, and even school observatories.
This expansive network enables observations of virtually any optical target, such as supernovae, gravitational wave counterparts, variable quasars, or stars. Once observed, the data undergoes automatic processing and standardisation, delivering science-ready datasets to researchers.
In addition to live observations, BHTOM aggregates archival time-domain data from numerous historical and ongoing surveys across various wavelengths. These include optical surveys like CRTS, PanSTARRS, OGLE, infrared datasets like NEOWISE, and even radio observations from LOFAR and FIRST. Current surveys such as ZTF, ATLAS, OGLE-EWS, and Gaia also contribute to this vast repository.
The system supports observation requests from registered users and automated brokers (e.g., AstroColibri, Ampel), ensuring rapid response and data delivery. Observations are conducted across the telescope network, with data made available immediately to users.
BHTOM is continuously expanding—with new telescopes joining regularly and additional archival datasets being integrated. Is your telescope part of this growing network?”
Main technical characteristics
- 120+ optical telescopes on every hemisphere and longitude
- 0.25 to 2.5m apertures allow for reaching to a wide range of targets with different brightness
- rapid reaction to targets and rapid data processing
Website: bhtom.space