Liverpool Telescope Operations 2019-2020
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 with a dual role to carry out internationally competitive research and deliver the key observing resource to the National Schools Observatory. The NSO offers school children near-immediate access to a world-class observatory. Since its launch in 2004, this has led to over 100,000 observing requests from over 2,500 schools. The NSO currently works with over 4000 teachers throughout the UK and Ireland. At the core of the NSO is the website which provides support material for a range of subjects and receives well over 1 million hits each year.
Since operations began in 2004, LT has specialised in delivering high impact results in time domain astrophysics. Indeed, the observatory is unique in actively encouraging rapid-response and difficult-to-schedule monitoring projects from the U.K. and Spanish communities. Refereed publications that include LT data typically average 46 citations/paper, three time the average for all astronomy papers; to date 15 such papers have appeared in the high-profile journals Nature or Science, these having on average 86 citations/paper.
The telescope has high impact science programmes in five key areas of time domain astrophysics:
* Spectroscopy simultaneous with in-situ spacecraft measurements (e.g. ESA Rosetta and NASA New Horizons)
* Exoplanet Characterization
* Cataclysmic Variables, Novae and Supernovae
* Gravitational Wave and Gamma Ray Burst counterparts
* Active Galactic Nuclei
From the outset, the goal has been to provide a wide variety of instrumentation to cater for the broad interests of the LJMU and U.K./Spanish communities. Currently, optical photometry, spectroscopy and polarimetry and infrared photometry are offered with instruments and a software environment that are capable of sampling timescales from ~10 milliseconds to ~10 years. A continuous programme of instrument upgrades has been aggressively pursued throughout the last decade. This has kept the facility competitive and ensures its position at the forefront of time domain astronomy for at least the next five years.
This application is for an STFC contribution over the period 2019-2020 to the funding for the maintenance and operation of the Liverpool Telescope, and hence the continuation of its role as a major resource both for the LJMU Astrophysics Research Institute and the wider UK community.
Since operations began in 2004, LT has specialised in delivering high impact results in time domain astrophysics. Indeed, the observatory is unique in actively encouraging rapid-response and difficult-to-schedule monitoring projects from the U.K. and Spanish communities. Refereed publications that include LT data typically average 46 citations/paper, three time the average for all astronomy papers; to date 15 such papers have appeared in the high-profile journals Nature or Science, these having on average 86 citations/paper.
The telescope has high impact science programmes in five key areas of time domain astrophysics:
* Spectroscopy simultaneous with in-situ spacecraft measurements (e.g. ESA Rosetta and NASA New Horizons)
* Exoplanet Characterization
* Cataclysmic Variables, Novae and Supernovae
* Gravitational Wave and Gamma Ray Burst counterparts
* Active Galactic Nuclei
From the outset, the goal has been to provide a wide variety of instrumentation to cater for the broad interests of the LJMU and U.K./Spanish communities. Currently, optical photometry, spectroscopy and polarimetry and infrared photometry are offered with instruments and a software environment that are capable of sampling timescales from ~10 milliseconds to ~10 years. A continuous programme of instrument upgrades has been aggressively pursued throughout the last decade. This has kept the facility competitive and ensures its position at the forefront of time domain astronomy for at least the next five years.
This application is for an STFC contribution over the period 2019-2020 to the funding for the maintenance and operation of the Liverpool Telescope, and hence the continuation of its role as a major resource both for the LJMU Astrophysics Research Institute and the wider UK community.
Planned Impact
LT has a long tradition of strong industrial engagement. The initial build of the telescope was based around the establishment of a spinout company (TTL, Telescope Technologies Ltd) which was subsequently sold in 2005 to an ex-Google employee to build a global network of small (0.4 and 1 metre) robotic telescopes.
The project has ongoing strong links with a number of local engineering companies. Much of the precision engineering required for LT instrumentation is done in collaboration with the SME engineering firm "Senar". Through the Liverpool Telescope project Senar were contracted by the university-owned company TTL to build several parts for the telescope, resulting in the company upgrading its skills and machinery to deliver the high precision needed for astronomical instrumentation. The contract safeguarded a number of jobs at the time and the company received a grant from MAS (Manufacturing Institute, via the local council organization Wirral Direct) for the purchase of a new, more accurate, CNC lathe for precision machining. Their ongoing work for LT also features as part of their advertising, using the telescope as an example of a high-profile/high-technology client. Their reputation in precision engineering for astronomical applications over the past 10 years has led to contracts with other international observatories (e.g., the new WHT Auxiliary camera and a WEAVE contract) and with CERN, producing the chain links that carry cooling pipes and electrical cables for the LHC. This activity contributed to the rating of ARI impact in the 2nd quartile in REF2014.
