Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT): A Remotely Operated Robotic Telescope for Education and Research at Seoul National University

TL;DR

The Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT) is a remotely operated 0.43-meter telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, enabling diverse research and educational activities with high-quality imaging capabilities from Seoul National University.

Contribution

This paper introduces the LSGT system, its performance, and future upgrade plans, highlighting its role in research and education from a remote location.

Findings

Capable of imaging down to R=21.5 mag at 5-sigma in 15 minutes

Supports long-term monitoring of galaxies, AGNs, and supernovae

Enables rapid follow-up of transients like gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

We introduce the Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT), a remotely operated, robotic 0.43-meter telescope. The telescope was installed at the Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, in 2014 October, to secure regular and exclusive access to the dark sky and excellent atmospheric conditions in the southern hemisphere from the Seoul National University (SNU) campus. Here, we describe the LSGT system and its performance, present example images from early observations, and discuss a future plan to upgrade the system. The use of the telescope includes (i) long-term monitoring observations of nearby galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and supernovae; (ii) rapid follow-up observations of transients such as gamma-ray bursts and gravitational wave sources; and (iii) observations for educational activities at SNU. Based on observations performed so far, we find that the telescope is capable of providing images to a depth of R=21.5 mag (point source detection) at 5-sigma with 15 min total integration time under good observing conditions.