DEdicated MONitor of EXotransits and Transients (DEMONEXT): System overview and year one results from a low-cost robotic telescope for followup of exoplanetary transits and transients

Abstract

We report on the design and first year of operations of the DEdicated MONitor of EXotransits and Transients (DEMONEXT). DEMONEXT is a 20-inch (0.5-m) robotic telescope using a PlaneWave CDK20 telescope on a Mathis instruments MI-750/1000 fork mount. DEMONEXT is equipped with a 2048 × 2048 pixel Finger Lakes Instruments (FLI) detector; a 10-position filter wheel with an electronic focuser and B, V, R, and I, g′, r′, i′, z′; and clear filters. DEMONEXT operates in a continuous observing mode and achieves 2-4 mmag raw, unbinned, precision on bright V < 13 targets with 20–120 second exposures, and 1 mmag precision achieved by binning on 5–6 minute timescales. DEMONEXT maintains sub-pixel (<0.5 pixels) target position stability on the CCD over 8 hours in good observing conditions, with degraded performance in poor weather (<1 pixel). DEMONEXT achieves 1%–10% photometry on single-epoch targets with V < 17 in 5 minute exposures, with detection thresholds of V ≈ 21. The DEMONEXT automated software has produced 143 planetary candidate transit light curves for the KELT collaboration and 48 supernovae and transient light curves for the ASAS-SN supernovae group in the first year of operation. DEMONEXT has also observed for a number of ancillary science projects including Galactic microlensing, active galactic nuclei, stellar variability, and stellar rotation.