AN ARRAY OF WIDE-FIELD TELESCOPES IN SICILY FOR NEOs AND SPACE DEBRIS MONITORING: INTRODUCTION AND FIRST RESULTS

Here we present new wide-field telescopes that are being installed in the central North part of Sicily (Italy). This installation is motivated both by the extremely good sky and geographical conditions of the area and by the observational infrastructures and capabilities already provided by the nearby "GAL Hassin" astronomical center. This work will especially focus on the results of a pilot study run between July and December 2022 with the 0.4 m aperture, fast (f/D = 3.8) Galhassin Robotic Telescope 1 (GRT1), on the photometric characterization of 16 artificial satellites and space debris with different sizes and altitudes down to 500 km. These results validate the high accuracy in photometry, position and time achieved by means of our facility and pave the way to the 1-m class Wide-field Mufara Telescope (WMT) and the upcoming ESA survey NEOSTEL (Flyeye) elescope.