Faulkes Telescope South

Faulkes Telescope South
The Faulkes Telescope South inside its closed housing.
Part of Faulkes Telescope Project
Las Cumbres Observatory Edit this on Wikidata
Location(s) Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, AUS
Coordinates 31°16′22″S 149°04′15″E
Observatory code E10 Edit this on Wikidata
Altitude 1,165 m (3,822 ft)
First light 2004 Edit this on Wikidata
Telescope style Ritchey–Chrétien telescope Edit this on Wikidata
Diameter 2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Mounting altazimuth mount Edit this on Wikidata
Website www.faulkes-telescope.com
Faulkes Telescope South is located in Australia
Faulkes Telescope South
Location of Faulkes Telescope South
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The Faulkes Telescope South is a clone of the Liverpool Telescope and is located at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. It is a 2 m (79 in) Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. It was designed to be operated remotely with the aim of encouraging an interest in science by young people. It is supported by an altazimuth mount.

The telescope is owned and operated by LCOGT. This telescope and its sister telescope Faulkes Telescope North are used by research and education groups across the globe. The Faulkes Telescope Project is one such group which provides observing time (awarded by LCOGT) for educational projects for UK schools. Funds were initially sourced by charitable donations from philanthropist Dr. Martin C. Faulkes.

Faulkes Telescope South saw first light in 2004 with full operations occurring by 2006.

Discoveries

2008 HJ is a small near-Earth asteroid which at the time of its discovery was the most rapidly rotating object in the solar system.

Observations

On the 4 May 2007 the first ever observation of one of the satellites of Uranus passing in front of another was made by Marton Hidas and Tim Brown.

In 2013 it was used to image the Near-Earth asteroid 2013 XY8.

See also