Skills and knowledge transfer are furthered by the direct involvement of students (undergraduate and postgraduate) in development projects. The LT team has consistently included undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students in instrument and software design and development with these projects forming the basis of several PhD theses. Most of these students have left academic research for wider industry.
LT has also had success in licensing software and hardware developed for the telescope to the Faulkes/LCOGT organization. License income of £160k plus telescope time worth an additional £180k on the LCO telescopes has been received by LJMU from this activity.
LT is a focus for a significant fraction of the extensive Public Engagement programme at ARI. As well as many talks and workshops to schools and the general public (e.g. in 2012/13 over 150 talks to over 10,000 people were given based on the LT) the LT is also key to the success of a suite of Distance Learning courses in Astronomy that attract around 200 students a year, many of whom have little or no prior experience of Higher Education.
The LT is also an important element in the Spaceport visitor attraction on the banks of the river Mersey. The attraction regularly exceeds visitor number predictions (currently at around 70,000 per year) and brings considerable income into a regeneration area. Using the standard STEAM model (Digest of Tourism Statistics, Dec. 2009 - The Mersey Partnership) for determining the economic benefits of tourism in the City Region for day visitors, this equates to a net gain of more than £2m per year. Spaceport also contributed towards the success of Mersey Ferries being ranked 1st in the City Region in 2008 - when Liverpool was European Capital of Culture - for a paid tourist attraction and an independent MORI Poll from 2006 found that 97% of visitors to Spaceport were either satisfied or very satisfied with their visit. Due to this success, the original targets for the regeneration have been met or exceeded. These include the creation of an estimated 50 new jobs, both direct and indirect, which equates to a gross value added of £1.4m pa to the City Region.
LT is the key resource of the National Schools Observatory, which has delivered over 100,000 unique observations to over 2,500 UK and Irish schools and over 1,000,000 website hits/year.
The project has ongoing strong links with a number of local engineering companies. Much of the precision engineering required for LT instrumentation is done in collaboration with the SME engineering firm "Senar". Through the Liverpool Telescope project Senar were contracted by the university-owned company TTL to build several parts for the telescope, resulting in the company upgrading its skills and machinery to deliver the high precision needed for astronomical instrumentation. The contract safeguarded a number of jobs at the time and the company received a grant from MAS (Manufacturing Institute, via the local council organization Wirral Direct) for the purchase of a new, more accurate, CNC lathe for precision machining. Their ongoing work for LT also features as part of their advertising, using the telescope as an example of a high-profile/high-technology client. Their reputation in precision engineering for astronomical applications over the past 10 years has led to contracts with other international observatories (e.g., the new WHT Auxiliary camera and a WEAVE contract) and with CERN, producing the chain links that carry cooling pipes and electrical cables for the LHC. This activity contributed to the rating of ARI impact in the 2nd quartile in REF2014.
Skills and knowledge transfer are furthered by the direct involvement of students (undergraduate and postgraduate) in development projects. The LT team has consistently included undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students in instrument and software design and development with these projects forming the basis of several PhD theses. Most of these students have left academic research for wider industry.
LT has also had success in licensing software and hardware developed for the telescope to the Faulkes/LCOGT organization. License income of £160k plus telescope time worth an additional £180k on the LCO telescopes has been received by LJMU from this activity.
LT is a focus for a significant fraction of the extensive Public Engagement programme at ARI. As well as many talks and workshops to schools and the general public (e.g. in 2012/13 over 150 talks to over 10,000 people were given based on the LT) the LT is also key to the success of a suite of Distance Learning courses in Astronomy that attract around 200 students a year, many of whom have little or no prior experience of Higher Education.
