Automated observing network inaugurated at SOAR telescope

Supernovae, neutron star mergers, black holes at the center of galaxies, erupting young stars--these are all examples of objects in the night sky that change their brightness over time. In the coming years, astronomers expect to discover millions of these variable astronomical events with new sensitive telescopes like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). But to characterize these objects and to understand them better, they need to be observed with other, different telescopes soon after th...