Latest Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Stories
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope The first truly global telescope came a significant step closer to completion this month with the installation and first light on three new 1-meter telescopes at the South Africa Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) near Sutherland, South Africa. A team of five Las Cumbres engineers, technicians, and a postdoc, convened at Sutherland for three weeks during late February and early March to achieve this feat. "The South African Astronomical Observatory...
After nearly eight years of design, fabrication and development, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) installed three 1-meter telescopes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) and achieved first light on all three in a span of less than 30 hours last week. Lead Engineer Annie Hjelstrom has been on site with a team of four from Las Cumbres since September 27, installing, integrating, and collimating the three 1-meter telescopes. The team achieved first light on two of...
Two identical FLOYDS spectrographs, installed in recent weeks at telescopes 6,000 miles apart, robotically acquired a supernovae target this week. Due to the level of precision required and the difficulty involved, few if any, other ground-based spectrographs have ever achieved this milestone. “This is unprecedented,” staff astronomer David Sand explained. “In a matter of just a few weeks, Las Cumbres Observatory was able to install the spectrographs, achieve first light, and begin...
Combining observations from the CoRoT satellite and the ESO HARPS instrument, astronomers have discovered the first "normal" exoplanet that can be studied in great detail. Designated Corot-9b, the planet regularly passes in front of a star similar to the Sun located 1500 light-years away from Earth towards the constellation of Serpens (the Snake)."This is a normal, temperate exoplanet just like dozens we already know, but this is the first whose properties we can study in depth," says Claire...
An international team of astronomers has found 10 new "extra solar" planets, planets that orbit stars other than our sun. The team used a system of robotic cameras that yield a great deal of information about these other worlds, some of which are quite exotic. The system is expected to revolutionize scientific understanding of how planets form.Two participating astronomers from the U.S. are Rachel Street and Tim Lister. Street is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa...
