Observing at a Distance

Remote Observing is a new, important, and growing aspect of astronomy. Recent developments in global network communications have made remote observing a viable, and sometimes preferable, alternative to travel to a possibly remote and inhospitable telescope site. This workshop is the first in the world devoted to the topic. The contributors represent many of the world's major telescopes, radio, optical and infrared. The proceedings should become a standard reference for many years on the state of the art in remote control of and data acquisition from astronomical telescopes. Contents:Remote Observing with JCMT and UKIRT (R G Clowes)Design Fundamentals of Interactive Remote Observing — Remote Usage of the Apache Point Observatory (R F Loewenstein et al)Remote Observing at Cerro Tololo (T Ingerson)The VLA Nearly-Real Time System (W K Young et al)Mauna Kea Observatories Communications Network: A Fiber Optics Based High Bandwidth Astronomy Network (T Sun et al)Remote Telescope Control at Kitt Peak (D Thompson)Three Years' Experience with Routine Remote Observing at the European Southern Observatory (D Baade)A Distributed VME Telescope Control System for Remote Observations (C Bonoli et al)Remote Observing with UKIRT: The UK — Hawaii Experience (P N Daly)Remote Observing Actitivities at the Trieste Astronomical Observatory — The Second Level Remote Observing with ESO/NTT and the Galileo Telescope (A Balestra et al)Real-Time Imaging with the BIMA Array (M Wright)Gemini Project: The Future (R J McGonegal & P Osmer)Plans for Remote Observing from Antarctica (A A Stark)A Multi-Telescope Remote Observing Center (D T Emerson & R N Martin)Can Remote Observing, be Good Observing? Reflections on Procrustes and Antaeus (F J Lockman)and other papers Readership: Professional astronomers, computer hardware and software specialists in astronomy, computer scientists and network managers. keywords: