Welcome
Welcome to RoboNet-1.0
![[IMAGE: The RoboNet network]](images/robo-map.jpg)
RoboNet-1.0
is a prototype global network of large (2m) robotic telescopes.
This is based around the utilisation of observing time on the
Liverpool Telescope
(LT) for specific projects, plus additional time on the Faulkes
Telescopes North (FTN) and South (FTS). The LT has been funded
from a range of sources including the European Union, PPARC,
Liverpool John Moores University and the generous benefaction of
Mr Aldham Robarts. It is a UK national facility, primarily used
for research. The FTN and FTS have been primarily funded from the
Dill Faulkes
Educational Trust and are focussed on delivering school-age
educational programmes. In 2005 Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) has
become the owner of the Faulkes Telescopes in Hawaii and
Australia, designed and built by Telescope Technologies Limited,
from the Dill Faulkes Educational Foundation, which became the
educational arm of LCO.
A network of large robotic telescopes such as this can uniquely deliver some of the highest priority science for UK astronomy. It will also act as a superb test-bed and demonstrator for the community's capabilities in e-Science. The establishment of RoboNet-1.0 (a "proto-RoboNet") is extremely timely and fits in with potential time-scales for ultimately developing the full-scale RoboNet project (which would entail the building of additional new robotic telescopes).
The project's principal scientific aims are:
To detect cool extra-solar planets by optimised robotic monitoring of Galactic microlens events. In particular, we wish to explore the use of this technique to search for other Earth-like planets.
To determine the origin and nature of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) by providing rapid response and optimised robotic monitoring using an unrivalled global telescope network able to react automatically to a burst alert from the Swift spacecraft, and to exploit the astrophysical and cosmological importance of GRB's as probes of the Universe.
Our principal technological aims are:
To integrate a global network of telescopes to act effectively as a single instrument.
To apply developments in e-Science to maximise scientific return.
The
project is a collaboration of 10 UK universities led by Liverpool
JMU and funded by PPARC.
![[IMAGE: University logos]](images/logos.gif)