PAN-STARRS

Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System

A planned astronomical survey that will conduct astrometry and photometry of much of the entire sky on a continuous basis. By detecting any differences from previous observations of the same areas of the sky, it is expected to discover a very large number of new asteroids, comets, variable stars and other celestial objects. Its primary mission is to detect near-Earth objects that threaten to cause impact events. It is expected to create a database of all objects visible from Hawaii (three-quarters of the entire sky) down to apparent magnitude 24.

Pan-STARRS' first telescope, called PS1, is located at the summit of Haleakala in Maui Island, and went online on December 6, 2008, under the administration of the University of Hawaii. The other three telescopes completing the array will be completed by 2012 at a total cost of USD 100 million for the entire array.

The Pan-STARRS is a collaboration between the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Maui High Performance Computing Center and Science Applications International Corporation. Telescope construction is funded by the US Air Force. Once PS1 reaches the milestone of passing its Operational Readiness Review, expected Fall 2008, the Pan-STARRS Project will focus on building PS4.

The operations for the first Pan-STARRS telescope (PS1) are funded by The PS1 Science Consortium or PS1SC a consortium including the Max Planck Society in Germany, National Central University in Taiwan, Edinburgh, Durham and Queen's Belfast Universities in the UK, and Johns Hopkins and Harvard Universities in the USA and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network.