Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope
Abstract
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is a privately-funded observatory dedicated to time-domain astronomy. Our main observing tool will be a homogeneous world-wide network of 12 x 1m optical telescopes, each equipped for both imaging and spectroscopy. We will also continue to operate 2m telscopes in Hawaii and Australia, and we plan to deploy a few tens of 0.4m imaging telescopes for education and for bright-object research. LCOGT has membership in the Pan-STARRS1 consortium, in the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), and in LSST. In accord with these affiliations, our staff's scientific interests are concentrated in (but not restricted to) the areas of extrasolar planets, extragalactic transients (especially SNe), and pulsating stars.
In this poster we describe the observatory in general terms, including its research agenda, its telescope deployment plans and schedule, its notable technical challenges, and its anticipated methods of working with the wider astronomical community. For more detailed information about LCOGT's aims and projects, please see the related posters in this session.- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #214
- Pub Date:
- May 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AAS...21440914B