Yesterday I kept daydreaming about Galileo. Exactly 400 years ago, on January 7, 1610, the famous Italian astronomer spied the moons of Jupiter for the first time and, once he realized what he'd seen a few days later, created a revolution in astronomy that reverberates to this day.

Backyard observing has changed tremendously since Galileo's time. Our telescopes are so much better, our ability to appreciate what we see vastly improved. But we're still limited by local circumstances — by the time and place we choose to set up our scopes, and by the light pollution that almost certainly degrades our view.

Big Dipper to Southern Cross

Astronomers Without Borders

Fortunately, this weekend you'll have not one but two chances to view the universe with first-rate equipment and modern detectors from pristine, dark-sky sites. The good folks at Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) have teamed up with the Virtual Telescope project and Global Rent-a-Scope to provide a remote-observing experience for those of us lacking good skies or too busy to drag our own scopes outside.

The effort, called Big Dipper to Southern Cross, features robotic scopes in two hemispheres. Using your computer, you'll watch as experienced observers slew from one object to the next and show how they capture the wonders of the night sky. You'll be able to chat with other participants and with the telescope operator. This event builds on a successful remote-observing effort held by AWB last September.

So if you've ever wondered what remote observing was like, here's your big chance to try it, along with like-minded amateurs from around the world, and at no cost! All you have to do is make sure your computer has Adobe's Flash plug-in and then go to the Big Dipper to Southern Cross event website.

The northern-sky tour takes place today, January 8th, from 20:00 to 22:00 Universal Time (3 to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). The southern-sky tour is Sunday, January 10th, from 12:30 to 14:30 UT (7:30 to 9:30 a.m. EST).

Comments


Image of Thilina Heenatigala

Thilina Heenatigala

January 8, 2010 at 11:34 am

Hello Kelly, many thanks for posting this. Hope we will have some good weather and hope to see you there!

Cheers!

Thilina Heenatigala
Astronomers Without Borders

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Image of Mieczyslaw

Mieczyslaw

January 8, 2010 at 1:25 pm

I can see nothing, their server does not work properly, I am afraid.

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Image of Gianluca Masi

Gianluca Masi

January 8, 2010 at 3:47 pm

Hi Kelly, many thaks for this post! We had a memorable run, with a total of 3.000 individuals joing our remote event from all over the world!

To properly see the page, the latest Flash Player is mandatory.

We will wait for yur for the southern event!

Sincerely,
Gianluca Masi
The Virtual Telescope Project

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Image of richard

richard

January 8, 2010 at 6:42 pm

Hey there,

only just registered on your site - a day too late for the event!!!

I wondered if there had been a recording of the session & if so whether its available as a podcast - I would very much like to see it!

thanks
Richard

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Image of Prasanna Deshapriya

Prasanna Deshapriya

January 8, 2010 at 8:28 pm

Looking forward to the next event on Sunday the Southern Skies !!

Thanks all, for putting up this great event !!

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Image of Tom

Tom

January 9, 2010 at 4:32 pm

I also want to know if a webcast will be available to view the northern sky.

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Image of Thilina Heenatigala

Thilina Heenatigala

January 12, 2010 at 8:14 am

For those who missed the event, you can see wonderful three event reports at :- http://tinyurl.com/ylhowzl , http://johannes_stuebler.public1.linz.at/BDSC.html , http://astronomymike.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/one-sky-one-people-part-2/ and http://astronomymike.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/one-sky-one-people/

Cheers! Thilina Heenatigala - Astronomers Without Borders

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Image of Gianluca Masi

Gianluca Masi

January 14, 2010 at 9:11 am

For those asking for replies, soon we will have a live show for the northern hemisphere. You may want to check here: http://virtualtelescope.bellatrixobservatory.org/discovervt2010.html

Thanks to all for making this event a great one!!!

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