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 Science News

Public Data Policy Expanded

Beginning February 1st 2024, all science data in the archive will be publicly available after the proprietary period for that data has ended. Therefore, all partner data acquired after February 1st 2024 with the 12 month default proprietary period will …

... Read More


Unveiling the population of dual and lensed active galactic nuclei at sub-arcsec separations

Unveiling the population of dual and lensed active galactic nuclei at sub-arcsec separations is an exciting Nature paper featuring the LBT AO system at work. The team describes a new selection method to obtain a sample of dual/lensed active galactic …

... Read More


Astronomy in the Near-Infrared: Observing Strategies and Data Publications

As any user in the NIR astronomical community may already recognize, the resources geared towards near infrared observing are few and far between.  The release of Astronomy in the Near-Infrared- Observing Strategies and Data Publications by Dr. Jochen Heidt provides …

... Read More


View All Science News

LBTO Instrument News

LUCI1 offline – FM4 motor not moving – Resolved

Resolved: LUCI1 Offline – Failure of FM4 motor
LUCI1 is again available for science observations.  Some additional exercising of the fold mirror tilt mechanism appears to have freed up motion.  We don’t see any dropped steps in either direction now. …

... Read More


DX AO in Cold Conditions

DX in Cold Weather – Update (Jan 6 2024)
The failure is linked to the cooling temperature at the adaptive secondary.  The cooling setpoint was slightly adjusted to provide additional leeway while maintaining the safety of the adsec and neighboring …

... Read More


DX LUCI Pyramid Rotated – Resolved

2023-12-15  DX LUCI Pyramid Rotated – Resolved 
The DX SOUL LUCI Wavefront sensor underwent a series of checkouts and performance checks on 2023-12-14. The results were analyzed and showed that the performance of the WFS is comparable to before …

... Read More


View All Announcements