3 May 2024
Until recently, the prototype of the Large-Sized Telescope (LST), the LST-1, has stood alone on the CTAO's northern hemisphere array site at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias' (IAC's) Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Villa de Garafía on La Palma, Spain. But, in 2023, the CTAO LST Collaboration began laying the foundations and constructing the three remaining LSTs planned for the site -- the LST-2, LST-3 and LST-4. It was on 3 May that an important milestone was achieved when the 18-tonne mirror dish structure of the LST-4 was successfully lifted onto its lower structure.
26 Dec 2023
La Palma, Spain - On 15 December, the Large-Sized Telescope (LST) Collaboration announced through an Astronomer’s Telegram (ATel) the detection of the source OP 313 at very high energies with the LST-1. Although OP 313 was known at lower energies, it had never been detected above 100 GeV, making this the LST-1’s first scientific discovery. With these results, OP 313 becomes the most distant Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) ever detected by a Cherenkov telescope, further showcasing the LST prototype’s exceptional performance while it is being commissioned on the CTAO-North site on the island of La Palma, Spain.
OP 313 is what is known as a Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar or FSRQ, a type of AGN. These are very ...
22 Jun 2020
Between January and February 2020, the prototype Large-Sized Telescope (LST), the LST-1, observed the Crab Pulsar, the rapidly rotating neutron star at the centre of the Crab Nebula. The telescope, which is being commissioned on the CTA-North site on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, was conducting engineering runs to verify the telescope performance.
