To support an ongoing observation campaign of transiting extrasolar planets (exoplanets) using the SkyNet Robotic Telescope Network [1], we develop an observation scheduling tool as part of a planned end-to-end observation, reduction, and analysis pipeline. The campaign aims to update transit timing measurements of identified exoplanet targets and contribute to maintaining accurate ephemerides essential for planning of future observations using both ground- and space-based telescopes.
Given a desired observation period (e.g., from October to December 2025) and a list of target exoplanets, the tool automatically (1) retrieves the list of transit times from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (NEA), (2) identifies the observatories in the SkyNet Robotic Telescope Network where the full transits will be observable (given a desired maximum airmass), and (3) generates a comprehensive list of observation times for queuing. Additionally, the tool generates airmass plots and sky charts for reference. The tool is developed in Python and utilizes the Python package astroquery [2] for querying external databases, and astroplan [3] and astropy [4] for data visualization.
While there are existing online tools from SkyNet and NEA that can generate airmass plots and facilitate the scheduling of observations, there are current limitations in the number of observatory locations and targets that can be simultaneously processed, as well as in the length of the observation window. With our observation scheduling tool, any contributing user can quickly generate a comprehensive observation plan and maximize the use of the SkyNet Robotic Telescope Network, consisting of 32 telescopes in 20 observatories located in 5 countries across 4 continents. We have checked that the generated outputs match those from the above-mentioned established online tools.
In addition to using the tool for our own collaboration’s exoplanet campaign, we also plan to release it as an open-source project—making it available to the broader astronomy community for use and further development. Additional improvements could include the expansion of the observatory database beyond SkyNet, and development of a graphical user interface and web application for increased accessibility for students and citizen scientists.
