UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:06AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Good morning! This is Tom Fuller from the UCSB Remote Access Astronomy Project (RAAP). Is anyone out there?

Camp Team: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:07AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We have a special link to Native American Star Knowledge at button - click here to check it out. It will give you some ideas about how early peoples viewed and related to the stars. The Lakota Medicine Wheel is especially interesting to study.

Oak view: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:07AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Information on Gemini.

Camp Team: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:09AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Good Morning Tom - Can you give a brief overview of the RAAP Project.

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:13AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello,from Ms.Glenn's class!

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:13AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller what constilation contains Mars?

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:17AM PST (-0800 GMT)
da

shasta/Lorena: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:18AM PST (-0800 GMT)
How do you get the pictures to look so real.

Cheryl: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:19AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller what constilation contains Mars?

Marcy, Camp Counselor: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:19AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 16:06:41 PST Tom - one of the classrooms is interested in seeing a picture of some part of Scorpius this week .. here is the message they sent in : We would like to choose Scorpius for our constellation if that will work or Orion and Sagitarius. Heck, we like them all! Ms. Glenn's class

Paradise HomeSchool: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:20AM PST (-0800 GMT)
A question to the RAAP team from Paradise HomeSchool: Have you worked with the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary on any projects which link together Astronomy and the marine science work going on in the Channel?

Marcy, Camp Counselor: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:21AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello Oak View - we have arranged for you to have a Camp Counselor - Jane Middleton. She will be helping out in the classroom and may be able to start today. Let us know if she is in the classroom today - thanks

shasta/Lorena: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:22AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller What dose leo look like?

Crystal Yoana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:23AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What constilation is made out of the most stars.

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:24AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller why is there a constellation called poop?

Marcy, Camp Counselor: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:26AM PST (-0800 GMT)
A bit of Channel history - one of the first sites where the Internet was first tested was right beside the Channel at UC Santa Barbara. This is the same campus that houses the RAAP Remote Access Astronomy Project. And the campus is built on a mesa overlooking the slough that was the largest village area for the Chumash - and perhaps the largest village area in all of California when the spanish arrived.From the rooftop where the remote telescope is - you can see out to the channel sialnds and across the slough. But remember, people don't go up to that telescope, they send it messages via the Internet and it takes pictures to send back to classrooms and scholars.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:26AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Camp Team: The Remote Access Astronomy Project is an educational resource including a computer controlled telescope, an archive of images from that telescope and from other sources, a collection of astronomy activities, and a web site through which students and teachers can make use of those resources. Through the web site, you can request that the telescope be used to take a picture of the night sky, giving the location in the sky (or the object name), the exposure time, and which of many filters you want used. These requests can be made at any time. At the next observing opportunity (no clouds, for example) our telescope operator will take the image or find the object in our archive, and make the image available for you to download to your computer.

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:27AM PST (-0800 GMT)
The students are asking why the constellation was named the pooper.

Carlos and Juan: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:27AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller, what is your favorite consteelation?

Cheryl: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:28AM PST (-0800 GMT)

shasta/Lorena: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:29AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller How far is ploto away from the sun? I think it is 3.7 billion miles from the sun.

Marcy, Camp Counselor: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:30AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tom - do you have classrooms from outside Santa Barbara using the telescope via the Internet ?

shasta/Lorena: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:31AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller How far is pluto away from the sun? I think it is 3.7 billion miles from the sun.

Cheryl: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:32AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What dose Scorpius look like?

randall: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:32AM PST (-0800 GMT)
mr. fuller/ can you see the space station that is being built?

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller is it true that the constellation Leo is directly in front of the Sphinx in Egypt?

oakview: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Jane is working in our classroom today. Where were images of the night sky recorded?

Carlos and Juan: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller, can you see some satelites with the telescope?

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mars enthusiasts: I believe Mars is presently in the constellation Virgo, and just to the East of the bright star Spica.

Crystal Yoana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:36AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What planets can you see the best from your telescope.

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:38AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller how far can you see through the telescope?

Carlos and Juan: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:41AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller, how large is the mirror of the telescope that you use?

