Wadhurst Primary School 14th July 2010

Today, Mr Pert visited Wadhurst Primary School and showed the Faulkes Telescope to two year groups (Yr4 & Yr5). Luckily, though rain was forecast for today (and they were getting some on neighbouring islands of Hawaii), there was no sign of it over Haleakalu, the mountain where the telescope is.

Four beautiful images were taken, the last of which (NGC 5907) we haven't taken a picture of before, and we are delighted with. Often the pictures we take of spiral galaxies are face-on [like looking down on a dinner plate), which makes for a dramatic image. This galaxy, however, is sideways-on [like bending down and looking at the plate on the table at eye-level]. We hope the pupils of Wadhurst Primary School enjoyed it as much as we did.


M57 Ring Nebula Sky Object Name: M57
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 14, 2010 10:37:03 UTC
RA: 18h53'36"
DEC: 33°01'40"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 4 secs.
Instrument: EM01

M92 - a globula cluster Sky Object Name: M92
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 14, 2010 10:42:01 UTC
RA: 17h17'07"
DEC: 43°08'14"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 5 secs.
Instrument: EM01

M27 Dumbell Nebula Sky Object Name: M27
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 14, 2010 10:49:39 UTC
RA: 19h59'36"
DEC: 22°43'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 30 secs.
Instrument: EM01

NGC5907 - a sideways-on spiral galaxy in Draco Sky Object Name: NGC 5907
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 14, 2010 10:57:27 UTC
RA: 15h15'53"
DEC: 56°19'33"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 50 secs.
Instrument: EM01

7p1 Faulkes Telescope session 5th July

The session didn't start well. Students were still arriving and trying to find places, whilst an early student, hi-jacked to take control of the telescope, tried to get the link to work. For some unknown reason the telescope was closed. Rather than give up, the student tried the link to 'control' every few seconds with the hope the telescope would open. After about five minutes, which were spent describing what would have happened, and filling in details on an observation sheet (an older version of which is shown here):


As we were getting into the swing of 'what would have happened...' the student, still plugging away at the control button, became very excited, because the telescope was finally open! We swung into action and began putting in the co-ordinates of our first choice of star object, pressed the 'move telescope' button and ...nothing happened (apart from receiving a message saying the telescope was unable to slew (move)). We tried again, and again...nothing happend. Remembering that sometime the telescope got 'stuck' and had to be given different co-ordinates to 'unstick' it, we tried entering the co-ordinates for the next object on the list. Nothing happened! :-(

There was not a lot to be done. If it doesn't work it doesn't work. We were about to begin searching for the chosen objects in the archive, when the student at the control (luckily a persistent student!) announced the telescope was working. He had entered the co-ordinates of another object on the list, and the telescope had finally responded! Yay!

With only fifteen minutes of control time left to go, I didn't think we would get many of our images, since several of them were longer exposure times. However, we managed to get two very good images of M92,a globula cluster, and the excellent Cocoon Nebula, which we'd never imaged before:

M92, a globula cluster
Sky Object Name: m92
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 5, 2010 13:45:31 UTC
RA: 17h17'07"
DEC: 43°08'14"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 8 secs.
Instrument: EM01


IC5146 Cocoon Nebula
Sky Object Name: ic5146
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 5, 2010 13:54:50 UTC
RA: 21h53'30"
DEC: 47°16'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 100 secs.
Instrument: EM01

With only minutes to go, we tried to take a 3-colour picture of the Dumbell Nebula. The telescope control informed us there wasn't enough time. We reduced the time again and again, but still it wasn't possible. It suddenly occurred to me that the time was taken changing filters, so if we did a single filter it might allow this. We managed a 10s image using the red filter...which, though not spectacular, showed the nebula quite clearly!

M27 Dumbell Nebula
Sky Object Name: m27
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 5, 2010 13:58:44 UTC
RA: 19h59'36"
DEC: 22°43'01"
Filter: R
Exposure time: 10 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Frant Primary School - Faulkes 5th July 2010

Pupils at Frant Primary School had the opportunity to try out the Faulkes Telescope today. The sky was clear and the the viewing good. They took turns manouvering the telescope, and managed to get four good images:

M29, an open cluster in Cygnus Sky Object Name: m29
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 5, 2010 10:05:15 UTC
RA: 20h23'54"
DEC: 38°32'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 10 secs.
Instrument: EM01


M56, a globular cluster in Lyra Sky Object Name: m56
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 5, 2010 10:10:57 UTC
RA: 19h16'36"
DEC: 30°10'55"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 30 secs.
Instrument: EM01


M57 Ring Nebula Sky Object Name: m57
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 5, 2010 10:16:29 UTC
RA: 18h53'36"
DEC: 33°01'40"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 15 secs.
Instrument: EM01


M101 Pinwheel Galaxy Sky Object Name: m101
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 5, 2010 10:25:58 UTC
RA: 14h03'13"
DEC: 54°21'02"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 70 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Faulkes Heathfield July 1st 2010

Taken this morning at Heathfield Community College:

Messier 92 (also known as M92 or NGC 6341) is a globular cluster in the constellation Hercules.

Sky Object Name: M92
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 1, 2010 10:34:44 UTC
RA: 17h17'07"
DEC: 43°08'14"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 3 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy distanced 23 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Sky Object Name: m101
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 1, 2010 10:40:31 UTC
RA: 14h03'13"
DEC: 54°21'02"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 30 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Trifid Nebula, located in Sagittarius, is so named because it is 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' within the emission nebula that cause the trifid appearance. Sky Object Name: M20
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 1, 2010 10:46:46 UTC
RA: 18h02'20"
DEC: -23°03'10"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 30 secs.
Instrument: EM01

NGC 5676 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Boötes.
Sky Object Name: NGC5676
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 1, 2010 10:54:11 UTC
RA: 14h32'48"
DEC: 49°28'00"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 30 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The Rosette Nebula is located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter. Sky Object Name: Rosette nebula
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jul 1, 2010 10:58:03 UTC
RA: 18h04'04"
DEC: -24°19'49"
Filter: Blue
Exposure time: 1 secs.
Instrument: EM01

Yr 7 Faulkes Telescope 18th June 2010

Images taken by class 7p1.

The first is the possibly newly-discovered asteroid 2010 LX15 we have been following for the last week to aid scientists track its path so they can tell how near to Earth it's going to come:

Sky Object Name: 2010 LX15
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jun 18, 2010 09:24:55 UTC
RA: 16h46'10"
DEC: -22°45'17"
Filter: Solar
Exposure time: 120 secs.
Instrument: EM01
The second image was a globular cluster, a cluster of 'old' stars (rather than an area where new stars are being formed). The stars often appear of similar age and intensity:
Sky Object Name: m13
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jun 18, 2010 09:12:07 UTC
RA: 16h41'42"
DEC: 36°27'41"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 30 secs.
Instrument: EM01

The third image is one of our favourites, the Ring Nebula (M57), which, even with an exposure of only 3 seconds per red, green and blue filter, still manages to look fabulous!
Sky Object Name: m57
Taken By: Uplands Community College
When taken: Jun 18, 2010 09:05:03 UTC
RA: 18h53'36"
DEC: 33°01'40"
Filter: RGB
Exposure time: 3 secs.
Instrument: EM01