Robotic telescopes in education

Figures & data

Figure 1. Examples of early telescope education projects. Source: Left: Image Credit: Jatila Van Der Veen, UCSB. Right: Image credit: Lou Mayo, NASA.

Notes: The left-hand figure (L) shows the 14” RAAP telescope at UC Santa Barbara. The right-hand figure (R) shows the 24” telescope at Mt. Wilson used by the TIE project.

Figure 2. Estimates of the light pollution for three typical modern cities, Sao Paulo, Melbourne and Cardiff.

Notes: The light pollution is highly correlated to the local student population. This image was created using https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/.

Figure 3. Examples of robotic telescope user interfaces.

Notes: On the left (L) is the Las Cumbres Observatory robotic scheduler interface. On the right (R) is the itelescope remote interface.

Figure 4. An image of the BRT, now the Autonomous Robotic Telescope, at its site on Teide, Tenerife. Source: Image credit: Gordon Chesterman, GC Media Tenerife.

Figure 5. On the left (L) is one of the 6” MicroObservatory telescopes. On the right (R) is the 12” telescope of the Charles Sturt University Remote Telescope Project. Source: Left: Image credit: Mary Dussault, MicroObservatory.

Figure 6. The 2-m class telescopes.

Notes: On the Left (L) is the 2-m Faulkes Telescope South clamshell dome with two 1-m domes, owned by LCO. On the right (R) is the 2-m Liverpool Telescope clamshell opened to show the telescope itself. The Liverpool and Faulkes telescopes are very similar in original construction and design.

Figure 7. Current observatory locations for the 18 telescopes in the LCO global telescope network.

Figure 8. The Chilean site of SkyNet showing the six 16” PROMPT telescopes. Source: Image credit: by Oscar Saa.

Figure 9. The wide range of small to medium aperture instruments available through iTelescope. Source: Image Credit: Peter Lake, iTelescope.

Note: This is from their Siding Spring Observatory site.

Figure 10. A screenshot from the current MicroObservatory online exoplanet educational project.

Figure 11. High School students and their teacher interact with LCO telescopes and analyse supernovae data through the Faulkes Telescope Project. Source: Image Credit: Faulkes Telescope Project.

Figure 12. An example of a class who participated in the IASC All-India Asteroid Search Campaign in 2016. Source: Image Credit: Patrick Miller, IASC.

Figure 13. An example of a student constructed image of an open cluster and its colour-magnitude diagram from the Our Solar Siblings project.

Figure 14. An instructor with students participating in the HISTAR programme in Hawaii. Source: Image Credit: JD Armstrong, University of Hawai’i.

Figure 15. The 17” PIRATE Telescope run through The Open University, while located in Mallorca before moving to Tenerife in 2016. Source: Image Credit: Ulrich Kolb, The Open University.

Figure 16. On the left (L), members of NITARP presenting their poster at the January 2017 AAS meeting. On the right (R), high school students present their results from their use of the LCO 2-m telescopes in the Space to Grow programme. Source: Left: Image Credit: Luisa Rebull, NITARP.

Table 1. Relevant concept inventories to robotic telescope projects.

Name of test	Abbreviation	Citation
Test of astronomy standards	TOAST	Slater [194]
Astronomy diagnostic test	ADT	Hufnagel [195]
Star properties concept inventory	SPCI	Bailey [196]
Light and spectroscopy concept inventory	LSCI	Bardar [197]
Astronomy and space science concept inventory	ASSCI	Sadler [198]

Table 2. Relevant psychometric surveys to robotic telescope projects.

Name of test	Abbreviation	Citation
Attitudes towards science		Kind [200]
Colorado learning attitudes about science survey	CLASS	Adams [201]
Views about the nature of science	VNOS	Lederman [202]
Attitudes towards astronomy		Zeilik [203]
Constructivist learning environment survey	CLES	Taylor [204]

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