Heising-Simons Foundation Awards Grant to LCO

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 accepting Open Access proposals and will evaluate those proposals with the assistance of a committee of external scientists. Observing time on the telescope network will be awarded based on scientific merit and technical feasibility.

The LCO telescope network consists of 25 telescopes strategically placed in both hemispheres around the globe at seven professional observatory sites. The network is operating 24/7 as a single, integrated observatory, robotically controlled to optimize research in time domain astronomy. As the Earth rotates, LCO scheduling software activates different telescopes. Observations are always in progress and data are always being collected. No other observatory provides LCO’s full set
of capabilities.

411: https://lco.global/