RT Outreach Team Updates

Past Monthly Updates 

January 2022:

Featured Photo:

M42 (Orion Nebula) in LRGB

Processed by John Abbott College Student, Fall 2020

Since September, several classes have participated in our basic and advanced RASC Robotic Telescope for Classrooms programs. We have imaged SIX exoplanet transits. Including three TESS Objects of Interest (TOI), suspected but not confirmed exoplanets. TOI data taken by our robotic telescope and analyzed by participating high school students can be uploaded to the Exoplanet Follow-up Observing Program for TESS (ExoFOP-TESS) to help confirm the existence of these potential exoplanets. 

Our advanced classes also participated in imaging and processing several deep-sky objects, including the Cigar Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, and the Fetus Nebula. Check out an image processed by students at John Abbott College below. 

Not only do the students get to choose which exoplanets and deep-sky objects to image, but they get to watch us program the telescope in real-time. We also spend some time before the start of our imaging runs touring the night sky and taking single frame exposures of deep-sky objects (and sometimes dimmer planets and their moons such as Uranus). Students get the chance to ask questions and learn more about observational astronomy. These “virtual-field” trips to watch the telescope inaction continue to be a favourite part of the Robotic Telescope for Classrooms Program for both students and teachers. 

Are you interested in learning more about our Robotic Telescope for Classrooms program? Visit eduscope.rasc.ca.

Credit: JACAstro (Contact Karim Jaffer for more info)  Data from RASC Robotic Telescope