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Science Operations

LBTO Science Operations

 

Welcome to the Science Operations Web Pages for the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBTO), an international collaboration among institutions in the United States, Italy and Germany. LBT Corporation Members are: The University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona university system; Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy; LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Germany, representing the Max-Planck Society, the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, and Heidelberg University; The Ohio State University, and The Research Corporation, on behalf of The University of Notre Dame, University of Minnesota and University of Virginia.

Large Binocular Telescope – Image complements of Ryan Ketterer

Located on the summit of Mt. Graham, LBTO aspires to be the first of the ELTs and one of the leading 8-m class telescopes. Comprised of privately funded or national institutes and consortiums of universities, the goal of LBTO and its partners is to ensure that its community of users are receiving the highest-quality astronomical data.

On these pages you will find the information needed to prepare for observations or writing proposals and details about the instruments available.

Additional details about the Mt. Graham International Observatory (MGIO) site can be found on the MGIO web pages. Additional technical details about the mechanics and optics of the Large Binocular Telescope can be found on the main LBTO website.

 

LBTO Instrument News

LUCI1 Critical MOS error Recovery Status

Mar 13, 2025: All normal modes with LUCI1 are released for science.
N375 and N30 imaging, as well as G210 and G200 spectroscopic modes have all been released for normal science use.
 
Mar 9, 2025: LUCI1 All modes **NOT** …

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SX ASM Status Update

Update Feb 24, 2025
On-sky seeing limited checkouts were completed on UTFeb24.  The binodal astigmatism was measured and collimation tables updated.  The SX ASM is released for all available seeing-limited science modes without restrictions.
 
Update Feb 14, 2025
ASM …

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DX AO in Cold Conditions

DX ASM in Cold Weather Update – Jan 21, 2025
Work was done in summer shutdown 2024 to attempt to address the issues causing the failures in cold temperatures with the DX ASM.  Unfortunately, we have continued to see the …

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LBTO Science News: Available at lbto.org/news