The Astronomer's Telegram (ATel) is an internet service for quickly disseminating information about events relevant for astronomers. Examples include gamma-ray bursts, microlenses, supernovae, novae, or X-ray transients, but there are no restrictions on content matter.
Contents
The Astronomer's Telegram was launched on 17 December 1997 by Robert E. Rutledge with the goal of rapidly (<1 s) sharing information of interest to astronomers. Telegrams are sent out daily by email, but especially time sensitive events can be transmitted instantly. Since 2013, information is also broadcast over Twitter and Facebook.
To publish, astronomers request credentials. Credentials are issued to professional astronomers and graduate students, after verification by personal contact. Once credentials have been supplied and telegrams authorized, astronomers can publish telegrams directly, with no further editing.
As of January 2017, over 9000 telegrams have been published.
History
While working at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrische Physik in Garching, Bob Rutledge began the site after his experience in using the web in 1995-6 as an aid in the discovery and characterization (by multiple scientists working informally and collaboratively) of the Bursting Pulsar, GRO J1744-28. Operations began in earnest at the department of astronomy of UC Berkeley where Rutledge was a visiting post-doctoral scholar with Prof. Lars Bildsten.
Current operations
The Astronomer's Telegram currently has an editor in chief, an editor and a co-editor. The ATel service is free, both for publishers and readers of the telegrams. Astronomer's Telegram's editors remind users to report discoveries of supernovae or comets to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams as well.