Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope, with six operational observatory sites and more to come, will open their robotic telescopes to hands-on use during the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy (IfA) open house this coming April 14.
The IfA Open House takes place at the UH Institute for Astronomy Manoa Headquarters at 2680 Woodlawn Drive, in Honolulu. Parking and admission are free. Up-to-date information is available at http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/open-house/open-house.shtml.
LCOGT Faulkes Telescope North on Haleakala
The Open House which runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. occurs during a time when astronomical observations are not occuring in Hawai'i. To get around this limitation, visitors will be able to log onto one of LCOGT's robotic telescopes in South Africa, weather permitting, and make observations in the southern sky half-way around the world. LCOGT's J. D. Armstrong and former LCOGT intern B. J. Fulton (now with IfA) will preprogram interesting targets on one of LCOGT's 1-meter telescopes located at the South Africa Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). Open House attendees will be able to modify the programs in real time, and go through a quick reduction of the images as they come off the telescopes. Armnstrong will also present a talk on "The Faulkes Telescope and You" about past, present and potential future student science fair projects on FTN/FTS.
In addition, there will be talks on comets visible in Hawai'ian skies this year, strategies for long-term human survival, solar eclipses, and how Mauna Kea became the world’s foremost observatory. Hands-on activities include a project to build and control a Lego robot; a display about ATLAS, the system being built at IfA to warn us about incoming space rocks; help from IfA experts in astrophotography so that you can take amazing photographs of the nighttime sky; a scale model of the solar system on the IfA lawn; and a hologram of the Thirty Meter Telescope proposed to be built on Mauna Kea. Old favorites include comet and sundial making, melting pennies and popping popcorn with sunlight, bottle rockets, and the Bishop Museum’s Magic Planet.
Primarily used for scientific research, LCOGT has provided a real-time interface for educational users to their robotic telescopes since 2005. These have consisted of the identical 2-meter FTN at Haleakala and Faulkes South at Siding Spring Australia. The Initial capital and operational funding for the Faulkes telescopes was provided by The Dill Faulkes Educational Trust. In the last year, LCOGT has added seven identical 1-meter telescopes, with additional telescopes on the way, to create a more widely distributed global robotic observing network. These telescopes are located at McDonald Observatory in Texas, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and the South Africa Astronomical Observatory. Two more 1-meter telescopes will be operational at Siding Spring by June of this year.
