LTRobot Workshop - Help Page
Help . . Help . . Help . . !
Scroll down this page to find the help you require.Night sky files
Computer data files that represent the night sky use a file name coded in the following way:
lt (Liverpool Telescope) 97 (year) 11 (11th month) 13 (13th day) _ 18 (1800 hrs)
Digital (CCD) camera
A specialised camera used in modern astronomical telescopes to photograph the night sky. All the light gathered by the telescope falls onto a micro-chip only the size of a postage stamp. These chips are Charged Coupled Devices, also known as CCD chips, and are extremely expensive.
Exposure time
The length of time the telescope camera opens its shutter to take a picture. This time varies depending upon the brightness of the object being photographed. The Moon and brighter planets need very short exposure times while distant stars and galaxies need much longer.
FITS files
Astronomical images contain a lot more information than normal images on computers, such as those you see on webpages. In order to store all this information, a special computer file format has been created called the FITS file (which stands for Flexible Image Transport System).
Go Observing
Section of the Schools' Observatory website where schools enter requests to observe a chosen object in the night sky using one of the Schools' Observatory Telescopes.
On these pages of the NSO website you can also check to see if your request has been carried out and download your image data when it is ready.
Hyperlinks
Used on web pages so that jumps can be made to other webpages. You have just used a hyperlink to access this help page.
Image data
All the necessary information a computer needs to display a digital telescope picture and all the important data needed for scientific analysis.
Image Processing software
Computer software necessary for analysing telescope image data. Image processing software has many tools which can be used to display to best advantage the images (image data) taken with a modern telescope and allows measurements to be taken for purposes of scientific analysis.
Liverpool Telescope
The Liverpool Telescope (LT) is a professional astronomical telescope commissioned by Liverpool John Moores University (JMU). It is a research instrument looking into the mysteries of novae and supernovae (exploding stars), gamma ray bursts (the greatest known sources of energy in the Universe), extra solar planets (search for earth-like planets) and much more. . .
It is located high on an extinct volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canary Isles.
LTImage
Special image processing software written by Liverpool John Moores University for schools to display and analyse telescope image data. Only available to schools registered with the National Schools' Observatory.
LTRobot Schedule Language
Computer language developed for the 'virtual' Liverpool Telescope to control the telescope and its camera.
The Schedule Language consists of a range of specialised commands to operate the telescope and allow sophisticated programming techniques to be carried out such as procedures, logical operations and control loops.
Night Sky Map
A map of the night sky displayed by LTRobot showing the positions of stars that can be seen when observed with the naked eye in a location free from light pollution. The sky map also shows where interesting faint objects are located that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Files with .sky extension
These are data files with the computer file format .sky
These files represent the night sky and show the positions of stars, planets, asteroids, comets and other interesting faint objects on a given night for the 'virtual' Liverpool Telescope to observe.
Observing schedule
A list of observations to be carried out by a telescope during the night and sent to the telescope using the internet.
If conditions, such as weather or the clarity of the atmosphere, change during the night the observing schedule can be altered automatically. Computers at the observatory continually monitor the situation and substitute observations can be made or in bad weather the telescope is closed.
Park position
This is the position that the Liverpool Telescope takes when it is not observing the night sky. In this position the instrument is pointing straight upwards to a point called the zenith.
Procedures
Procedures are used in computer programming to carry out tasks that can be called upon more than once. They save time writing the same instructions over and over again where important actions take place frequently.
Each procedure is given a name for identification purposes.
Student Password
Provides limited access to the Schools' Observatory Telescopes to request observations of planets, comets, asteroids and other interesting objects in the Universe beyond.
This password can be used to find out if an observing request has been carried out and to download the resulting telescope image data.
Teacher Password
The password used by teachers to communicate requests for observations using the Schools' Observatory Telescopes.
This password provides access to ALL possible observations that can be made using the Schools' Observatory Telescopes.
