Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System

The Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System (LOTIS) was an automated optical telescope system aiming to catch GRB optical counterparts, located at a mountain-top site (Site 300) in California near Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. It consisted of four 11-cm aperture telescopes operated by a computer that received signals of GRBs in real time. It had a slew time under ten seconds and a FOV of over 100 square degrees. Its copious free time was used for other astronomy including detecting other transients. It was deployed in 1996, upgraded in 1998 for more sensitivity, and operated until 2001. An improved version, Super-LOTIS (SLOTIS), a similar set-up using a single 0.6-m telescope was deployed in 2000 at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO).