Lunar automatic photoelectric telescopes (LAPTs)

A lunar network of modest, robust telescopes designed for and dedicated to precise, time-serial monitoring of variable sources is proposed. Unhampered by atmospheric effects and the earth's day/night cycle, an array of lunar automatic photoelectric telescopes could reliably detect both short and long period cyclic variations and sporadic outbursts. These relatively inexpensive instruments would complement larger optical ones and monitoring instruments at other wavelengths. The scientific payoff would derive from the clean power spectral decomposition (in the time domain) of multiple periodic structure. Applications include monitoring the magnetic activity cycles of sunlike stars and optically violent variable galactic nuclei, and searches for extragalactic supernovae.