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Category: Miscellaneous

Published on Wednesday, 08 December 2010 08:35

Written by Administrator

If you'd like to see the night sky through an astronomical telescope but haven't the time or money to take up astronomy seriously, the web may be the answer. In recent years a number of robotic telescopes have been set up for you to rent by the hour and use to make observations. Most are serious instruments which come with a corresponding price tag, but for beginners and those who just want a taste a good choice is SLOOH.

Click the 'Try Now' button and you will be encouraged to join the 'SLOOH Free Membership Program'. As a free member you can look over the shoulder of astronomers using the telescope and hear them explain what you are seeing.Click the 'Get Started' button and create an account by filling in the registration form. SLOOH sends you an activation email and you just need to click the link provided to activate your membership. You will be taken back to a log in page where you can choose to stay 'logged in'.

At last you reach the Launch Pad page. Here you can select the Canary Island, Australian or Chilean instrument. Typically one will be in darkness and currently observing, and the others in daylight and offline until night falls. The next scheduled 'missions' (observations) are shown and you can check the local weather.

There is a gallery of upcoming missions in the center right of the screen which you can scroll through. Those outlined in green are free missions which you can join. There is a 5 minute count down and when the timer reaches zero the mission automatically loads a new window.

You are advised to check that your browser's pop-up blocker doesn't prevent the window from opening. I didn't and Firefox blocked the viewing window pop-up, but offered the option to allow pop-ups from slooh.com which I accepted.

So finally I got to look at the Omega Centauri Cluster through Slooh's telescope in Chile. Up pops the viewing window and after a short delay your browser is connected to the output of the telescope. You can magnify the image or pan right, left and up, down. You get an interesting talk about the object you are viewing, and as soon as the mission had finished I was eager for another one.

When you've watched enough live demos of what the instrument can do you may want to take control and do your own observations. You can reserve any of the telescopes up to 7 days in advance and specify the coordinates or object you want to view. It costs money (Click on the 'Upgrade' button) but you can get one month for $5.95 or longer periods at discounted rates. A bargain Christmas present for your children or yourself!

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