Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope
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| Founded | December 29, 1993 |
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| Founder | Wayne Rosing |
| Type | 501(c)(3) |
| Focus | Astronomy, astrophysics, educational technology, space sciences |
| Location |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Product | Robotic telescope service |
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Employees
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60 |
| Slogan | "Many Eyes - One Vision" |
| Website | www.lco.global |
Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is a non-profit private operating foundation directed by the technologist Wayne Rosing. The network's goal is to build a global network of up to 40 robotic telescopes spaced at 8 sites distributed in Latitude and Longitude around the Earth, for scientific and educational use. The longitudinal spacing would provide complete latitude coverage in both hemispheres to allow continuous observations of any astronomical object.
The network currently consists of two fully operational 2-meter telescopes, Faulkes Telescope North and Faulkes Telescope South., three 1-meter telescopes at each of CTIO observatory in Chile and SAAO observatory in South Africa, two 1-meter telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia (site of FTS) and one 1-meter telescope in Texas (McDonald Observatory), and seven 0.4 meter telescopes sited in Haleakala (site of FTN), CTIO, Tenerife in the Canary Islands (TO) and Siding Spring. A 0.8-meter telescope at Sedgwick Reserve is also operational.
Rosing incorporated Las Cumbres Observatory in 1993 with the long-term objective of implementing a global telescope system, and with shorter term activities of aiding various universities, observatories and individuals with the acquisition and improvement of telescopes, optics and instrumentation.
In 2005, Rosing founded the global telescope version of LCO. The first astronomers to join were Stuart Taylor in July, 2005, and Tim Brown, in June 2006.
After leaving his position as Director of Technology at Google in 2005, Rosing clarified the science goals of the organization to the observation of time-varying astronomical events. The most effective and latest system in place for this work was the RoboNet network of three 2.0 meter telescopes, all built by Telescope Technologies Limited (TTL) of Liverpool. Two of the telescopes were owned by Dill Faulkes; the third is owned by the Liverpool John Moores University.
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