Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T10:28:44.531Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Robot Telescopes: a new era in access to astronomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2018

J.E.F. Baruch
J.E.F. Baruch*
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial Technology, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7-1DP

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

For the teaching of astronomy there can be no alternative to the hands-on experience of using instruments on a real telescope observing on a clear dark night. Such experience is not possible for millions of students who are excited by the ideas of astronomy. It is not merely one of cost. The logistics of assembling a class of students after school hoping for clear skies destroys the possibilities of real observing for the majority of students. Robot telescopes change all that.

In educational terms a robot telescope can provide a range of experiences of observational astronomy. The development of CD-ROM and the Internet to support classroom learning have produced the concept of REAL(Dunlap 1996): a Rich Environment for Active Learning as an appropriate framework on which to develop the classroom response to these technologies. The Bradford Robot Telescope has demonstrated student centred experiences to generate a Rich Environment for Active Learning(REAL), for astronomy.

Type
Section Three
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 162: New Trends in Astronomy Teaching , 1998 , pp. 128 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © 1996

References

Mitchell, E.W.J., 1989, The Ground Based Plan - A Plan for Research in Astronomy and Planetary Science by Ground Based Techniques SERC Swindon ISBN 1 870669 10 X.Google Scholar
Dunlap, J.C. & Grabinger, R.S., (1996) Rich Environments for Active Learning FTP::http://ithaca.icbl.hw.ac.uk/pub/nato_asi/rsql.rtf.gz Google Scholar
Bok, B.J. 1955 Size and Type of Telescope for a Photoelectric Observatory The Astronomical Journal (Astronomical Photoelectric Conference - Flagstaff Arizona 1953) Vol 60. pp31–32.Google Scholar
Reddish, V.C., 1966 Sky and Telescope Vol 32. ppl24.Google Scholar
Whitford, J. 1966 National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council Publication No 1234. Ground Based Astronomy - A Ten Year Programme. Google Scholar
Baruch, J.E.F. 1992 Robots in Astronomy. Vistas in Astronomy Vol 35. pp399–438.Google Scholar
Baruch, J.E.F. 1996 A Robot Telescope on the Internet, 1997 Year Book of Astronomy. Edited by Moore, Patrick, Macmillan - London.Google Scholar