Claudia, Lenell: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:41AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:42AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Those asking about the constellation "poops": It's really Puppis (abbreviated Pup). A quick web search tells me it means "The Stern" (of a ship). Ever heard of the poop deck on a sailing ship? Mythology : Originally part of the sprawling constellation Argo Navis (Jason and the Argonaut's ship) that was later split up by the International Astronomical Union.

randall: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:42AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.fuller what is the diameter of the lense of the telescope you use to locate constellations?

Michael,Coder,Robert: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:42AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller what is the biggest constellation?

Cheryl: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:43AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Are the constilation full of gas?

oak view: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:43AM PST (-0800 GMT)
we would like to do research on castor aand pollux.

Marcy, Camp Counselor: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:44AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tom - right now we seem to have Oak View School from Ventura County online, and Oro Grande School from the high desert of San Bernardino County online - and Maple School in San Bernardino is joining us too. If any other classrooms arrive - please let us know what school / teachers you are with. Thanks.

christian/maple : . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:45AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi This is Ivan, Amado, and I . We like the picture of the telescope.

Humberto/Maple Elem: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:46AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We just got here. Andres, Francisco and I are reading the chat.

Adela/Maple : . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:49AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi,this is Adela,Joyce and Veronica.We just wanted to say Hi. Hi Marcy. We had fun on our whale trip. We will tell you all about it later.

Tiffany,Regina: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:52AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller/What is the smallest constellation?

Trinica,Eddie: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:55AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.fuller-How many constellation's have you seen.

Tiffany,Regina: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:55AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller/What is the first constellation to appear?

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:57AM PST (-0800 GMT)
The group interested in Scorpius: Our telescope only sees a small part of the sky at a time, so we can't take a picture of a whole constellation. We can, however, take pictures of very interesting objects that are very large, but so far away that they appear small in the sky. There are several clusters of stars in our galaxy that appear in the constellation Scorpius, and they are among a list of "fuzzy objects" that were cataloged by Charles Messier in 1774; hence they are called Messier objects. The ones in Scorpius are M4, M6, M7 and M80. You can request an image of them using our web page at button

Trinica,Eddie: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 9:59AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.fuller-What is the medium sized constellation?

Twyla Diana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:01AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller is there any color in the constellations?

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:01AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Paradise HomeSchool: No, we have not worked with the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary, since we are very focussed on looking at the sky. Perhaps you could design a project that makes use of both RAAP and the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary in some way.

Tiffany,Regina: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:02AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.fuller/What is the newest constellation that has been discovered?

Twyla Diana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:02AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What is the oldest constellation you have discovered, Mr. Fuller?

Ana Rosa ,Yohana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:04AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What type of telescope do you use?

Ana Rosa ,Yohana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:04AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What type of telescope do you use?

Twyla Diana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:06AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller, how many people are on your team?

oak view: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:07AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We are interested in researching the Gemini constellation and the two major stars Castor and Pollux. Are you able to send us a picture of these stars and information on them??

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:07AM PST (-0800 GMT)
shasta/Lorena: I don't have a picture to show you at the moment, but I can say that some of the stars in leo trace out a large backwards question mark, with the curve outlining what might be the mane of a lion, and the rest of his body streches out to the left (east) of the question mark.

Christian, Michael: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:07AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller can you send us a picture of your Constellation?

Ana Rosa ,Yohana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:09AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller did you discover the first constellation.

Christian, Michael: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:12AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr.Fuller what are the names of the people you work with?

Twyla Diana: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:13AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller, have you ever seen the bear or eagel constellation?

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:15AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Crystal Yoana: I don't think anyone knows which constellation is made out of the most stars. Constellations were originally images imagined to be found in patterns of stars, so they would be easier to recognize and remember. Different people see different images in the same pattern. These images have tended to become "standardized", but it still depends on the individual. You could make up your own constellations to help yourself remember parts of the sky, and you might try that some time. But remember that others won't know what you're talking about! Later on, when astronomers needed to know what part of the sky their colleagues were talking about, they decided to divide the sky into areas called constellations that conveniently contained the traditional patterns. Now, as we use more and more powerful instruments to look at the sky, we see many many more stars, and even stars in other galaxies. So I don't think we'll ever be able to give a final answer to your question about which constellation has the most stars.

Ms. Glenn: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:16AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. Fuller: Thank you for your information. We have to go to recess now. We really enjoyed your expertise!

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:23AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Carlos and Juan: My favorite constellation is probably Orion. It's very bright, very easily recognized, and therefore very familiar, sort of like a friend. It has a very beautiful collection of nebulosities (go to button and click on one of the files named ORION) That are the remains of very ancient stars that have exploded as supernovas, leaving big clouds of gas and dust. (There are other images in our collection you can see if you go to button )

: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:29AM PST (-0800 GMT)
mr fuller do you have any info on Castor and Pollux.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:30AM PST (-0800 GMT)
shasta/Lorena: Very good! You're right about the average distance to Pluto being about 3.7 billion miles from the Sun. Can you tell us how near and how far from the Sun it moves?

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Marcy, Camp Counselor: Yes, we have many classrooms outside of Santa Barbara using the telescope via the Internet. We get requests from many places in the United States, as well as from many other countries in the world. As a rough estimate of activity I can say that our web server receives about 6000 file requests per day, on the average.

veronica /maple : . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Dear Marcy do you know how many Stars are there. If you do please tell us. By the way Hi.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:38AM PST (-0800 GMT)
randall: If you mean, can our telescope see the International Space Station", I'd have to say "not practically". The telescope is not designed to track objects that move as quickly through the sky as satellites in near Earth orbit. Not only that, but the Space Station is so bright, that the camera couldn't blink fast enough to keep the image from being over-exposed! We have accidentally taken an image recently of what I believe to be a geostationary satellite. It made a long streak in the image, since the telescope was moving along with the stars it was imaging at the time.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:50AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Michael,Coder,Robert: "Is it true that the constellation Leo is directly in front of the Sphinx in Egypt?" If you mean, does Leo "rise" in front of the Sphinx, I don't know, because I'm not familiar with the orientation of the Sphinx with respect to the horizon. I can say that the Sphinx was constructed many thousands of years ago. I also know that the Earth spins like a top in space, with its spinning axis tilted with respect to the Sun and Moon. Because of the gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon for Earth, the Earth's spinning axis moves very slowly around in a circle. It's called precession, and it's just like a top wobbles, but it takes about 26,000 years to complete one wobble! So during the time since the Sphinx was built, the Earth's polar axis has been moving to point in a different direction, just now passing the pole star, Polaris. That also means that the Sun rose and set at different places for the ancient Egyptians than it does now in Egypt. Perhaps you could find out where the Sun rose and set in Egypt at the time the Sphinx was built?

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:56AM PST (-0800 GMT)
oakview: Taking your question two ways... Images of the sky have been recorded by our telescope from its location on campus at UCSB. Once they are recorded, they are stored on a computer, and are made available through our web site. You can download these images from several locations on our site a general collection, including other sources is at this button The archive of specific requested images is at this button Please note that the unprocessed images are in a special astronomical format called FITS, and need to be viewed with special programs. Some of these programs can be obtained through our utility web page at button

Marcy, Camp Counselor: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 10:58AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Veronica/ maple - no one will ever know how many stars there are .. in fact, as new more powerful telescopes are sent out into deep space even more stars and galaxies are being discovered ! it is one of the universe's most puzzling and intriguing facts ...

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:03AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Crystal Yoana: Since planets are so bright and small in our telescope, planetary images are not very exciting. You can't see much detail. It is possible to see crude banding on Jupiter, and certainly the rings of Saturn, but not like pictures you've seen from the Hubble Space Telescope, or one of the Voyager probes! You can take images of the moons around Jupiter or Saturn, and by taking several over a period of hours, you can see that they move. You can try out one of our laboratory activites using Saturn's moons. This laboratory activity and others are at button

oak view: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:04AM PST (-0800 GMT)
do you have any info on castor and pollux.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:08AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Michael,Coder,Robert: Briefly, the distance we can see with our telescope depends on how bright the object is. Very bright objects, like Quasars (the very hot centers of very ancient and distant galaxies) can be seen billions of light years away. Dim objects, like comets very far from the Sun, are not visible to our telescope. The telescope can see objects that appear as dim as magnitude 20 or so. Other details about our telescope can be found at button

