Telescope Tasking

 

Science often involves making observations or doing expertiments in an attempt to obtain new data to answer specific questions. The Educational Observatory's Automated Telescope Facilities (ATFs) are designed to allow students to do real scientific observations, from the classroom, via the internet. It would be a waste of a resource to task a research-grade telescope to find answers to questions that can be answered by a little research at the library or on the internet. Like any professional telescope, telescope time is a precious resource and because demand is usually greater than supply, there is competition for use of the ATF based on scientific merit. However, that is not to say that high school seniors would always have an advantage over fifth graders, as age would be taken into consideration. Professional astronomers need to have knowledge of what any given telescope can and can't do. Similarly student and teacher need an understanding of what a 1.0-meter ATF can and can't do, i.e., is the ATF capable of giving you data that can answer your question? Specific capabilities, guidelines for exposure times, filter usage, etc. will all be on-line, available for planning a well thought-out observation. Virtual Telescope software (on-line and on CDROM) is being developed to provide easy-to-use training for the ATFs. The Educational Observatory want students to be successful in using the ATFs to answer their astronomy questions and attepts to make the ATF use as easy as possible. These web pages, such as Automated Telescopes, Astronomical Calendars, and Astronomical Data provide much technical information that the student may find helpful in planning an observational task. Students will write a mini-proposal (submitted to his/her teacher) which needs to include: A statement of the question being asked. A background paragraph or two of what has already been done in this scientific area, and how what you are requesting is different or justified. It is possible that you may want to make an observation that has been done many times before, but the results of previous observations are just not available to you. Technical Approach - What specifically would the ATF be asked to do and how is this observational data likely to help you answer your question? The primary mechanism for screening tasks is in the iteration between student and teacher prior to task submission. Once the student and teacher are in agreement that the proposal tasking the ATF is a good one, the proposal many be submitted to the Educational Observatory. The ATF tasking software will: Check the task request for feasibility. May adjust the task parameters (such as correcting for an under or over exposure). Cue the task request. Execute the task based of priority, weather conditions and efficient ATF operation. Record and archive the task data. Notify the student and teacher that the task has been completed with directions for downloading the data.