LCOGT Telescope network capabilities

ABSTRACT LCOGT are currently building an d deploying a worldwide network of at least fifteen 1-meter and twenty-four 0.4-meter telescopes to three sites in each hemisphere, enabling extended, redundant and optimally continuous coverage of time variable or transient sources. Each site will support two or more 1m telescopes and four or more 0.4m telescopes. All telescope classes provide a full range of optical narrow-band and broad-band UBVRI and ugriZY imaging filters. All telescopes ar e being equipped with a moving light-bar flat-fielding system called Lambert. The 1m network is intended primarily for science observing while the 0.4m network additionally provides educationa l opportunities to participating schools and institutes. The global network is designed to accommodate multiple science, educational and rapid response capabilities. For LCOGT, the network IS the telescope . Keywords: Robotic telescopes, time domain astronomy 1. 0.4m Network Telescopes We currently have ten of twenty-four 0.4m telescopes assembled and ready to be deployed. One is deployed and working in our back parking lot (BPL). Each f/8 0.4m telescope utilizes Meade RCX optics mounted on LCOGT drive hardware: A machined C-ring is mounted on a base beari ng and two rollers encased in a “sandwich” to maintain alignment. One roller is driven with a Kollmorgen Direct Drive Rotary motor (IP65 series), and a similar motor is used to drive Declinat ion through a combinati on drive/encoder disk. The design permits all bearing and roller alignm ent to be aligned and adjusted for minimum runout and hysteresis in our shop. The focus mechanism has also been modified with three flexures supporting the Meade co rrector plate/M2 for positive focus with no backlash. Each 0.4m telescope is equi pped with an SBIG 2Kx3K imager wi th 9um pixels, providing a pixel scale of 0.6as and 20x30 arcmin Field of View, with internal off-axis guider. Some 0.4m telescopes will be equipped with SBIG 4K Ethernet CCDs, with 40x4 0 arcmin Field of View, internal guider, and some vignetting in the corners. They will be deployed in pairs in