STEM Education

Astronomy Club Uses Virtual Access to Telescopes to Take Students into Space

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 01/21/20

Tomorrow the Tarantula Nebula, the Whirlpool Galaxy and Centaurus A will be on view. Next week, perhaps the Vesta asteroid will put on a show worth viewing as it changes position — at least to viewers on earth. Those are all potential sightings of interest for students working with the Slooh Education Slooh Astronomy Club.

A company originally funded by a seed grant from the National Science Foundation, Slooh provides a "turnkey space lab experience" for students, to help them gain experience in scientific reasoning while studying space via a network of telescopes available online.

The program includes STEAM curricula (for grades 4 through introductory college courses), robotic telescopes with photo capture functionality and access to a private virtual clubhouse for sharing observations.

Slooh's approach uses robotic telescopes around the world, including seven located at an observatory run by the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands; three based in Santiago, Chili; and another five expected to go online this year in the United Arab Emirates.

Students can reserve access to telescopes to set up "missions" for studying specific regions of the night sky using astronomical catalogs, coordinates and imaging filters. Once the mission is done, they automatically get access to FITS digital file images in their photo hubs. They also have access to learn activities that involve using the telescopes for specific purposes and then analyzing the resulting data. The application also provides gamification; as they complete "quests," they gain "gravity points" and move up the leaderboard.

The company also hosts "live" shows during special astronomical events, run by a team of astronomers.

Teachers can track student progress through the various activities via an administrative interface and integration with Google for Education.

Licensing for a group of 10 students is $500 per year; a 30-pack is $1,000. An "apprentice" license is available for an individual for $100; an "astronomer" license for a lone person is $300.