David Petry's blog

Former LCOGT Postdoc a NASA 2013 Carl Sagan Fellow!

NASA annouced the selection of five exoplanet scientists who will receive the 2013 Carl Sagan Exoplanet Postdoctoral Fellowships today. One is former LCOGT postdoc Avi Shporer. The fellowship, named for the late astronomer, was created to inspire the next generation of explorers seeking to learn more about planets, and possibly life, around other stars. The primary goal of the fellowship program is to support outstanding recent postdoctoral scientists in conducting independent research related to the science goals of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program.

All Sutherland telescopes see first-light

We have installed and completed engineering commissioning of three robotic 1-meter telescopes in a matter of a few days this week at the South Africa Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), Sutherland. The telescopes, first built and tested at the company's Santa Barbara headquarters, were delivered to the SAAO site Monday, February 18th 2013. Five days later, on the night of February 22, all three telescopes were on-sky.

Two first lights in One Night!

At the South Africa Astronomical Observatory site last night, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope achieved first light with two of its three 1-meter telescopes. The telescopes, initially built in the Santa Barbara headquarters, were delivered to SAAO on Monday, February 18th, were craned into the three domes the next morning, and one telescope was marginally on-sky for pointing runs by Thursday night. The science camera on that telescope was not commissioned yet, and so first light had to wait one more night.

Siding Spring Observatory narrowly escapes major damage during wildfire

A heatwave in New South Wales, Australia last week pushed daytime temperatures to as high as 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) and triggered a series of wildfires. One of these, the Wambelong Fire, burned through portions of the Warrumbungle National Park and threatened the Siding Spring Observatory where a large share of the astronomy in Australia is conducted.

Two 1-meter domes completed at Siding Spring

Rounding out Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope's 1-meter southern ring development, the final two enclosures were completed last week at Siding Spring Observatory. Telescope Operations Manager Mark Willis led the effort, first building two 19-ft Ash domes on site, then erecting the prefabricated wall set from LCOGT's headquarters in Goleta, California. Finally, the two domes were mated with the two wall sets.

LCOGT at SAAO - the movie

Willie Koorts of the South Africa Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) put together a time-lapse movie of the development of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telesope 1-meter telescope node at their site. The movie shows the site development and the creation of infrastructure. Three telescopes will be on their way to the site within the next couple of months!

Our first 1-meter open for science

Last night, October 1, 2012, was the first night of purely science operations for Las Cumbres Observatory’s first 1-meter telescope. The telescope is run remotely and robotically, taking queued observations from the LCOGT “POND” database, and executing them. The transition marks the completion of the engineering and science commissioning phases for the telescope.

The New York Times covers recent Las Cumbres Observatory supernovae findings

Todays’ print edition of the New York Times reported on a paper from the journal Science authored by Las Cumbres Observatory scientists Benjamin Dilday and Andy Howell, among others. The paper, widely reported in astronomy and physics media, was picked up by the Times because it demonstrates for the first time alternate means by which a supernova can form. Dilday and Howell were the lead scientists on the paper.

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