Liverpool Telescope

Liverpool Telescope
Organisation Liverpool John Moores University
Location(s) Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, Spain
Coordinates 28°45′44″N 17°52′45″W / 28.76234°N 17.87925°W / 28.76234; -17.87925Coordinates: 28°45′44″N 17°52′45″W / 28.76234°N 17.87925°W / 28.76234; -17.87925
Altitude 2,363 m (7,753 ft)
Telescope style robotic telescope
Diameter 2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Website telescope.livjm.ac.uk

The Liverpool Telescope (LT) is a 2-metre (6.6 ft) fully robotic Ritchey–Chrétien telescope that observes autonomously; i.e., it operates without human intervention. Professional astronomers and other registered users submit observation specifications to be considered by the telescope's robotic control system (RCS) at any time of the day or night using an online GUI. Each night the RCS decides for itself what to observe next based on target visibility and weather conditions.[1]

The RCS additionally has a rapid-response capability where it can automatically interrupt regular observations to slew to observe transient phenomena with higher priority, such as gamma-ray bursts.

The LT is one of the largest robotic telescopes in the world [2] and was built by Telescope Technologies Ltd, a subsidiary company set up by Liverpool John Moores University. The telescope is owned by Liverpool John Moores University, and operated by the Astrophysics Research Institute with operational funding partly from STFC. It is sited at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma.

Along with the Faulkes Telescope North and the Faulkes Telescope South, the Liverpool Telescope is also available for use by school children around the world over the internet. The registration and time allocation for the LT is organised by the National Schools Observatory.[3]

The Liverpool Telescope is one of the primary players in the Heterogeneous Telescope Networks Consortium, a global collaboration between major research groups in the field of robotic telescopes which seeks a standard for communication between remote telescopes, telescope users, and other scientific resources.

Plans for an improved version of the telescope, the Liverpool Telescope 2, are underway.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Liverpool Telescope – Robotic Systems".
  2. ↑ "Robot telescope is world's largest". 4 August 2003. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Liverpool Telescope – National Schools Observatory".
  4. ↑ Copperwheat, C. M.; Steele, I. A.; Barnsley, R. M. (1 March 2015). "Liverpool telescope 2: a new robotic facility for rapid transient follow-up". Experimental Astronomy. 39 (1): 119–165. arXiv:1410.1731Freely accessible. Bibcode:2015ExA....39..119C. doi:10.1007/s10686-015-9447-0. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
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