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The Faulkes Telescope Project & Bioastronomy. Institute for Astronomy University of Hawaii K. Meech. Faulkes Telescope Project. Educational Partnership: Educational Trust of Great Britain (UK) Institute for Astronomy (HI) Purpose: Astronomy Outreach Location: Haleakala, Maui Hawaii
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The Faulkes Telescope Project& Bioastronomy Institute for Astronomy University of Hawaii K. Meech
Faulkes Telescope Project • Educational Partnership: • Educational Trust of Great Britain (UK) • Institute for Astronomy (HI) • Purpose: Astronomy Outreach • Location: • Haleakala, Maui Hawaii • Australia • Operations • Remote control from the UK • Observe from classrooms • Queue Scheduled • 30% of evenings for Hawaii
The Faulkes Telescope • Professional Telescope • 2-m f/10 primary – alt/az • 12 arc min FOV • Guider to 17th mag • Optical Detector • EEV CCD42-20 CCD: 2048x2048 pixels (0.135”) • 4.6 x 4.6’ FOV • Filters: Sloan u', g', r', i', z', B, V, ND • Near IR imager
Project Status MOU 6/26/99 Enclosure – Scotland • Ship: 7/02 • Install 11/22/02 Telescope ship 8/02 Site blessing 11/02/01 Telescope • Install 1/23/03 • Electronics 7/03 • First light 8/03 • Operations late 03 Phase 1 construction – 3/2002
Faulkes Education Program • TOPS Education Outreach Program – S’03 (NSF/NASA) • Take “master teachers” • Train for remote observing • Simulate the Faulkes Experience • 3 days learning to plan observations • 1 day planning, learn web interface • Receive data, learn image processing • 1 weekend to analyze data and formulate a report
What can students do? • Young Variables: star form • Kuiper Belt Studies • Colors & physical study • Recovery orbits • Comet Studies • Rotation • Space mission support • NEO Characterization
What can students do? • Extrasolar Planet Transits • Synoptic Studies of Jupiter • Rotation • Synoptic Studies of Mars • Dust storms Courtesy of D. Charbonneau, Caltech
Project Goals • Develop a teacher mentor network of teachers • Astronomer-teacher liasons • Provide software • Develop an image data archive • Increase astronomy content in classrooms • Curriculum materials • Science fair participation