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:09AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Carlos and Juan: Our telescope's main mirror is 14 inches in diameter.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:13AM PST (-0800 GMT)
randall: There is a smaller camera on our telescope that has a wider (3 degree) field of view [that's about 6 diameters of the Moon]. We use that to point the telescope, specifically because we can see constellation star patterns, but those images are not saved at this time. The lens for this "tracking" camera is just a camera lens with a focal length of 50 mm and a diameter of 35 mm.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:16AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Michael,Coder,Robert: I'm not sure, but I think Ursa Major (the great bear) is one of the biggest constellations. This is the one with the group of stars called the "big dipper".

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:22AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Cheryl: Constellations are just ways for us humans to divide up the sky so we can find things. So, looking at a constellation really means we are looking out into space in a particular direction, but we can see things that are very near (like the Moon) or very far (like stars, which are in our galaxy, or other galaxies). The stars we see in a constellation are themselves very dense, hot gas, so hot that they shine so we can see them. In some places within the area of a constellation we find clouds of thin gas, sometimes hot and appearing to us as nebulae or fuzzy patches, and sometimes cold, appearing to us as dark clouds blocking our view.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:26AM PST (-0800 GMT)
oak view: Castor and Pollux are in the constellation Gemini, and Castor might be especially interesting, because it is a multiple star system. To get you started, I suggest you go to the library and take a look at Burnham's Celestial Handbook, volume 2.

Ms Ward/Maple Elem: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:30AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello from Maple. My students have been reading the chat and looking at the photos you have displayed online. Very interesting!

Camp Team: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Thanks to everyone for a really great chat session. Be sure to go over to the Astronomy classroom in Camp to follow up on todays meeting.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:36AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tiffany,Regina: Crux is the smallest constellation.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:38AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Trinica,Eddie: Consciously, I haven't counted the number of constellations I've seen, but I have been to the southern hemisphere at night so I can say I've seen the whole sky, or all 88 constellations.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:45AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tiffany,Regina: One way to look at the question of which constellation first appears is to consider that, day or night, there are constellations in the sky above you all the time. When the Sun is shining, Earth's atmosphere is so bright that you can't see stars very well (though you can see planets with some effort and foreknowledge). When the sun sets, the sky gets dimmer, until stars can begin to be seen by eye. If this is the measure of which constellation appears first, then the constellation containing the brightest star must be first. The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, the dog star, in the constellation Canis Major (big dog).

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:46AM PST (-0800 GMT)
I should add that the constellation Canis Major must be above the horizon at the time of sunset for it to be "first appearing". If it is not, then the constellation with the brightest star at the time will be "first".

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:48AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Twyla Diana: Each star has a color, depending on its temperature. Cool stars appear red. Hot stars appear blue. Middle of the road stars, like our sun appear yellow.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:52AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Tiffany,Regina: Constellations aren't discovered, they are defined by people as a recognizable pattern or fixed region in the sky for the convenience of recognizing familiar stars. The whole sky has been divided by astronomers into 88 constellation regions, so there isn't any more sky to add. You could create your own constellations, and that might be a fun exercise.

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:53AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Ana Rosa ,Yohana: For information about our telescope, click on this button

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 11:56AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Twyla Diana: The number of people working on RAAP varies with time, because students frequently join the project for some period of time, then move on to other things. For a brief summary of the people involved, click on button

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 12:09AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Twyla Diana: Yes, I have seen Ursa Major (the great bear) and Aquila (the eagle). Have you found them in the sky? Ursa Major contains the Big Dipper, and Aquila has a bright star called Altair, that spins so fast that it makes a complete revolution in only 6.5 hours. Our Sun takes 25.4 days to do that!

UCSB RAAP: . . . . Tue, Jan 26, 12:19AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Thank you all for your questions. I hope you continue to find interesting things in the sky, and new information about them. Virtually the entire universe is in the sky above, and we live in the middle of it. We need to know about the neighborhood we live in, and how we interact with it. So I encourage you to keep looking, asking questions, and working together to find the answers.

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