The LT is also an important element in the Spaceport visitor attraction on the banks of the river Mersey. The attraction regularly exceeds visitor number predictions (currently at around 70,000 per year) and brings considerable income into a regeneration area. Using the standard STEAM model (Digest of Tourism Statistics, Dec. 2009 - The Mersey Partnership) for determining the economic benefits of tourism in the City Region for day visitors, this equates to a net gain of more than £2m per year. Spaceport also contributed towards the success of Mersey Ferries being ranked 1st in the City Region in 2008 - when Liverpool was European Capital of Culture - for a paid tourist attraction and an independent MORI Poll from 2006 found that 97% of visitors to Spaceport were either satisfied or very satisfied with their visit. Due to this success, the original targets for the regeneration have been met or exceeded. These include the creation of an estimated 50 new jobs, both direct and indirect, which equates to a gross value added of £1.4m pa to the City Region.
LT is the key resource of the National Schools Observatory, which has delivered over 100,000 unique observations to over 2,500 UK and Irish schools and over 1,000,000 website hits/year.
Publications
Szkody P
(2020)
Cataclysmic Variables in the First Year of the Zwicky Transient Facility
in The Astronomical Journal
Terry S
(2021)
MOA-2009-BLG-319Lb: A Sub-Saturn Planet inside the Predicted Mass Desert
in The Astronomical Journal
Yao Y
(2020)
SN2019dge: A Helium-rich Ultra-stripped Envelope Supernova
in The Astrophysical Journal
Morgan R
(2019)
A DECam Search for Explosive Optical Transients Associated with IceCube Neutrino Alerts
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lee Y
(2020)
Young Faithful: The Eruptions of EC 53 as It Cycles through Filling and Draining the Inner Disk
in The Astrophysical Journal
Strotjohann N
(2021)
Bright, Months-long Stellar Outbursts Announce the Explosion of Interaction-powered Supernovae
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cunningham V
(2020)
GRB 160625B: Evidence for a Gaussian-shaped Jet
in The Astrophysical Journal
Andreoni I
(2021)
Fast-transient Searches in Real Time with ZTFReST: Identification of Three Optically Discovered Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows and New Constraints on the Kilonova Rate
in The Astrophysical Journal
Holoien T
(2019)
PS18kh: A New Tidal Disruption Event with a Non-axisymmetric Accretion Disk
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shalyapin V
(2019)
Gravitationally Lensed Quasar SDSS J1442+4055: Redshifts of Lensing Galaxies, Time Delay, Microlensing Variability, and Intervening Metal System at z ~ 2
in The Astrophysical Journal
U V
(2022)
The Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016: Velocity-resolved Hß Lags in Luminous Seyfert Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shimoda J
(2021)
Multi-wave band Synchrotron Polarization of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ho A
(2020)
SN 2020bvc: A Broad-line Type Ic Supernova with a Double-peaked Optical Light Curve and a Luminous X-Ray and Radio Counterpart
in The Astrophysical Journal
Terreran G
(2019)
SN 2016coi (ASASSN-16fp): An Energetic H-stripped Core-collapse Supernova from a Massive Stellar Progenitor with Large Mass Loss
in The Astrophysical Journal
Fremling C
(2020)
The Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Survey. I. Spectroscopic Classification and the Redshift Completeness of Local Galaxy Catalogs
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kasliwal M
(2020)
Kilonova Luminosity Function Constraints Based on Zwicky Transient Facility Searches for 13 Neutron Star Merger Triggers during O3
in The Astrophysical Journal
Frederick S
(2021)
A Family Tree of Optical Transients from Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Arai A
(2021)
Detection of 7 Be ii in the Classical Nova V5669 Sgr (Nova Sagittarii 2015 No.3)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kara E
(2021)
AGN STORM 2. I. First results: A Change in the Weather of Mrk 817
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ho A
(2020)
ZTF20aajnksq (AT 2020blt): A Fast Optical Transient at z ˜ 2.9 with No Detected Gamma-Ray Burst Counterpart
in The Astrophysical Journal
Van Velzen S
(2021)
Seventeen Tidal Disruption Events from the First Half of ZTF Survey Observations: Entering a New Era of Population Studies
in The Astrophysical Journal
Miller A
(2020)
The Spectacular Ultraviolet Flash from the Peculiar Type Ia Supernova 2019yvq
