Education groups

We observe asteroids rotating on small timescales. Many amateur astronomers are observing asteroids nightly, across the globe. With 2m telescopes we can make highly accurate observations of their rotational period and learn more about their nature and chemical composition.

On a themed observing day, the whole observing day (or night depending on your point of view) is dedicated to achieving a particular goal; for example observing a particular asteroid to plot a light curve, or imaging different parts of a large galaxy to make a mosaic.

The observing sessions are booked up by the FT Team and allocated to users who are interested in participating in the project. Users who are allocated sessions (given on a first come first served basis) are given educational material based around the project and are given certain co-ordinates to observe.  read more »

Asteroids, also known as Minor Planets or Planetoids, are a class of astronomical object generally used to describe a diverse group of small bodies that drift around the Solar System in orbit around the Sun.

It is thought that asteroids are the remnants of the protoplanetary disc that formed around the Sun when the Solar System was first created. Most of the small bodies came together and formed the inner, rocky planets that we see today. The rest however, remain in space as rocky debris.  read more »

Everyone needs help even if its only occasionally. This group will have pointers to help documents, tutorials and suggestions of things to try if you are really stuck. If you can’t find what you are looking for, you can post a question which anyone in our online community to answer.

Although observing exoplanets is a tricky problem, it does not necessarily need to be done with the largest telescopes available. In 2005 two New Zealand amateur astronomers contributed vital observing time on 10inch/25cm and 14inch/35cm telescopes to identify a Jupiter mass planet about 3 AU away from its host star (the planet was called OGLE-2005-BLG-071). With a really good observing site and careful measurements anyone can observe exoplanets.  read more »

The explosions of massive stars at the end of their lives are rare events in any galaxy, happening once every 20 years. In this group you can find activities for observing supernovae in the Milky Way and more distant galaxies.

 We’ve collected activities for observing the remains of these rare events, called supernova remnants. There are 7 historical remnants but hundreds of more recent ones to observe.

 Working in partnership with the European Hands on Universe, we have activites for observing recent supernovae in distant galaxies.

Formed over 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of a giant cloud of gas and dust, our Solar System consists of 8 planets, 5 known dwarf planets, and hundreds of thousands of asteroids and comets orbiting around our star, the Sun.