News & Blogs from 2009

This week, I have been lucky enough to be asked to go out to the Haleakala site in Maui by LCOGT to help commission the telescopes. As an astrophysicist, I often analyze images from telescopes (mostly ones which work in the far-infrared range, including telescopes which sit on top of another extinct volcano on the Hawaiian islands - Mauna Kea on Big Island).

We have made some updates to the website in the past couple of months. Here are the highlights.

The network expansion continues. Earlier this week Faulkes Telescope North was joined by 2 smaller telescopes, installed inside the Haleakala observatory enclosure as can be seen in the images. You can just make out the 2 small black tubes next to FTN.

We've recently launched an exoplanet observing programme, and are looking for people to help with observing these very rare microlensing events. One such group in Ireland has already taken up the challenge and successfully observed 10 different candidates (each one multiple times). Each time the group meets they write a detailed blog entry about their experiences.