Observatory hits new record
23 December 2008
GCSE Astronomy pupils from Glebe School in Bromley, studying a giant galaxy 200 million light years away, have entered the history books by viewing the 10,000th image from LJMU's National Schools' Observatory (NSO).
Established by LJMU in 2005, the NSO is a web-based resource which enables over 800 schools and colleges across the UK and Ireland to access images from the Liverpool Telescope in the Canaries. Owned and managed by LJMU, it is the world's largest robotic telescope.
Using the NSO, Glebe School's Year 10 and 11 pupils pinpointed the area they wanted to explore; a giant galaxy in the constellation of Pisces which is also the site of a 2005 supernovae or exploding star, pictured below. They then received an image of the location taken by the Telescope and were told theirs was the 10,000th image to be provided by the NSO.
Malcolm Beckford, physics teacher at Glebe School, pictured above with 15-year-olds Daniel Harman and Aaron Murphy, explained the pupils' surprise:
"We requested an image of that specific location to test the accuracy and power of the Liverpool Telescope and we weren't disappointed as the results were stunning. Then we were informed that our observation request was the 10,000th in the history of the NSO, which we were delighted to hear. It's a real landmark in a fantastic project.
"To be able to go online and observe images from the skies with almost real-time results is brilliant. It opens up the students' minds to how the universe works and helps them understand science in a completely different way. The pupils come back to me after using the NSO and say 'I saw Jupiter last night.' Thanks to the project they know more about astrophysics than their parents! It's completely free for schools and it's a fantastic resource."
The NSO forms part of the outreach work by the Astrophysics Research Institute at LJMU. In 2006, in recognition of LJMU's astronomical excellence and public engagement in science, the University received the Queen's Anniversary Award.
For more information about the NSO, see www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/
