Armchair Astronomy
Aug. 21, 2010: The Bradford Robotic Telescope is a non-profit
initiative dedicated to education and run by a team from Bradford
University in the United Kingdom.
The automated observatory is located at 2400 meters height on
the volcano Caldera in Tenerife, Spain.Optical systems are wide field
and tele cameras (16 and 200 mm) plus one camera
mounted behind a Celestron 14'' telescope, all run by
local computers and remotely serviced from Bradford
University.After registering with the Bradford Robotic
Telescope website it is possible to specify an astronomical object
or coordinates, camera, exposure lenght, filter etc. via a web
interface and then line up for the image to be taken.An
e-mail will notify when the image is finished (usually a
week or two later).
The Hercules globular cluster (Messiere no. 13) can be observed from
the northern hemisphere with binoculars or a small telescope.The image
of M13 below was taken with the Celestron14 telescope at 60 sec.
exposure in november.
Globular clusters are "balls" of very old stars nearly as old as the
universe, but when analysed spectroscopically the stars are found
to contain heavy elements whose origin must
be from interstellar gas created when even older stars died in
supernova explosions.
These clusters are found around galaxies similar to our own Milk
Way (where 160 is known) and are scattered around the galaxys
edges, like insects swarming around an apple.Each cluster contain
approximately one million "red giant" stars, with no interstellar
gas between the giants from where new stars can be born.
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Years ago globular clusters were dated to be older than the Milk Way itself but astronomers later have resolved this mystery and now find globulars to be early formed parts of our galaxy (perhaps after proving the heavy elements?).This year astronomers anyway have proposed some of the Milk Way globulars are leftovers from past collisions between the Milk Way and other galaxies.Start blowing your mind at |