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ashall C
(2021)
Carnegie Supernova Project: The First Homogeneous Sample of Super-Chandrasekhar-mass/2003fg-like Type Ia Supernovae
in The Astrophysical Journal
Zsidi G
(2019)
The Weakening Outburst of the Young Eruptive Star V582 Aur
in The Astrophysical Journal
Soumagnac M
(2020)
Early Ultraviolet Observations of Type IIn Supernovae Constrain the Asphericity of Their Circumstellar Material
in The Astrophysical Journal
Goicoechea L
(2019)
Gravitational Lens System PS J0147+4630 (Andromeda's Parachute): Main Lensing Galaxy and Optical Variability of the Quasar Images
in The Astrophysical Journal
Laskar T
(2019)
A Reverse Shock in GRB 181201A
in The Astrophysical Journal
Andreoni I
(2020)
GROWTH on S190814bv: Deep Synoptic Limits on the Optical/Near-infrared Counterpart to a Neutron Star-Black Hole Merger
in The Astrophysical Journal
Eftekhari T
(2021)
Late-time Radio and Millimeter Observations of Superluminous Supernovae and Long Gamma-Ray Bursts: Implications for Central Engines, Fast Radio Bursts, and Obscured Star Formation
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cornachione M
(2020)
Near-infrared and Optical Continuum Emission Region Size Measurements in the Gravitationally lensed Quasars Q0957+561 and SBS0909+532
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lu ? J
(2021)
ASASSN-15hy: An Underluminous, Red 03fg-like Type Ia Supernova
in The Astrophysical Journal
Trakhtenbrot B
(2019)
1ES 1927+654: An AGN Caught Changing Look on a Timescale of Months
in The Astrophysical Journal
Soumagnac M
(2020)
SN 2018fif: The Explosion of a Large Red Supergiant Discovered in Its Infancy by the Zwicky Transient Facility
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lunnan R
(2020)
Four (Super)luminous Supernovae from the First Months of the ZTF Survey
in The Astrophysical Journal
Yao Y
(2019)
ZTF Early Observations of Type Ia Supernovae. I. Properties of the 2018 Sample
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cackett E
(2020)
Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. XI. Accretion Disk Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 142
in The Astrophysical Journal
Könyves-Tóth R
(2020)
Comparative Spectral Analysis of the Superluminous Supernova 2019neq
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jordana-Mitjans N
(2020)
Lowly Polarized Light from a Highly Magnetized Jet of GRB 190114C
in The Astrophysical Journal
Perley D
(2020)
The Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Survey. II. A Public Statistical Sample for Exploring Supernova Demographics*
in The Astrophysical Journal
Burke J
(2021)
A Bright Ultraviolet Excess in the Transitional 02es-like Type Ia Supernova 2019yvq
in The Astrophysical Journal
Yan L
(2020)
Helium-rich Superluminous Supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Pidhorodetska D
(2020)
Detectability of Molecular Signatures on TRAPPIST-1e through Transmission Spectroscopy Simulated for Future Space-based Observatories
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Coughlin M
(2019)
GROWTH on S190425z: Searching Thousands of Square Degrees to Identify an Optical or Infrared Counterpart to a Binary Neutron Star Merger with the Zwicky Transient Facility and Palomar Gattini-IR
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
McBrien O
(2019)
SN2018kzr: A Rapidly Declining Transient from the Destruction of a White Dwarf
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Bose S
(2019)
Strongly Bipolar Inner Ejecta of the Normal Type IIP Supernova ASASSN-16at
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Fremling C
(2019)
ZTF18aalrxas: A Type IIb Supernova from a Very Extended Low-mass Progenitor
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Hermes J
(2021)
8.9 hr Rotation in the Partly Burnt Runaway Stellar Remnant LP 40-365 (GD 492)
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Chen P
(2020)
The Most Rapidly Declining Type I Supernova 2019bkc/ATLAS19dqr
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Description | Successful operation of the Liverpool Robotic Telescope. |
Exploitation Route | Operation of the telescope enables science exploitation by many UK STFC and international astronomers |
Sectors | Other |
URL | https://telescope.ljmu.ac.uk |
Title | robotic astronomy |
Description | procedures, hardware and software systems for the automation of astronomical observations. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | widespread adoption of robotic observing |
URL | https://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/ |