Martin Jelínek

education & career

• 1999–present Researcher, Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ondřejov (Stellar Department)
• 2002 MSc in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Charles University Prague / Astronomical Institute AV ČR Ondřejov — Detection of bursting gamma-ray sources using CCD-detection instruments, supervisor René Hudec
• 2007 MSc, Universidad de Granada / IAA-CSIC Granada — Postluminiscencia de explosiones de rayos gamma e instrumentación para su estudio (in Spanish; my Czech MSc was recognized in Spain as a BSc, and this second master's was required before the PhD)
• 2014 PhD, Universidad de Granada / IAA-CSIC Granada — Study of Gamma-Ray Bursts With Robotic Telescopes, director Alberto J. Castro-Tirado
• 2018 Kopal's Lecture, Czech Astronomical Society

research interests

• Early optical emission and afterglow physics of gamma-ray bursts
• Multi-component modelling of GRB prompt-to-afterglow transitions
• Rapid-response and automated robotic telescope operations
• Photometric pipelines for robotic telescopes, sub-minute response times
• Photometry, astrometry, wide-field CCD imaging
• Spectroscopy: COLORES (BOOTES-2) → OVIS (Open Science, Ondřejov 18cm) → FLORES (2m Perek)
• Cataclysmic variables: long-term D50 monitoring, spectroscopic follow-up at the 2m Perek

instruments

• FLORES — fiber-fed low resolution spectrograph for the 2m Perek telescope, Ondřejov
• D50 ('Violet' 50cm), Ondřejov
• CIMEL Sun-Moon photometer for CTA, Paranal and La Palma (responsible)
• FRAM, Pierre Auger Observatory
• SST-1, Ondřejov — segmented 4m Cherenkov telescope, in testing for the past two years (pointing model, local service)
• BOOTES robotic telescope network / BOOTES-IR · poster
• BART, Ondřejov (historical) — robotic telescope, since decommissioned: mount and dome rebuilt as the Small Binocular Telescope (SBT); optical tube relocated to La Palma as part of FRAM/CTA-N · poster
• Watcher telescope

A fuller round-up of the High Energy Astrophysics group's robotic telescopes is planned.

programming

Code on github.com/mates14:

• PYRT — photometry for robotic telescopes; telescope-independent calibration and photometric pipeline for astronomical FITS images
• ASARINA — the telescope-dependent counterpart to PYRT, orchestrating it for the D50 and SBT telescopes (the acronym itself is long forgotten)
• sch — scheduler for the Ondřejov telescopes
• RTSPY — reimplementation of the RTS2 protocol in Python
• RTS2 — contributions to the core observatory control system (libraries and device drivers)
• MAKAK (live) — pipeline for a wide-field sky monitor, grown out of the 2021 Open Science project

students

Also: Aleksandra (“Ola”) Wenda — summer practical stay, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, 2025.

outreach: high school

Open Science — year-long trios building and using our own instrumentation

• 2026 Observations with a compact imaging spectrograph — Jiří Miškar, Eliška Bednářová, Barbora Spíchalová
• 2024 Observations with the spectrograph — Adam Denko, Barbora Nohová, Filip Bobal
• 2023 Construction of the spectrograph — Adam Denko, Jan Sova, Veronika Modrá
• 2023 Variable star catalogue (co-led with Jan Štrobl) — Filip Bobal, Lukáš Hrdý, Hana Žitňanská
• 2021 MAKAK — measurement of atmospheric aerosols with a calibrated automatic camera, live real-time sky-brightness monitor above the observatory (co-led with Jan Štrobl) — Jakub Hadač, Štěpán Tomek

SOČ — independent projects

• Jakub Hadač, Gymnázium Václava Hlavatého — Characterization of GRB 210306A (2023) — 2nd place, national final
• Barbora Nohová, Gymnázium Na Zatlance, Praha — Cataclysmic variable stars (2025–2026) — reached national final
• Tereza Štorková, Doctrina – Podještědské gymnázium, Liberec (consultant) — Spectroscopic analysis of the cataclysmic variable star V795 Her (2025–2026)

selected papers