Liverpool Telescope Operations 2023-2026

利物浦望远镜(LT)(https://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/))是世界上最大、最精密的机器人望远镜(就科学计划的范围、调度的灵活性和仪器的复杂性而言)，具有开展具有国际竞争力的研究和向国家学校观测站提供关键观测资源的双重角色。NSO为学童提供了近乎即时的世界级天文台。自2004年启动以来，已收到来自4,000多所学校的20多万份观察请求。NSO目前与英国和爱尔兰的4000多名教师合作。NSO的核心是该网站，该网站为一系列主题提供支持材料，每年的点击量超过300万次。自2004年开始运作以来，LT一直专注于在时间域天体物理学方面提供高影响的结果。事实上，该天文台在积极鼓励来自英国和西班牙社区的快速反应和难以安排的监测项目方面是独一无二的。包括LT数据的被引用出版物通常平均每篇被引用66次，是所有天文学论文平均被引用次数的四倍；到目前为止，已有27篇这样的论文出现在备受瞩目的期刊《自然》或《科学》上，平均每篇被引用222次。该望远镜在时间域天体物理学的五个关键领域有高影响力的科学计划：*对瞬变(超新星、新星、激变变星)进行光谱和光度分类和监测。来自广域光学调查。*对SWIFT和费米探测到的伽马射线爆发事件的即时反应。*对多传感器探测的候选光学对应物的快速跟踪。*对时变现象的长期监测，例如活动星系核。*对可变恒星、双星、凌日系外行星和太阳系天体的时间分辨表征。从一开始，目标就是提供各种各样的工具，以满足LJMU和英国/西班牙社区的广泛利益。目前，光学光度学、光谱学和偏振学与仪器和软件环境一起提供，这些仪器和软件环境能够采样从&lt；1秒到&gt；10年的时间尺度。在过去十年中，一直在积极推行一项持续的仪器升级方案。这使该设施保持了竞争力，并确保其在至少未来三年内处于时间域天文学的前沿，之后我们计划过渡到与4M新机器人望远镜的联合操作模式。这项申请是为了在2023-2026年期间为利物浦望远镜的维护和运营提供STFC捐款，从而继续发挥其作为LJMU天体物理研究所和更广泛的英国社区的主要资源的作用。

The Liverpool Telescope (LT ) (https://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/) is the world's largest and most sophisticated robotic telescope (in terms of range of science programmes, flexibility of scheduling, and sophistication of instrumentation) with a dual role to carry out internationally competitive research and deliver the key observing resource to the National Schools Observatory. The NSO offers school children near-immediate access to a world-class observatory. Since its launch in 2004, this has led to over 200,000 observing requests from over 4,000 schools. The NSO currently works with over 4,000 teachers throughout the UK and Ireland. At the core of the NSO is the website which provides support material for a range of subjects and receives over 3 million hits each year. Since operations began in 2004, LT has specialised in delivering high impact results in time domain astrophysics. Indeed, the observatory is unique in actively encouraging rapid-response and difficult-to-schedule monitoring projects from the U.K. and Spanish communities. Refereed publications that include LT data typically average 66 citations/paper, four times the average for all astronomy papers; to date 27 such papers have appeared in the high-profile journals Nature or Science, these having on average 222 citations/paper. The telescope has high impact science programmes in five key areas of time domain astrophysics:* Spectroscopic and photometric classification and monitoring of transients (Supernovae, Novae, Cataclysmic Variables...) from wide field optical surveys.* Immediate response to Gamma Ray Burst events detected by Swift and Fermi.* Rapid follow-up of candidate optical counterparts to multimessenger detections.* Long term monitoring of time variable phenomena, such as active galactic nuclei.* Time resolved characterisation of variable stars, binaries, transiting exoplanets and Solar System objects. From the outset, the goal has been to provide a wide variety of instrumentation to cater for the broad interests of the LJMU and U.K./Spanish communities. Currently, optical photometry, spectroscopy and polarimetry are offered with instruments and a software environment that are capable of sampling timescales from <1 second to >10 years. A continuous programme of instrument upgrades has been aggressively pursued throughout the last decade. This has kept the facility competitive and ensures its position at the forefront of time domain astronomy for at least the next three years, after which we plan to transition to a joint operations model with the 4m New Robotic Telescope. This application is for an STFC contribution over the period 2023-2026 to the funding for the maintenance and operation of the Liverpool Telescope, and hence the continuation of its role as a major resource both for the LJMU Astrophysics Research Institute and the wider UK community.