The Faulkes Telescope Project - Robotics, Digital Imaging and Astronomy...
Schools can register sessions to control one of two giant telescopes in Hawaii or Australia to study the stars and take their own digital images.
Imagine being able to take images of distant galaxies and exploding stars using only a PC and an internet connection, and then use the beautiful images in classroom activities. Well now you can, using the Faulkes Telescope Project.
This project gives schools access to the world’s largest robotic telescopes. Faulkes Telescope North in the Hawaiian island of Maui and Faulkes Telescope South in New South Wales, Australia. The sites are amongst the best in the world for observing, and due to their longitude while it is daytime in the UK it is dark at the telescopes.
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Schools register to the project and can then book sessions on one of the telescopes and take direct control, telling the telescope what to observe and seeing it move into position in the webcam. The image is then taken and returned to the screen within minutes. No knowledge of astronomy is required to use the telescope as ‘guided tours’ are available.
Online educational materials can be downloaded so that the images can be used in classroom activities and even in research projects working with local universities! Projects available range from imaging and classifying galaxies to following and possibly even discovering new asteroids. It is an exciting way to make the most of ICT facilities in schools and using broadband services means that it only takes a couple of minutes to take and be sent back inspirational images of the Universe.
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Case Study
One of the research projects running encourages schools to make follow up observations of asteroids in order to determine their paths through space very precisely. Some asteroids pass very close to the Earth and in the future could find themselves on a collision course with our planet! Asteroids that pass close to Earth are known as Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and are studied all around the world because of the potential threat to human life that these objects pose.
The King’s School in Canterbury has been taking observations of an asteroid named 2001 US16. This is a piece of space rock, 600m long which made a close approach to Earth at the start of May 2004. It passed at only 11 times the Earth-Moon distance which is extremely close in astronomical terms! 2001 US16 was also observed by professional astronomers using the massive Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, the world’s largest radio telescope, in order to find out the size and shape of the asteroid.
Due to the size and proximity of the orbit to Earth, 2001 US16 has been classified as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center. If this asteroid were to collide with Earth it would not only form a crater several kilometres across but could also trigger world wide environmental damage.
Dr Andrew Taylor, physics teacher at The King’s School, has been taking this opportunity to introduce current scientific research into his lessons. “Two of our AS-level physics classes had just covered the medical applications of the Doppler effect in ultrasound imaging. The chance to review the same principles being used in the latest radar asteroid observations whilst we took optical images with the Faulkes Telescopes brought a highly motivating sense of immediacy to the classroom!”
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The Founder of the Project and the Prime Minister...
The aim of the Faulkes Telescope Project is to provide inspirational science and math activities for use in the classroom in order to address the problem of failing interest in these areas. Due to this the Department for Education and Skilsl has contributed funds to the project to develop the educational materials.
The project was founded by Dr Dill Faulkes through his educational charity, the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust. Dr Faulkes recently received a letter from the Prime Minister Tony Blair giving his support. He congratulates the project on providing state of the art equipment for use in the classroom, and recognises the potential of such an exciting project.
"Getting young people excited by science is of vital importance to the future of our country" Blair says. A successful and world leading economy needs top mathematicians, scientists and engineers to keep advancing the cutting-edge technologies. The Faulkes Telescope Project aims to inspire a new generation which will take these leading roles.
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Contact ther Faulkes Project
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