News

EU-HOU/LCOGT Supernovae Follow-up Programme

EU-HOU and Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (former Faulkes Telescope) have launched a common Educational Supernova Follow-up Programme. The programme is coordinated by TRA Krzysztof (Chris) Rochowicz from Torun, Poland. We hope to have a dedicated web site within couple of weeks. At the moment, to join the programme, simply write Krzysztof at kroch@neostrada.pl . Access to LCOGT telescopes is possible through nationak EU-HOU coordinators.

7-m Radio Telescope Available for School Projects

Jodrell Bank Observatory 7-m Radio Telescope

The EC-funded project RadioNet is now providing EU-HOU, through the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK), a 7-m radio telescope for use by schools throughout Europe for simple real-time observing projects.

To use this telescope you will need to be registered for internet observing under the RadioNet project. To register, send an email to radionet@jb.man.ac.uk giving your contact name, address and email address. You will then be sent a registration pack which includes a username and password, a brief manual for the use of the telescope and several simple radio astronomy exercises to perform with the 7-m telescope.

EU-HOU partner from UK visits Portugal

NUCLIO welcomed Robert Hill, from the Armagh Planetarium (Northern Ireland), to Portugal for a very successful visit. The two EU-HOU partners joint efforts to establish a collaboration that aims to have middle and high-schools use Faulkes Telescope integrated in real scientific projects, under the supervision of portuguese scientists from NUCLIO. A meeting at the British Council (BC) in Lisbon initiated negotiations regarding the support from the BC to these collaborative projects.

Total Solar Eclipses, by Prof.Jay Pasachoff

Power point presentation total_solar_eclipses.zip (7.11 Mb)

Globe at Night - check the light polution in your neighbourhood !

Come Join the GLOBE at Night Program for a Star-Hunting Party during March 22 29, 2006!

Visit www.globe.gov/globeatnight.

What does it mean to REALLY watch the stars? When you look at the night sky, do you see an endless swath of glittering jewels set against a deep velvet black sky? Or do you see only a dozen or so pinpricks of light doggedly shining through the soft amber glow of streetlamps? And how could streetlamps make a difference
in the way the sky looks?

Join thousands of other students, families, and educators by participating in GLOBE at Night an international event designed to observe and record the visible stars as a means of measuring light pollution in a given location. Participation is open to anyone anywhere in the world who can get outside and look skyward during the week of March 22-29, 2006! There is no cost to participate in GLOBE at Night. Help us reach our goal of 5000 observations from around the world!

The quality of the night sky for stellar observations is impacted by several factors including human activities. By locating specific constellations in the sky, students from around the world will learn how the lights in their community contribute to light pollution. Students will explore the different light sources in their community learning the relationship between science, technology and society, and they will report their observations online through a central database allowing for authentic worldwide research and analysis. The observations made during GLOBE at Night will help students and scientists together assess how the quality of the night sky varies around the world.

Here s How to Participate in GLOBE at Night!

Visit http://www.globe.gov/globeatnight
Download the GLOBE at Night Activity Packet
Choose a clear night during the week of March 22-29, 2006
Find the constellation Orion
Compare what you see to the Magnitude Charts
Report your observations on our website
Sign up for the GLOBE at Night mailing list to receive the results of this international event!

What Students Will Learn:

a.. How to locate and identify constellations in the night sky
b.. How their view of the night sky is impacted by light pollution
c.. How science and technology have produced local and global challenges
d.. How light energy is distributed at local and global scales
e.. How effective and efficient different light sources are in their environment
f.. About economic factors involved in light pollution in their community
g.. How to understand patterns of human population distribution

For more information please contact globeatnight@globe.gov

GLOBE at Night is a collaboration between The GLOBE Program, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), Centro de Apoyo a la Didactica de la Astronomia (CADIAS), Windows to the Universe, and Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI).

Kindly provided by Margarita MetaxaMarch 2006

Supernova in M100 !!!

On February 7th, 2006, discovery of a supernova in the spiral galaxy M100 was announced. Schools participating in the EUHOU/Faulkes Telescope and other remotely controlled educational telescopes programs can now view the drama in the real time, as it reveals itself in a galaxy 55 milion light years away from us. The program of observations is coordinated by Krzysztof Rochowicz, teacher and EUHOU Teacher Resource Agent from Torun, Poland and the Faulkes Telescope team.

Annular Eclipse in Bragança (Portugal), 3 October, 2005

Image credits:
Hugo Silva (NUCLIO).
The North of Portugal had the privilege of being on the path of the annularity of the solar eclipse which ocurred on the 3rd October, 2005. NUCLIO - the portuguese partner of EU-HOU - organized a whole weekend of astronomical events in Argozelo (Bragança) that culminated with the observation of the annular eclipse on Monday morning. Over 2000 people gathered for the event.

Partial Solar Eclipse in Paris: 3 October 2005

The partial solar eclipse of 3 October 2005

For the partial Sun eclipse, the French team, lead by Jérémie Lasue, scientific monitor and member of the F-HOU association, has observed this phenomenon at the multimedia department L'UTES/UPMC. He has been supported by his colleagues as well as Jérôme Lucas (ERGA/LERMA-UPMC) and Hélène Vignolles (UTES/UPMC)