Chasing a Cosmic Phantom

Engineers at Torus Precision Optics, in Iowa City, IA, have developed an innovative pair of telescopes for the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, which could pinpoint the sources of these mysterious bursts of energy. Searches show that gamma-ray bursts (GRB). Astrophysicists at the University of Michigan decided to take up the challenge of unlocking the mystery of GRBs. Their first course of action was to create a system that scans the sky quickly, deeply, and accurately. This meant designing a telescope with a large field of vision and a quick slewing rate. Torus Precision Optics completed and tested the first ROTSE II telescope in December 1997, within a year of the first proposal, and a second one is slated for completion this year. The ability of the three Mulherin brothers to accomplish so large a task in so little time is considered remarkable. Torus is working on projects that will search out near-Earth objects, those stray asteroids and comets that have received attention by smashing into Jupiter in 1996.