Near Continuous Photometry with the Whole Earth Telescope (WET)

Abstract

The Whole Earth Telescope (WET) saw first light in 1988. It was invented by scientists from the Astronomy Department, University of Texas at Austin. The idea was to generate a world-wide network of cooperating astronomical observatories to obtain uninterrupted time-series measurements of some variable stars. The technological goal was to resolve the multi-periodic oscillations in these objects into their individual components; the scientific goal was to construct accurate theoretical models of the target objects, constrained by their observed behavior, from which fundamental astrophysical parameters could be derived. This approach has been extremely successful, and has placed stellar seismology at the forefront of stellar astrophysics. The network is run as a single astronomical instrument with many operators, and the collaboration includes scientists from all continents on our planet, taking part in the observations, data reduction, analysis and theoretical interpretation. The expertise of Lithuanian astronomers in photometry, and their access to the observing station Mt. Maidanak in Uzbekistan, has been important for the success of the network.

Keywords

• methods
• observational stars
• fundamental parameters
• variables
• white dwarfs