Tag archives: Las Cumbres Observatory
The newest space event in our town is the appointment of Dr. Gerard van Belle as president and observatory director for the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO). He fills the role previously held by Dr. Lisa Storrie-Lombardi who retired in September. Leading the search committee for Storrie-Lombardi’s successor was Chair Michael Skrutskie, University of Virginia. On […]
The Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) announced a successful test of its highly specialized global “end-to-end” data alert system AEON+/TOM software. This software system matches incoming requests for specified astronomical data from astrophysics and scientists worldwide, with real time data supplied from a leading global network of observatories. The AEON+/TOM system is the brainchild of LCO […]
Stardate 79659.4 Hold on to your ears, Spock!* Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) Astrophysicist Andy Howell, PhD, head of the supernova research group, and his fifth-year UCSB graduate student Joseph Farah are part of an international research team featured on the cover of Nature (Volume 651, Issue 8105, March 12, 2026) for their discovery of “chirp” […]
In what would be one of her last LCO agenda items, Scientist and LCO Development Director Sandra Seale,Ph.D, announced that the organization is the recipient of a $3.8 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. These funds will purchase new cameras for LCO 1-m telescope global network, providing a significant enhancement in efficiency […]
State Senator Limón Honors Dr. Katrina B. Mitchell at Capitol Ceremony In honor of Women’s History Month, California State Legislature comes together to highlight women in their community. District 21 Senator Monique Limón celebrated Katrina B. Mitchell, MD. In addition to her role as a breast surgical oncologist in Santa Barbara at Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, […]
The grant funds open access to the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope network for the entire astronomical community over the next four years, covering eight six-month observing semesters. This significantly supports all current and future astronomy discovery surveys. LCO is accessible to all institutions that host astronomers, regardless of size or resource level. LCO will be […]
Tim Lister PhD, Senior Scientist at the Las Cumbres Observatory, Goleta, has been awarded a grant from NASA to join the European Space Agency’s Hera Mission, as one of 12 U.S. participating scientists. On September 26, 2022, the world’s first planetary defense test mission was carried out by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). In […]
Attention all space cowboys and star-trekking galaxy women! On Star Date 77800.4, Thursday, May 2, 5:30 – 7:30 pm, the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is inviting the public to its 10-year anniversary celebration at its main headquarters in Goleta. The event commemorates ten years of operating their global telescope network. This is a great opportunity […]
On Thursday, December 14, the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) team held its “Astronomy on Tap” meeting at M. Special on State Street. These events are an all ages and pet friendly info session on current astronomy science and news. The LCO team has raffle tickets that support the event with winners getting the coveted LCO […]
The Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) celebrated its one-year anniversary of “Astronomy on Tap” at the M. Special Brewing Company State Street taproom, on August 24. The back patio bar was packed with scientists, astronomers, students, and budding Jedi Knights in training, some with their pets, gathered to hear the presentations by Senior Astro-data Scientist Curtis […]
At the 14th Asteroids, Comets, Meteors Conferenceon June 18-23 held in Flagstaff, Arizona, astrophysics scientist Tim Lister PhD, who works at the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) in Goleta, was awarded for his life’s work in the field with the naming of an asteroid, also known as a minor planet, after him. The meeting, of which […]
Get your popcorn and astronaut ice cream ready for some rare astral entertainment. The famous Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF – at its peak February 1 and 2 – can be viewed at NNE, 23 to 40 degrees above the horizon, from 9 pm to sunrise, with amateur telescopes and possibly your 10x binoculars. The significance […]
Tune in you star trekkers, gazers, and galaxy aficionados, Las Cumbres Observatory’s (LCO) Astronomy on Tap is back on the planet every month in a new location: the outside patio at M Special Taproom on State Street. The new venue allows for the Astro on Tap monthlies to be an all-ages event, while still be […]
We all learned in school that there are eight planets (well, nine if you’re as old as I am), but our solar system is messier than that. There are millions of leftover rocks called asteroids; bits of ice and rock that come and go called comets; and objects out there beyond Neptune called, in dry […]
Transporting us from science to sci-fi films is astrophysicist Andy Howell, PhD. He is a staff scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO), where a global network of 23 telescopes operate 24/7. His team co-discovered the first “kiloanova” in 2017, two neutron stars that rotate around each other and release gravitational waves, merging to create a […]
On April 10, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) scientists historically released the first image of a black hole they have taken using observations of the center of the galaxy M87, a massive galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. This black hole is located 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5-billion times larger […]
