Science from the Liverpool Telescope
The Liverpool Telescope is the largest robotic telescope in the world. But what is special about robotic telescopes?
Galaxy M31 - © Jason Ware
We think of the night sky as peaceful and unchanging, but the Universe is in fact a violent, dynamic place. Astronomers trying to understand the Universe must study the way stars and galaxies change. However, on most professional telescopes, observing time is very difficult to get and must be "booked" for whole nights, many months in advance. Therefore, you cannot always watch how stars and galaxies vary and you can miss sudden events entirely!
Robotic telescopes are not limited like this. Each night the telescope
can make short observations of many objects for many astronomers, and
if something exciting happens, it can get images very quickly. Some areas
where this will be particularly important are:
