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
Mazzali P
(2014)
Hubble Space Telescope spectra of the Type Ia supernova SN 2011fe: a tail of low-density, high-velocity material with Z < Z?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Coti Zelati F
(2014)
Engulfing a radio pulsar: the case of PSR J1023+0038
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chen T
(2015)
The host galaxy and late-time evolution of the superluminous supernova PTF12dam
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Morales-Garoffolo A
(2015)
SN 2011fu: a type IIb supernova with a luminous double-peaked light curve
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Prentice S
(2019)
Investigating the properties of stripped-envelope supernovae; what are the implications for their progenitors?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jayasinghe T
(2018)
The ASAS-SN catalogue of variable stars I: The Serendipitous Survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bours M
(2015)
HST+COS spectra of the double white dwarf CSS 41177 place the secondary inside the pulsational instability strip
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Pasquale M
(2015)
The optical rebrightening of GRB100814A: an interplay of forward and reverse shocks?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pan Y
(2015)
Type Ia supernova spectral features in the context of their host galaxy properties
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
Fraser M
(2015)
SN 2009ip at late times - an interacting transient at +2 years
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nicholl M
(2014)
Superluminous supernovae from PESSTO
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
Tregloan-Reed J
(2015)
Transits and starspots in the WASP-6 planetary system
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Izquierdo P
(2018)
Fast spectrophotometry of WD 1145+017
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Prentice S
(2018)
SN 2016coi/ASASSN-16fp: an example of residual helium in a typeIc supernova?
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
Spiro S
(2014)
Low luminosity Type II supernovae - II. Pointing towards moderate mass precursors
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pastorello A
(2015)
Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium - IV. Transitional Type Ibn supernovae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tanvir N
(2019)
The fraction of ionizing radiation from massive stars that escapes to the intergalactic medium
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Anderson D
(2014)
Three newly discovered sub-Jupiter-mass planets: WASP-69b and WASP-84b transit active K dwarfs and WASP-70Ab transits the evolved primary of a G4+K3 binary?†
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Levitan D
(2015)
Long-term photometric behaviour of outbursting AM CVn systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kuin N
(2019)
Swift spectra of AT2018cow: a white dwarf tidal disruption event?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Matsumoto T
(2018)
Polarization of the first-hour macronovae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ramakrishnan V
(2014)
The connection between the parsec-scale radio jet and ?-ray flares in the blazar 1156+295
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McWhirter P
(2018)
GRAPE: Genetic Routine for Astronomical Period Estimation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bours M
(2014)
Precise parameters for both white dwarfs in the eclipsing binary CSS 41177
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Slowikowska A
(2018)
Optical linear polarization of helium-rich white dwarfs samplewith the RoboPol polarimeter
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Vaduvescu O
(2015)
First EURONEAR NEA discoveries from La Palma using the INT?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Shalyapin V
(2018)
Spectroscopic follow-up of double quasar candidates
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
MacLeod C
(2019)
The 'Big Dipper': the nature of the extreme variability of the AGN SDSS J2232-0806
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Morales-Garoffolo A
(2014)
SN 2013df, a double-peaked IIb supernova from a compact progenitor and an extended H envelope
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Anderson J
(2015)
On the environments of Type Ia supernovae within host galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pastorello A
(2015)
Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium - VI. Observations of two distant Type Ibn supernova candidates discovered by La Silla-QUEST
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
Stewart A
(2018)
On the optical counterparts of radio transients and variables
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armas Padilla M
(2014)
Swift J1357.2-0933: the faintest black hole?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Jiménez-Ibarra F
(2019)
The complex evolution of the X-ray binary transient MAXI J1807+132 along the decay of its discovery outburst
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tartaglia L
(2015)
Interacting supernovae and supernova impostors. SN 2007sv: the major eruption of a massive star in UGC 5979
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Holoien T
(2019)
The ASAS-SN bright supernova catalogue - IV. 2017
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Perley D
(2019)
The fast, luminous ultraviolet transient AT2018cow: extreme supernova, or disruption of a star by an intermediate-mass black hole?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bours M
(2014)
Testing the planetary models of HU Aquarii
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schlindwein W
(2018)
Mapping the accretion disc of the short period eclipsing binary SDSS J0926+3624
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Simpson C
(2014)
No excess of bright galaxies around the redshift 7.1 quasar ULAS J1120+0641
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Johnson C
(2014)
HD 314884: a slowly pulsating B star in a close binary
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Benetti S
(2014)
The supernova CSS121015:004244+132827: a clue for understanding superluminous supernovae
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mo nik T
(2015)
The central star candidate of the planetary nebula Sh2-71: photometric and spectroscopic variability
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Carnerero M
(2015)
Multiwavelength behaviour of the blazar OJ 248 from radio to ?-rays?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parsons S
(2015)
14 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the SDSS and Catalina surveys
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 |