Such telescopes would be used to monitor star-spot activity, spot supernovae, and for optical follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts.
The network, called PLANET* and consisting of telescopes in South Africa, Australia, and South America, monitors stars in the Milky Way's crowded central bulge 24 hours a day for apparent brightenings.
And its modest distance from Earth--just 47 light-years--means that even small telescopes can monitor the star easily.
Starting in June, a team led by astronomer Nuno Santos of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, used HARPS to monitor a star called μ Arae, faintly visible to the eye.
The SOHO spacecraft and several other sun-watching observatories, such as NASA's twin Stereo spacecraft and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, constantly monitor the star for changes in solar weather.
To make its discoveries, Kepler targets a dense field of stars, allowing it to continuously monitor 150,000 stars simultaneously.
In the last decade, about 250 planets have been discovered around other stars -- the vast majority by the so-called wobble technique of monitoring a star's light for signs of the slight to-and-fro motion induced by the gravitational tugs of orbiting planets.
Researchers constantly monitored each star and noted changes in its brightness as small as a part in a million.
Using other telescopes, they monitored the star's brightness to make sure that its own variability wasn't producing the tantalizing exoplanetary signal.
Monitoring these stars now could help scientists understand how stars evolve.
Kepler monitored 150,000 stars for more than three years.
