2010, Strassmeier, K.G., Granzer, T., Weber, M., Woche, M., Popow, E., Jrvinen, A., Bartus, J., Bauer, S.-M., Dionies, F., Fechner, T., Bittner, W., Paschke, J.

The Astrophysical Institute Potsdam (AIP) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) inaugurated the robotic telescopes STELLA-I and STELLA-II (STELLar Activity) on Tenerife on May 18, 2006. The observatory is located on the Izaa ridge at an elevation of 2400m near the German Vacuum Tower Telescope. STELLA consists of two 1.2m alt-az telescopes. One telescope fiber feeds a bench-mounted high-resolution echelle spectrograph while the other telescope feeds a wide-field imaging photometer. Both scopes work autonomously by means of artificial intelligence. Not only that the telescopes are automated, but the entire observatory operates like a robot, and does not require any human presence on site. Copyright © 2010 Klaus G. Strassmeier et al.

2010, Granzer, T., Weber, M., Strassmeier, K.G.

Since May 2006, the two STELLA robotic telescopes at the Izaa observatory in Tenerife, Spain, delivered an almost uninterrupted stream of scientific data. To achieve such a high level of autonomous operation, the replacement of all troubleshooting skills of a regular observer in software was required. Care must be taken on error handling issues and on robustness of the algorithms used. In the current paper, we summarize the approaches we followed in the STELLA observatory. Copyright © 2010 Thomas Granzer et al.

2022, Baroch, D., Giménez, A., Morales, J. C., Ribas, I., Herrero, E., Perdelwitz, V., Jordi, C., Granzer, T., Allende Prieto, C.

Context. Double-lined eclipsing binaries allow the direct determination of masses and radii, which are key for testing stellar models. With the launch of the TESS mission, many well-known eclipsing binaries have been observed at higher photometric precision, permitting the improvement of the absolute dimension determinations. Aims. Using TESS data and newly obtained spectroscopic observations, we aim to determine the masses and radii of the eccentric eclipsing binary systems V889 Aql and V402 Lac, together with their apsidal motion parameters. Methods. We simultaneously modelled radial velocity curves and times of eclipse for each target to precisely determine the orbital parameters of the systems, which we used to analyse the light curves and then obtain their absolute dimensions. We compared the obtained values with those predicted by theoretical models. Results. We determined masses and radii of the components of both systems with relative uncertainties lower than 2%. V889 Aql is composed of two stars with masses 2:17±0:02 M⊙ and 2:13±0:01 M⊙ and radii 1:87±0:04 R⊙ and 1:85±0:04 R⊙.We find conclusive evidence of the presence of a third body orbiting V889 Aql with a period of 67 yr. Based on the detected third light and the absence of signal in the spectra, we suggest that this third body could in turn be a binary composed of two ±1.4 M⊙ stars. V402 Lac is composed of two stars with masses 2:80 ± 0:05 M⊙ and 2:78 ± 0:05 M⊙ and radii 2:38 ± 0:03 R⊙ and 2:36 ± 0:03 R⊙. The times of minimum light are compatible with the presence of a third body for this system too, although its period is not yet fully sampled. In both cases we have found a good agreement between the observed apsidal motion rates and the model predictions.