Overview of the Remote Access Astronomy Project
with hyper linked direction and instruction:
(Prepared by Erin O'Connor, Allan Hancock College)

The Remote Access Astronomy Project was developed to allow students to combine theory with observations by working with real astronomical images and a remotely operated telescope. This system also provides an opportunity for students to utilize images from a variety of satellites, including the Voyager missions, IRAS, COBE, Magellan, and the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as ground-based telescope images of many celestial objects.

An important component of RAAP is the Remote Optical Telescope (ROT). Students are often disappointed when they view celestial objects with small telescopes. Viewed in this manner, these objects appear little better than with the unaided eye, and look nothing like the spectacular images from large ground-based telescopes or satellite platforms. The ROT has a very sensitive digital camera mounted on the back of a computer controlled telescope, allowing for the study of extremely dim objects. Using this system, students can study stars, galaxies, nebulae, and other celestial bodies in a much more meaningful way.

In order to make use of the RAAP system, follow the directions given below.

Accessing the RAAP Web Site:

You may access the RAAP program information and robotic telescope resources by clicking on the following URL: http://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu

You will see the UCSB Astrophysics Homepage, with numerous links to interesting subjects and topics.

The first link to the UCSB Astro Research page provides contact information and other current information on research talks and projects.

To submit a telescope observation request, select the link to the RAAP Telescope. This page contains all the information needed to submit an individual observation request of your own.

The Interactive Astrophysics link provides numerous fun and educational resources for you and your students.

Numerous digital images are available by selecting the link to the Images page. The pictures are grouped by topic.

The Utilities section provides software for viewing the telescope FITS format images.

Downloading Software to view FITS images:

To make use of the RAAP system, you will first need to download software that allows you to view the FITS format images that are common in astronomical imaging.

The Utilities section of the UCSB Astrophysics Web Site gives you a selection of useful software. You should use the link to the NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) ftp site to download their FITSVIEW and FIXFITS programs. The Sky Image Processor web-based software is very user friendly, but does not always work correctly with the RAAP telescope FITS images at the present time (but this may be fixed in the near future). If you are Mac based, you can download the MAIA Image Processing Software, the Mac version of Sky Image Processor, and the MAC version of PKZip, all of which can be found further down the Utilities section of the UCSB Astrophysics Web Site.

Other software that you may find useful in the Utilities section are the planetarium software programs such as Cosmos, and the decompression routines such as PKZIP.

To access the RAAP database of images:

The Images section of the UCSB Astrophysics Web Site gives you a directory of different images that you may download and view. Selecting a category such as Galaxies, then selecting a specific image, allows you to download that image to your computer. You may then use an image viewer (such as the Sky Image Processor or the NRAO software) to view FITS images, or a simple browser to view the GIF images.

Submitting an Observation Request to the Remote Optical Telescope (ROT):

The RAAP Telescope section of the UCSB Astrophysics Web Site allows you to submit your own telescope observation request. Click on Image Request Form, to fill out a form with your request. Input your name, Email address, and school affiliation, as well as details of your observation request such as the title of the object, telescope settings, and the RA and Dec coordinates of your selected object. Click here for detailed instructions.

There are numerous ways to get the information you need to request an observation. You may use a planetarium program such as Cosmos from the Utilities section, or Starry Night from Space.com (recommended for it's ease of use), or you can refer to star charts, astronomy related magazines, or simply use the SEDS Messier Object Catalog on line. The SEDS Messier Object Catalog is a great resource in that it also shows you a picture of the object and tells you a little bit about it. For example, from the SEDS homepage, you can select Nebula, then M57, to view information on the Ring Nebula. Here you will also find the RA and Dec information you need to submit your telescope request. Note that northern declinations correspond to positive numbers, and southern declinations correspond to negative numbers. For another list of Messier Object, try this site sponsored by Learn What's Up, a fun resource of astronomical items which also provides web-based astronomical charts.

Once you have submitted an observation request, it may take some time for it to be filled due to weather, telescope availability, and seeing conditions. Also, you should check to be sure the object you have requested is in the evening sky (rather than the daytime sky). To check this, you can use a hand held star chart, or one of the planetarium programs referred to above.

Viewing your Remote Optical Telescope Images:

From the RAAP Telescope section of the UCSB Astrophysics Web Site select the Retrieve a Completed Request option to download your previously submitted (and filled) observation requests. Now click on your file to download your telescope image, and use one of the FITS image viewers described above to view it.

Digital Image Processing Curricula:

From the Interactive Astrophysics section of the UCSB Astrophysics Web Site select the PC Labs or Mac Labs option to download numerous lab activities designed for all levels of students. These labs instruct you in how to measure the sizes of craters on other moons, calculate the heights of volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's moon Io, determining the speed of sunspots on the sun, or in measuring the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, or in searching for dark matter in the universe, plus many other labs that have been developed for the RAAP project.

For Further Information on the RAAP Project:

You may contact RAAP directly at:

E-mail: raap@rot.physics.ucsb.edu
Web: http://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu
Voice: (805)893-7240
Fax: (805)893-8498

Other Web-based Resources:

There is a tremendous wealth of web-based resources available on the internet that changes daily. To explore what other web-links might be available for star charts, messier objects, planetarium software, image viewers, or digital image processing software, you should perform some searches of your own. A good place to start is with Yahoo. Type in the key words "astronomy" and "software", and select the category of "Science>Astronomy>Software" to get a list of available software that may be helpful. You may also continue your searches on other search engines such as Alta Vista, or Google.

Hyperlink Updates:

The nature of the world wide web is such that dynamic hyperlinks frequently change as web sites are modified and improved. To correct and update errors and/or dead hyperlinks in this document, please contact Erin O'Connor at the Email given below. Please provide specific details as to the problem and what needs to be changed.