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R. J. Nemiroff, J. B. Rafert, W. E. Pereira (Michigan Tech.)
It is currently feasible to start a continuous digital record of the entire sky sensitive to any visual magnitude brighter than 15 each night. A record of this type could be created with a modest array of small telescopes, which collectively generate a few Gigabytes of data each night. We compute specific limitations of canonical surveys in visible light, and estimate that all-sky continuous visual light surveys could be sensitive to magnitude 20 in a single night by about 2010. Plans and preliminary fields from continuous cameras of our own design are presented. Possible scientific returns of continuous and epochal sky surveys include continued monitoring of most known variable stars, establishing case histories for variables of future interest, uncovering new forms of stellar variability, discovering the brightest cases of microlensing, discovering new novae and supernovae, discovering new counterparts to gamma-ray bursts, monitoring known Solar System objects, discovering new Solar System objects, and discovering objects that might strike the Earth.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: nemiroff@mtu.edu