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100px Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT.net) is a non-profit private operating foundation directed by the technologist Wayne Rosing. The network's goal is to build a global network of up to 40 robotic telescopes spaced at 7 sites distributed in Latitude and Longitude around the Earth, for scientific and educational use. The longitudinal spacing would provide complete latitude coverage in both hemispheres to allow continuous observations of any astronomical object. The network currently consists of (as of April 2013) two fully operational 2-meter telescopes, Faulkes Telescope North and Faulkes Telescope South., three 1-meter telescopes at each of CTIO observatory in Chile and SAAO observatory in South Africa, and one 1-meter telescope in Texas (McDonald Observatory). Future sites include Siding Spring Observatory in Australia (site of FTS) and Tenerife in the Canary Islands (TO). A 0.8-meter telescope at Sedgwick Reserve is also operational. ==History== Rosing incorporated Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope in 1993 with the long-term objective of implementing a global telescope system, and with shorter term activities of aiding various universities, observatories and individuals with the acquisition and improvement of telescopes, optics and instrumentation. In 2005, Rosing founded the global telescope version of LCO. The first astronomers to join were Stuart Taylor in July, 2005, and Tim Brown, in June 2006. In 2005, Rosing and Taylor were joined by engineer Matt Dubberley, a longtime acquaintance of Rosing's from Las Cumbres. After leaving his position as Director of Technology at Google in 2005, Rosing clarified the science goals of the organization to the observation of temporal events. The most effective and latest system in place for this work was the RoboNet network of three 2.0 meter telescopes, all built by Telescope Technologies Limited (TTL) of Liverpool. Two of the telescopes were owned by Dill Faulkes who also owned TTL; the third is owned by the Liverpool John Moores University. With the intention of extending the existing network of 2.0 meter telescopes, Las Cumbres purchased the two telescopes that Faulkes owned, known as Faulkes Telescope South (FTS), located in Siding Spring, Australia, and Faulkes Telescope North (FTN), located on Haleakala in Maui in July 2005. Later that year, LCOGT acquired TTL. The intention was to add two to three 2.0 meter telescopes to the two Faulkes telescopes and form a robotically operated network.〔Rees, P. C. T.; Conway, P. B.; Mansfield, A. G.; Mucke-Herzberg, D.; Rosing, W.; Surrey, P. J.; Taylor, S., ("A global network of robotic telescopes" ) Proceedings of the SPIE. (2006) Retrieved 2012-02-13.〕〔Brown, Timothy M.; Taylor, S. F.; Rosing, W.; Mann, R.; Trimble, V.; Farrell, J. A., ("Keeping Astronomy in the Dark Around the Clock: Introducing LCOGT.net" ) Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society (2006) Retrieved 2012-02-13.〕〔Czart, K ("Las cumbres observatory" ) European Planetary Science Congress (2006) Retrieved 2012-02-13.〕 Late in 2005, Las Cumbres formed an affiliation with the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. In 2006, Las Cumbres began sponsoring an annual lecture series at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The first lecture featured Dr. Alan Dressler of the Carnegie Observatories on "The Search for Another Earth: Looking for Life in All the Right Places." Recent lecturers have included Alex Filippenko, Andrea Ghez, David Spergel, Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr., Avi Loeb, and John E. Carlstrom. In mid-2006, Tim Brown came to Las Cumbres as Science Director and the organization re-evaluated the science objectives in light of the anticipated plan to build additional 2.0 meter telescopes. Brown pointed out that the organizations’ objectives could be met with smaller aperture telescopes which would be less expensive to build, deploy, and operate. With the available funding, a much more widely distributed telescope network, comprising thousands of additional observing hours, was possible.〔("He'll Keep You in the Dark" ), UCSB Engineering Magazine (2007)〕〔Brown, Timothy M., Rosing, W. E.; Baliber, N.; Hidas, M.; Street, R., ("Surveys, Temporal Variability, and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope" ) Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society (2007)〕 Between 2005 and 2012, site agreements for observatory nodes have been renewed and finalized in Siding Spring, Haleakala, Chile, South Africa, the Canary Islands, and McDonald Observatory in Texas. An additional site in China is under consideration. Enclosures have been built in, Chile, South Africa, and at McDonald. An 80-centimeter telescope was installed at the UCSB Sedgwick Reserve in 2009, approximately 30 miles from the company’s headquarters.〔(Sedgwick Reserve website )〕 Design and development efforts have covered a 1-meter telescope, enclosure, and electrical and control system; a highly modified 40-centimeter telescope including enclosures and controls; and instrumentation including photometry cameras and two different spectrographs. In addition, Las Cumbres Observatory astronomers have been active in many areas of research, particularly supernovae and exoplanets, with more than 200 published papers in referred journals. The first placement of a 1-meter, Las Cumbres-designed telescope is underway at McDonald Observatory at Fort Davis, Texas. Engineering and astronomical commissioning are expected to be complete by mid-2012. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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