Thomas Granzer, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) — Nov 28, 2022

More than two decades ago, the AIP started to build its robotic observatory STELLA at Izana observatory, Canary Islands, which now consists of two 1.2 m telescopes, dedicated to high-resolution spectroscopy and photometry, respectively. Though mainly built for stellar research, it has also been successfully used in other areas. In this talk I review the technological and software developments required for the successful operation of the observatory together with the main scientific results obtained. Briefly I highlight the latest addition to AIP's robotic zoo, the BMK10k project on Cerro Armazones, Chile.

This talk in particular addresses people with plans to engage in an (autonomous) observing endeavor. By means of the recently founded Astronomical Telescope Network Germany (ATNG), the ways to establish working small-scale observatories should be eased. An introduction to this network ends the talk.