Liverpool Telescope operations 2009-2014
Lead Research Organisation:
Liverpool John Moores University
Department Name: Astrophysics Research Institute
Abstract
The Liverpool Telescope (LT ) (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/) is the world's largest and most sophisticated (in terms of range of science programmes, flexibility of scheduling, and sophistication of instrumentation) robotic telescope whose primary purpose (95% of observing time) is to carry out internationally competitive research. Since the commencement of robotic operation at the end of 2004, the LT has combined rapid reaction to Targets of Opportunity (ToO) with the ability to perform systematic long-term monitoring of targets and coordinated observations with other facilities, both on the ground and in space. This has allowed it to participate in many exciting new discoveries reported in high impact journals: - the earliest measurement of the optical polarization of a Gamma ray burst afterglow (Mundell et al, Science, 2007, 315, 1822) - the monitoring of many supernovae including the recent 'double supernova' SN2006jc (Pastroello et al, Nature, 2007, 447, 829) - the direct detection of the asteroidal YORP effect (Lowry et al, Science, 2007, 316, 272) - the discovery of a jupiter-saturn analogue solar system via gravitational microlensing (Gaudi et al, Science, 2008, 319, 927) - observations of the recent 'naked eye' GRB080319 (Racusin et al, Nature, 2008, 455, 813) This application is for continuation of funding for the maintenance and operation of the Liverpool Telescope, and the continuation of its role as a major resource both for the LJMU Astrophysics Research Institute and the wider UK community.
Publications
Jorstad S
(2010)
FLARING BEHAVIOR OF THE QUASAR 3C 454.3 ACROSS THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
in The Astrophysical Journal
Perley D.
(2020)
Follow-up observations of GSNST-20ca (AT2020rml) with the Liverpool Telescope
in Transient Name Server AstroNote
Collaboration G
(2020)
Gaia Early Data Release 3: Acceleration of the solar system from Gaia astrometry
in arXiv e-prints
Collaboration G
(2020)
Gaia Early Data Release 3: Structure and properties of the Magellanic Clouds
in arXiv e-prints
Lindegren L.
(2020)
Gaia Early Data Release 3: The astrometric solution
in arXiv e-prints
Collaboration G
(2020)
Gaia Early Data Release 3: The Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars
in arXiv e-prints
Graham J
(2009)
GRB 070714B-DISCOVERY OF THE HIGHEST SPECTROSCOPICALLY CONFIRMED SHORT BURST REDSHIFT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jin Z
(2013)
GRB 081007 AND GRB 090424: THE SURROUNDING MEDIUM, OUTFLOWS, AND SUPERNOVAE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Melandri A
(2010)
GRB 090313 AND THE ORIGIN OF OPTICAL PEAKS IN GAMMA-RAY BURST LIGHT CURVES: IMPLICATIONS FOR LORENTZ FACTORS AND RADIO FLARES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kopac D
(2013)
GRB 090727 AND GAMMA-RAY BURSTS WITH EARLY-TIME OPTICAL EMISSION
in The Astrophysical Journal
| Description | Has made major impact in many branches of Time Domain Astrophysics in particular. These include for example rapid follow-up of Gamma Ray Burst sources, including very early time polarisation studies; very accurate timing measurements of exoplanetary transits; observation and follow-up of both Galactic and extragalactic novae through pre-maximum to late time phases; determination of very high mass binary component properties in for example a Be star/Black hole system; follow-up of supernovae, including securing the earliest ever spectrum of a Type Ia, leading to verification of the carbon deflagration model and many other important results as detailed in the approximately 200 refereed journal papers published during the grant period (and around 100 since). These papers include a high proportion in the highest impact journals such as Science and Nature. |
| Exploitation Route | General advancement of basic science |
| Sectors | Education,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| URL | http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk |
| Description | National Schools' Observatory, the Spaceport visitor centre and regional industry all benefitted. In REF 2014, we submitted Impact Case Studies in these three areas and gained 40% 4*, 46.7% 3* and 13.3% 2* overall for Impact. Details of these Case Studies can be found at http://results.ref.ac.uk/Submissions/Impact/208 |
| Sector | Education,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | EU Framework 7 (OPTICON) |
| Amount | £119,577 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 312430 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 06/2013 |
| End | 06/2016 |
| Description | EU Framework Programme |
| Amount | £71,038 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 06/2012 |
| End | 06/2015 |
| Description | EU Framework Programme |
| Amount | £29,175 (GBP) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 06/2011 |
| End | 06/2013 |
| Description | STFC Large Awards |
| Amount | £15,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2011 |
| End | 06/2013 |
| Description | STFC SiS Fellowships |
| Amount | £74,252 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2011 |
| End | 10/2013 |
| Description | University Widening Access |
| Amount | £1,283,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2011 |
| End | 09/2017 |
| Description | Collaboration with University of Oxford |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Scientific Expertise, Access to telescope time |
| Collaborator Contribution | Scientific Expertise, Financial Contribution |
| Impact | Collaboration on followup of LOFAR radio transients starting in early 2014. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | ESA Gaia Support |
| Organisation | European Space Agency |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Telescope time, observation management and data reduction in support of the tracking of the Gaia satellite via optical means. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Target Position Information, Data Analysis |
| Impact | Ongoing project - wast initially test programme prior to satellite launch in September 2013, after became ongoing commercial contract with ESA renewed annually |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | FRODOSpec |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Department | Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Funding and effort to develop a dual beam spectrograph for the Liverpool Telescope using optical fibre and VPH technology. Ongoing joint exploitation. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding contribution and scientific input to the spectrograph design. Ongoing joint exploitation. |
| Impact | The FRODOSpec instrument itself. Scientific publications. |
| Description | Joint GRB Programme |
| Organisation | University of Ljubljana |
| Department | Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
| Country | Slovenia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Telescope time, data analysis, software development, scientific expertise |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding, scientific expertise. |
| Impact | 17 joint scientific publications. |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | RISE |
| Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
| Department | School of Mathematics and Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Design of a new fast-timing camera for the Liverpool Telescope, integration and operation. Joint scientific exploitation. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funding of hardware. Software development. Joint scientific Exploitation. |
| Impact | The RISE instrument. 17 scientific publications. |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Title | Robotic Control Software |
| Description | software developed to run the liverpool telescope in an autonomous fashion was licensed under GPL and released to Las Cumbres Observatory in return for 1200 hours guarenteed time on their telesopes. |
| IP Reference | |
| Protection | Copyrighted (e.g. software) |
| Year Protection Granted | 2007 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | The robotic software is of course key to the whole operation of the telescope- without it the majority of the scientific papers produced would not have been possible. |
| Description | Input to Parliamentary Inquiry |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Provision of evidence and acting as expert witness for House of Commons S&T Committee Inquiry into astronomy and particle physics. Recommendations in final report supporting the Liverpool Telescope and National Schools' Observatory. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | National Schools' Observatory |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The NSO has 3,000 registered schools. More than 100,000 discrete observations with the LT have been returned to schools for projects within the classroom. Full evaluation of the impact of the NSO is currently underway. Two of the NSO staff team now have FeC on our renewed Consolidated Grant (2018-2021) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/ |
| Description | National Schools' Observatory in FE Colleges |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 500 FE College lecturers and their students engaged with astronomical research using the Liverpool Telescope and resources of the NSO website. Over all NSO activity (Primary, Secondary, FE) over the period: 30,000 observing requests were delivered and just under 3,000,000 educational webpages viewed. This is in addition to the engagement activity entered into eVal for the previous period. www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | National Schools' Observatory in Primary Schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 1000 Primary school teachers and their pupils engaged with astronomical research using the Liverpool Telescope and resources of the NSO website. Over all NSO activity (Primary, Secondary, FE) over the period: 30,000 observing requests were delivered and just under 3,000,000 educational webpages viewed. This is in addition to the engagement activity entered into eVal for the previous period. www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013 |
| URL | http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk |
| Description | National Schools' Observatory in Secondary Schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 2500 Secondary school teachers and their pupils engaged with astronomical research using the Liverpool Telescope and resources of the NSO website. Over all NSO activity (Primary, Secondary, FE) over the period: 30,000 observing requests were delivered and just under 3,000,000 educational webpages viewed. This is in addition to the engagement activity entered into eVal for the previous period www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013 |
| URL | http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk |
| Description | Press coverage relating to the Liverpool Telescope |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Paper Presentation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | 12+ significant stories covered by the media through press releases related to the Liverpool Telescope. This is in addition to the outputs reported for the previous period through eVal. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | School and Public Talks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 50+ public talks and 200+ schools talks based around science from the Liverpool Telescope. This is in addition to data entered through eVal for the previous period. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013 |
| URL | http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/outreach |
| Description | TV and radio coverage |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Contributions to TV and radio broadcasts featuring LIverpool Telescope science. Total 20+ in this reporting period. This is in addition to the outputs reported for the previous period through eVal. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013 |
| URL | http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk |