Recognition: unknown
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
read the original abstract
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is a young organization dedicated to time-domain observations at optical and (potentially) near-IR wavelengths. To this end, LCOGT is constructing a world-wide network of telescopes, including the two 2m Faulkes telescopes, as many as 17 x 1m telescopes, and as many as 23 x 40cm telescopes. These telescopes initially will be outfitted for imaging and (excepting the 40cm telescopes) spectroscopy at wavelengths between the atmospheric UV cutoff and the roughly 1-micron limit of silicon detectors. Since the first of LCOGT's 1m telescopes are now being deployed, we lay out here LCOGT's scientific goals and the requirements that these goals place on network architecture and performance, we summarize the network's present and projected level of development, and we describe our expected schedule for completing it. In the bulk of the paper, we describe in detail the technical approaches that we have adopted to attain the desired performance. In particular, we discuss our choices for the number and location of network sites, for the number and sizes of telescopes, for the specifications of the first generation of instruments, for the software that will schedule and control the network's telescopes and reduce and archive its data, and for the structure of the scientific and educational programs for which the network will provide observations.
This paper has not been read by Pith yet.
Forward citations
Cited by 12 Pith papers
-
The Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Reverberation Mapping Project: Stable Optical Continuum Lags of an IMBH in the Dwarf Galaxy NGC 4395 Over Years
Optical continuum lags in NGC 4395 remain stable at 5-15 minutes over multi-year baselines with negligible diffuse continuum contribution.
-
A Changing-Look Seyfert Discovered by eROSITA Reveals a Two-Component Broad-Line Region
HE 1237-2252 exhibits a changing-look event driven by intrinsic accretion-rate variations, revealing a two-component broad-line region consisting of virialized gas at ~27 light-days and disk emission at larger radii.
-
Early interaction signatures and an extended plateau phase in Type II SN 2020aze
SN 2020aze displays early He II emission from ejecta-CSM interaction, a steep V-band decline, and semi-analytical modeling yields a ~14 solar-mass red supergiant progenitor with ~12 solar-mass ejecta and 1.5e51 erg ex...
-
Uncovering the Rapidly Evolving Orbits of the Dynamic TOI-201 System
TOI-201 has three planets whose co-transiting configuration will end in 200 years due to Kozai-Lidov oscillations driven by mutual inclinations.
-
A tidally detached super Neptune on a strongly misaligned retrograde orbit
TOI-1710 b has a true obliquity of 149 degrees indicating retrograde motion, favoring high-eccentricity migration via planet-planet scattering and Kozai-Lidov cycles for this tidally detached super-Neptune.
-
The Double-Peaked Calcium-Strong SN 2025coe: Progenitor Constraints from Early Interaction and Ejecta Asymmetries
SN 2025coe's double-peaked light curve and nebular spectra are consistent with either an asymmetric core-collapse explosion of a low-mass He-core progenitor or a thermonuclear hybrid white dwarf merger.
-
The Eye of Sauron in SN 2025ngs: a Short-plateau Cousin of SN 1998S with Evidence for a Ring-like Circumstellar Medium
SN 2025ngs is a short-plateau supernova resembling SN 1998S but fainter, with spectral evidence for interaction with a proximate ring-like circumstellar medium around a supergiant progenitor.
-
Spectro-Polarimetric Observations of TeV Sources (SPOTS): First results
First results from the SPOTS campaign reveal low average optical polarization (≲10%) and low magnetic field ordering (F_B ≲0.10) across 14 TeV blazars, with stochastic or rotating polarization angles and wavelength-de...
-
TOI-159 b: an eccentric hot-Jupiter planet around a young, pulsating $\gamma$ Doradus star
TOI-159 b is confirmed as the hottest known eccentric hot Jupiter (e = 0.24) with a 13-sigma Keplerian detection around a young gamma Doradus star, including a preliminary low-resolution transmission spectrum.
-
AGN STORM 2. XII. Ground-Based Optical Photometry and Lag Measurements of Mrk 817
Reverberation lags in Mrk 817 range 3-8 days, exceed thin-disk models by factors of 3-6, follow a λ^{4/3} trend with the ICCF method, and vary by up to a factor of 2 between epochs.
-
Las Cumbres Observatory Gravitational-Wave Follow-up in O3 and O4: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Rapid Response Galaxy Targeted Strategy
LCO achieved rapid response and adequate depth for kilonovae to 250 Mpc in O3/O4 but the galaxy-targeted strategy was less efficient than expected because GW localizations exceeded prior assumptions.
-
EP250827b/SN 2025wkm: An X-ray Flash-Supernova Powered by a Central Engine and Circumstellar Interaction
EP250827b/SN 2025wkm is an X-ray flash supernova at z=0.1194 powered by a long-lived magnetar and disk winds interacting with extended circumstellar medium, without an on-axis relativistic jet.
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.