SMARTscope will be housed at the Pett Observatory in Ottawa.

Volunteers from the Ottawa Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada have created an online tool that will let Web users explore and photograph distant galaxies.

It's called the Simple Multiple Access Remote Telescope, or SMARTscope, and, with a bit of training, people can star gaze in the comfort of their own homes.

SMARTscope started in 2000, as a millennium project for RASC's Ottawa Centre. It gained momentum, when Hugh Pett, an Ottawa amateur astronomer with a similar idea, agreed to help RASC finance the building of a small observatory, says project manager Chris Teron.

Explosion of interest

"There has been quite an explosion of small, remotely operated observatories in the last few years," says Tim Cole, an electrical engineer, part-time educator and volunteer with the project. "As far as we know, we're the first private group to try to set up a real-time, remotely operated observatory that will be available at only nominal fees."

SMARTscope is housed at the Pett Observatory, at Shirley's Bay in Ottawa. The site "houses research-quality equipment that would otherwise be unavailable to most students, amateur astronomers, or astronomy enthusiasts," Cole says. "One of the SMARTscope project's central principles is that our observatory isn't reserved for researchers or professionals."

With their mice and keyboards, Internet users will be able to aim the SMARTscope at whatever parts of the sky they want to observe. Although only one person can use the telescope at a time, Teron says, the technical team is trying to create a program that will allow anyone online to watch.

Users should have some astronomical education or background, Cole says, But a proposed simulator will teach the basics, and the online astronomical community can be contacted for reference.

"Some will be interested in doing serious research work, some in doing educational projects, and some will want to just make lovely images of favorite astronomical objects. It's up to the user. And every one of those things helps people discover the universe in their own way."

Reaching out to the public

Although the creators have an obvious interest in using the observatory to pursue their hobby, Teron says, one of the main goals of the SMARTscope initiative is public education.

"(RASC) has always encouraged public interest with events like star parties and outreach. But this project gives us a unique opportunity to go beyond what we've done."

Teron says he's particularly excited about making contact with the public school system in Ontario.

The new curriculum makes astronomy mandatory in Grades 6 and 9. That might encourage teachers to find new ways to interest their students in the stars, Teron says. And senior-level students also will be able to use the SMARTscope for science fairs or research projects.

In the United States, "NASA operates its very successful Telescopes In Education program, which allows selected high school groups to have access to professional facilities," Cole says. "But enrolment in the program is very limited, and there's competition for spaces. It takes something on the level of a government agency to run the TIE program."

There are other groups that might find the project's doors are open.

"One rather loose group I hope we can reach is folks who can't get out and physically operate telescopes," Cole says. "For example, people in wheelchairs can have a pretty difficult time getting out to a half-decent site and setting up a telescope. People with cold-weather asthma often have to stay indoors on beautiful winter nights."

SMARTscope volunteer John Douglas assembles cables to the telescope.

Cole says he'd love to attract new astronomy enthusiasts among people with physical problems. "Lifelong astronomy enthusiasts can end up losing the sky because of accidents or illness. I'd love to help them get the sky back."

Partnership

Much of SMARTscope's start-up funding came from private donations and from grants from organizations like the Trillium Foundation. But the project wouldn't be possible, Cole says, without thousands of hours of volunteer labour and a collaborative effort with Industry Canada's Communications Research Centre.

"CRC has been wonderful. They've provided the site and services and, since the Pett Observatory is in a secure compound, we don't have to worry about security."

SMARTscope will be online in a limited capacity before the end of the year, Teron says. But it won't be available to the public for at least another six months while the bugs are worked out and a training program for new users is created.

Once the project is operational, Teron estimates an annual fee of about $30 will cover admission to unlimited galactic voyages from the comfort of a computer desktop.

Related Links Read more about the SMARTscope project Learn about NASA’a TIE program Explore Harvard University’s Micro Observatory Read about other RASC- Ottawa Centre events