LCO Webmaster | 20 Aug 2011
After 10 days of heavy labor and several hours of sweeping away snow, scraping ice, and mopping water, the first dome 1.0m (nicknamed "Stellan" which is Latin for "Set with Stars") at Cerro Tololo was in
Edward Gomez | 17 Aug 2011
In early June a new Supernova was discovered. A supernova is the end point of a massive star where the thermal fire at the core of the star runs out of fuel, ending its life in an extremely bright explosion (see our SpaceBook page on high-mass star
Ben Burleson | 12 Aug 2011
Building a photometric shutter can be a complicated task. The goal is to expose every pixel of the CCD for the exact same window of time. However, since we have to live within the bounds of reality, we must cope with the fact that the shutter canno
LCO Webmaster | 09 Aug 2011
Last week (August 1 - 3 with optional Galileo Teacher Training Program (GTTP) workshop July 30 - 31), in Baltimore, Maryland, was the annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) held in partnership with the American Geophysical Un
Stuart Lowe | 09 Aug 2011
Back in January, comedian Dara Ó Briain co-presented a UK TV show named Stargazing Live that was shown at prime time on the main BBC TV channel. Several million people tuned in for three nights to watch live updates from telescopes around the
LCO Webmaster | 08 Aug 2011
The last weekend in July, we enjoyed two events with the Santa Barbara School of Squash. The first was Thursday when a group from the youth enrichment program came to the offices of LCOGT for a tour led by Kurt Vander Horst and Rachel Ross.  T
Edward Gomez | 03 Aug 2011
Our first 'homemade' camera, the Sinistro achieved first light on our 1-meter telescope in Santa Barbara last night. It was entirely designed by our optical and imaging engineers and was constructed in the LCOGT image lab. It has been 6 years
Edward Gomez | 02 Aug 2011
On July 27, NASA announced the discovery of the first Trojan asteroid, designated 2010 TK7, which shares the Earth's orbit. It was initially spotted by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission on 2010 Oct 01 at a solar elongation cl
Edward Gomez | 25 Jul 2011
You know that saying about waiting for a bus, and then two come along at once...well, with a new research project being carried out by amateur astronomers in the UK and Italy, in this case it was 7...new asteroids Nick Howes, equipment consultant
Edward Gomez | 30 Jun 2011
Recently an asteroid the size of a bus passed by the Earth with a speed of 12,000 miles per hour. At its closest approach it was only a few thousand miles from the surface of Earth, which is much closer than many of the satellites which orbit the E
Federica B. Bianco | 27 Jun 2011
Our newly-commissioned Lucky Imaging and High Speed Photometry (LIHSP) cameras on FTN and FTS scored a great success on June 23rd at their first attempt to collect science data, catching occulations of both Pluto and its satellite Charon from FTN!&nb
Ben Burleson | 24 Jun 2011
There might be something to say for defining interfaces up front. Spending over one day cleaning up and re-organizing JSON output throughout multiple subprojects can be quite tedious. Once again, sed proved helpful, but sometimes it's harder to make
Ben Burleson | 21 Jun 2011
This is an engineering-notes blog. After publishing the first entry, I was alerted that these are sent to subscribers around the world. Apologies if this isn't your cup of tea, but I'm hoping to share another side of our project with the world! And
Ben Burleson | 20 Jun 2011
This is an engineering-notes blog. I plan on posting regular updates on my day-to-day happenings in a very casual format.
LCO Webmaster | 20 Jun 2011
Saturday was a case of “third time is the charm” in terms of scheduling a star party for the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU) as the first two attempts were weathered out. Even Saturday evening when we were gathering at Sedgw
LCO Webmaster | 16 Jun 2011
The cover of this week's Santa Barbara Independent (June 16-23, 2011, Vol. 25, No. 283) features not only LCOGT, but how Santa Barbara is rising “to become a center of the astronomy universe.” (from the cover of the SB Independent).
LCO Webmaster | 16 Jun 2011
It is that time of year again when the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) announces the winners of their eight awards, which include amateur astronomy and outreach efforts, significant contributions to astronomy research, outstanding Ph
David Petry | 10 Jun 2011
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) achieved a critical milestone today, with two 40’ containers leaving their Santa Barbara headquarters en route to the CTIO observatory node in Chile. Inside the containers are three sets of enc
LCO Webmaster | 10 Jun 2011
Quick update to Progress update on our network sites.
JD Armstrong | 04 Jun 2011
   When Dr. Günther Hasinger, the new director of the University of Hawai`i Institute for Astronomy (IfA), recently visited Maui I was more than happy to give him some time on the Faulkes Telescope North.  I did this to help him a
LCO Webmaster | 26 May 2011
Astronomy Picture of the Day (or APOD) featured the Supernova Sonata, featuring stars exploding to music. 
LCO Webmaster | 23 May 2011
The LCOGT network will consist of at least six sites around the world to create its unique capabilities to observe for 24/7 in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. These sites include additions to Haleakala and Siding Spring next to the two Fa
LCO Webmaster | 09 May 2011
We held our first star party at Photon Ranch for 2011. The guests were from The Oaks Parent Child Workshop, a preschool located in Santa Barbara. For the past two years, LCOGT has donated a star party as a silent auction item to raise money for
Edward Gomez | 09 Dec 2011
At the 2011 .astronomy meeting in Oxford, I was asked to make a pencast by another delegate (Jose Enrique Ruiz). I wrote why we are building a network of telescopes and I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.
LCO Webmaster | 05 May 2011