About SONG
Stellar Observation Network Group(SONG) project is an international observation network, co-initiated by Danish Astero Seismology Centre(DASC) and Niels Bohr Institute(NBI). American, China, Spanish participated this project in succession.Eight identical observation stations will be founded from the existing stations in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively at different latitude zone around the equator. At each observation station, the identical robotic optical telescope with 1-m aperture will be constructed. Thus, eight telescopes will form a global observation network system. With the help of this global system, the observing target can be tracked and monitored continuously for a long time.
Scientific goals of SONG project:
- To study the internal structure, evolution and model of stellar by the stellar seismologyresearch through the radial velocity measurementwith the help of high-resolution spectroscopy.
- To work on the searching and verification of extra-solar planet by the detection of planetary micro gravitational lensevents in the galactic bulge with the help of high-resolution imaging camera.
The eight telescopes of the global system are of the ability of fully automatic observation. They will be operated coordinate with each other by the general control center. Observation data got by each telescopes will be fed back to data processing center where observation data will be summarized and analyzed to extract useful astronomy information. To ensure the observation data of each telescope to be compatible, all the eight telescopes have the same configuration and same performance of end instruments. Two focal stations are arranged for each telescope: a Nasmyth focal station with two luck-imaging cameras, visible and infrared, mainly for microlens events observation and a Coudé focal station where the high-resolution spectrograph for obtaining radial velocities will be located.