Transcript

INSTRUCTOR:

Congratulations to your first image with COAST. I hope the image is in focus and came out as you wanted it to be. Chances are, I saw your image before you did. Because here at headquarters, we have control of the Open Science observatory facilities, including PIRATE and COAST. And in fact, let's have a quick look at the sort of interfaces we use on a daily basis to make sure that the facilities run as they are meant to do.

So on screen, I have a shot of the site using the webcam. And this is live. We can see currently, the weather isn't too kind. There's clouds passing through. We see on the webcam, the PIRATE down in the foreground, and COAST in the background here. The sensors are telling me when they are blue, that all is safe. And when they are red, it's not. And of course, now, during daytime, it's not safe to observe.

Now, more interestingly, perhaps for you is to note I can see all the images that were taken last night, or at any night. And that's just a collection of data and images taken a few days ago, when the weather was indeed very good all night long. And it is a mix of nebulae, galaxies, star fields, and the like. And this is our way of detecting any problems and technical issues. But of course, a more detailed analysis has to be done by the author of the images, by yourself. You can download and look at them and analyse them, or just play with them as you wish.

Now, PIRATE and COAST are our primary facilities of the Open Science observatories. They are in Teneriffe, and they are there for a good reason, because we identified Teneriffe as a prime observing site for doing astronomical work. We, at the Open University, have invested heavily to bring the best of technology available today to you, and for you to use. So our facilities are very versatile. They are for professional use in research projects. They work for amateur astronomers who really wanted to get the best colour images of star fields and galaxies and nebula. And they are for anyone who would like to have their own shot of an interesting target on the sky.