Perth Observatory: Internet Telescopes

Early December 2005 heralded the formal opening of Perth Observatory's Internet telescopes - a new facility to aid the teaching of physical science and mathematics in WA using the inspirational science of astronomy.

Over the last two years this telescope has been only one of the few active internet telescopes around the world and Perth Observatory is now a world leader in this technology. We have also published a description of our technology in a significant international journal.

The Internet telescopes are part of the 'Hands on Universe' (HoU) project, an educational program developed by the University of California. HoU enables students to investigate the Universe while applying tools and concepts from science, maths, and technology. In early 2004, Perth Observatory was invited to host two Internet telescopes, one from the University of California (Berkeley, USA) and Lawrence Hall of Science, and the other from the Oil Region Astronomical Society and Clarion University, Pennsylvania, USA. Telstra donated a satellite Internet link to the Observatory in order to get the data out across the Internet.

What can I do with the internet telescopes?

Using the Internet, HoU participants around the world request observations from an automated telescope, download these images, and analyze them with the aid of user-friendly image processing software. The HoU project provides a well-developed curriculum and user-friendly software and represents a substantial saving in development costs to participants. A further benefit for WA is that the project's teaching staff will be the state's professionals - Perth Observatory astronomers - both highly experienced in astronomy education and outreach, and astronomical research.

At present, WA students can only submit requests for overnight observations because Perth Observatory has the only operational telescope in this project. However, students in the USA have already successfully accessed Perth Observatory's Internet telescope thus successfully exploiting the fact that the US school day coincides with night in Perth. As at 1st March 2006, about 10 individual users/groups have accessed the telescope from California, Pennsylvania, Queensland, Japan, and Perth (not just from Perth Observatory) on more than 50 nights of observing.

It is envisaged that the number of sites contributing to the project will grow subject to the success of the project's expansion into Australia. Increased numbers of participating sites will improve access for students worldwide, and provide a level of additional capacity in order to overcome adverse local weather conditions.

Perth Observatory was invited to participate because it is the only professional astronomical observatory in this part of the world and has a sound record of scientific and educational accomplishments and technical support. The Western Australian time zone also enables the real-time use of the telescopes by students in their classrooms in the USA.

How many telescopes?

To date, only the University of California - Lawrence Hall of Science "Real Astronomy Experience" telescope has been installed and is fully operational. It is anticipated that the Oil Region Astronomical Society - Clarion University Internet telescope will be operational around October 2006.

How do we access the telescopes?

Teachers of upper primary or secondary science are most welcome to contact ( ) Perth Observatory Director, Dr James Biggs, to enroll their classes in the programme. The enrolment provides three hours of instruction in your classroom, written material, and a total of 30 minutes of telescope time per week for one semester. The cost of an enrolment is $350, and reverts to a "pay per view" of $0.50 per minute (minimum $0.50 per exposure) for continued enrolment.

Public access to the telescopes is not yet available. We anticipate this will be gradually phased in around late-2006.