LT Operations Extension April - September 2014
Lead Research Organisation:
Liverpool John Moores University
Department Name: Astrophysics Research Institute
Abstract
In order to maintain the operations of the Liverpool Telescope in the period 1st April 2014 - 30st September 2014 while a longer term funding decision is made, and to allow the retention of staff during that period, a contribution to the staffing costs of the telescope is requested from STFC as agreed by Colin Vincent.
Planned Impact
ARI has a long tradition of strong industrial and PUS engagement. We will continue our policy of engagement with engineering firms who will be commissioned to manufacture the structure of the instrument. In the past this has allowed firms working with us to upgrade their skills and machinery to deliver the high precision needed for astronomical instrumentation, allowing them to received a grants and R&D tax credits in order to upgrade their precision machining capability and safeguarding a number of jobs at the time. In addition such firms have been able to use their work on astronomical instrumentation to enhance their reputation with other customers and has assisted them in gaining access to new markets (for example contracts with ING and CERN). In addition the LT will remain the core of the National Schools Observatory, the UK's most significant schools outreach activity.
Publications
Henze M
(2018)
Breaking the Habit: The Peculiar 2016 Eruption of the Unique Recurrent Nova M31N 2008-12a
in The Astrophysical Journal
Henderson C
(2014)
CANDIDATE GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENSING EVENTS FOR FUTURE DIRECT LENS IMAGING
in The Astrophysical Journal
Williamson K
(2014)
COMPREHENSIVE MONITORING OF GAMMA-RAY BRIGHT BLAZARS. I. STATISTICAL STUDY OF OPTICAL, X-RAY, AND GAMMA-RAY SPECTRAL SLOPES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shalyapin V
(2014)
Deep optical imaging and spectroscopy of the lens system SDSS J1339+1310
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Coti Zelati F
(2014)
Engulfing a radio pulsar: the case of PSR J1023+0038
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Habergham S
(2014)
Environments of interacting transients: impostors and Type IIn supernovae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ashley R
(2019)
Evidence for bimodal orbital separations of white dwarf-red dwarf binary stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Morgan A
(2014)
Evidence for dust destruction from the early-time colour change of GRB 120119A
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Olkin C
(2015)
Evidence that Pluto's atmosphere does not collapse from occultations including the 2013 May 04 event
in Icarus
Maguire K
(2014)
Exploring the spectral diversity of low-redshift Type Ia supernovae using the Palomar Transient Factory
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ahnen M
(2018)
Extreme HBL behavior of Markarian 501 during 2012
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Yap Y
(2019)
Face changing companion of the redback millisecond pulsar PSR J1048+2339
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Izquierdo P
(2018)
Fast spectrophotometry of WD 1145+017
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Laskar T
(2018)
First ALMA Light Curve Constrains Refreshed Reverse Shocks and Jet Magnetization in GRB 161219B
in The Astrophysical Journal
Vaduvescu O
(2015)
First EURONEAR NEA discoveries from La Palma using the INT?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aasi J
(2014)
FIRST SEARCHES FOR OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS TO GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE CANDIDATE EVENTS
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Montalto M
(2015)
FURTHER CONSTRAINTS ON THE OPTICAL TRANSMISSION SPECTRUM OF HAT-P-1b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Raddi R
(2018)
Further Insight on the Hypervelocity White Dwarf, LP 40-365 (GD 492): A Nearby Emissary from a Single-degenerate Type Ia Supernova
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hillenbrand L
(2018)
Gaia 17bpi: An FU Ori-type Outburst
in The Astrophysical Journal
Van Eerten H
(2018)
Gamma-ray burst afterglow blast waves
in International Journal of Modern Physics D
McWhirter P
(2018)
GRAPE: Genetic Routine for Astronomical Period Estimation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stanway E
(2014)
GRB 080517: a local, low-luminosity gamma-ray burst in a dusty galaxy at z = 0.09
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schulze S
(2014)
GRB 120422A/SN 2012bz: Bridging the gap between low- and high-luminosity gamma-ray bursts
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Huang L
(2018)
GRB 120729A: External Shock Origin for Both the Prompt Gamma-Ray Emission and Afterglow
in The Astrophysical Journal
Johnson C
(2014)
HD 314884: a slowly pulsating B star in a close binary
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | The National Schools' Observatory (NSO) is a major educational website, established by Liverpool John Moores University, to allow schools to make their own observations alongside professional astronomers with the world's largest fully-robotic telescope - the Liverpool Telescope. The NSO also provides educational resources to help with the challenging task of teaching science, technology and mathematics in the classroom environment. It has long been known that astronomy creates a sense of excitement and wonder in pupils of all ages. The NSO taps into that interest to further the pupil's knowledge of science and mathematics, while at the same time improve computer literacy and communications skills, strengthen critical thinking and provide experience the real-world application of science and technology. Using astronomical telescopes is the most important feature of this website and schools registered with the Schools' Observatory have the opportunity to make their observations using the LT. Over the past 10 years, over 100,000 observations have been taken for schools. Once the observing request has been completed, pupils are able to download the telescope data and use special Image Processing software (LTImage) to analyse the resulting images. |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Societal |
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 | Telescope Robotic Control Software |
Description | Robotic Control Software for telescopes |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Used for robotic control of Liverpool and Faulkes Telescopes |
URL | https://github.com/LivTel/robotic-control-system |
Description | National Schools Observatory |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Over 100,000 Liverpool Telescope observations delivered into over 2,500 schools in the UK, with supporting curricular material etc. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 |
URL | http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk |