“Bringing the Universe to your classroom”

The Faulkes Telescope Project is an education partner of Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO).

Our aim is to provide free access to robotic telescopes and a fully supported education programme to encourage teachers and students to engage in research-based science education.

Access to our resources and those of our partners is provided at no charge to teachers and students.

Robotic Telescopes

LCO operates a network of research-class robotic telescopes. Currently they have 21 telescopes across the world, including two 2-m telescopes (the Faulkes Telescopes – one in Hawaii and the other in Australia), and a number of 1-m and 0.4-m telescopes. For more up-to-date information on their location, visit the LCO website here.

The LCO telescopes are available to UK and EU teachers to use through the Faulkes Telescope Project as part of their curricular or extra-curricular activities and are fully supported by a range of educational materials, a team of educators and professional astronomers.

Teacher Training

Teacher training (both face-to-face and online) is a core component of the FTP educational philosophy, and project staff have been involved in professional development work both in the UK and overseas, with teacher training days being held in Moscow, Santa Barbara, Munich, Lisbon, Paris and several other venues in Portugal and Spain.

Educational support material

The project also provides extensive educational materials which can be accessed and downloaded free of charge from the FTP educational resources website. These resources include astronomy video tutorials, online astronomy training, paper-based documents for use in the classroom, and pre-packaged data from the telescopes to use with the exercises detailed online.

Support

The FTP Team consists of astronomers, educators and admin support. We are contactable via email (firstname.lastname@faulkes-telescope.com) and are happy to help with any queries you have. Find out more about the Faulkes Telescope Project team by clicking here.