The Faulkes Telescope Project offers access to a network of robotic telescopes located across the globe. There are several different ways of using the telescopes themselves, data from the telescopes and classroom resources and activities. These are outlined below.

Telescope Access

Access to the telescopes comes in two forms: queue and real time observing. The queue allows you to submit an observation, such as a request to observe a particular galaxy or comet and this observation will be done automatically, before returning the image to you. The real time interface allows you to control the telescope yourself, deciding what images to take in real time. There are advantages and disadvantages to using each of the systems – you can find out more information on our page Queue or RTI?.

Data Archive

If you don’t fancy using the telescopes, or you simply want to look for previous observations of objects, then you can use the LCO Archive. Here, all images that have been taken using the telescopes are accessible to view – whether they were taken by you or any other user of the telescopes. This is a great way to easily find images, without having to go through the process of using the telescopes themselves. You can find out more about using the Archive on the Guide to using the Archive.

Resources

You’re not on your own when it comes to using the telescopes or thinking up projects to run with them with your students. We are here to help! Over the last decade, we have produced a number of resources, activities, instruction sheets and data sets that are available to use for free. They are located on our Moodle site, where you can easily search for and download hundred of resources. You can find them all on our Resources Moodle Page.