Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network: Keeping Education in the Dark

Abstract

The Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network is a privately- funded, non-profit organization that is creating a global network of telescopes ranging in size from 0.4 meter to 2 meters for educational and scientific uses. All will be equipped with high quality CCD imagers with the larger ones with spectrographs. An online interface will be used for observing both in real time and in a queue. Any registered school or group will have the capability to remotely observe using a telescope that is currently in the dark from the comfort of their classroom or science center, half a world away. Accompanying the online telescope-control interface will be a library of resources and activities that will be available in the formal classroom setting, informal groups and clubs, and for public outreach in the community for all age groups and levels of science. Using the LCOGT network as a tool to enjoy real astronomical research will not only create a new awareness and excitement towards science and technology, it will also make visible connections between science and humanities.