About Micro Observatory
Originally the telescopes were developed by scientists and educators from the "Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics" and were designed to allow young people nationwide to investigate the wonders of the deep sky from their classrooms or in post-school educational centres. They are located and maintained in affiliated observatories at the "Center for Astrophysics": the "Harvard Observatory College in Cambridge", MA, USA and the "Whipple Observatory" in Amado, AZ, USA.
The MicroObservatory remote observation network consists of several 3-foot-tall telescopes, each of which has a 6-inch mirror for capturing light from distant objects in space. Instead of an eyepiece, the MicroObservatory's telescopes concentrate the collected light on a CCD detector (an electronic chip like a digital camera) that records the image as a 650 x 500 pixel image file.
Ed and Annie, Cambridge, MA, USA
Ben and Donald, Amado, AZ, USA
Then NASA funded the project to make the MicroObservatory's robotic telescopes accessible to any audience wishing to appreciate and understand the amazing images as well as data from NASA's space missions. Using many of the same technologies that NASA uses to capture astronomical images by controlling telescopes in space, you can easily control a ground-based telescope with your computer via our website.
Users control the telescopes and then upload their images without human intervention in the loop. You can access the observation using the "Telescope Control" web interface at any time. The telescopes are waterproof and do not require a dome protection, the "Telescope Control" software automatically allows users to know which targets are accessible at night. This means that even novice observers can control the instrument without reliance on outside help.
After selecting your target, selecting an exposure time, color filters and other settings and giving your email address. The telescope can then take the picture requested that evening and the next day (or within 48 hours), you receive an email notification with links allowing you to access and upload your own image.
link to NASA Observatory
Click on the image "MicroObservatory for everyone !" and then on the tab "Control telescope"
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