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National Schools' Observatory National Schools’ Observatory Newsletter - September 2013 LT captures a Perseid Meteor Image of our new offices in Liverpool Science Park, where we relocated to in June. Gold Medal award for The all sky camera (SkyCamA) on NSO Galaxy Garden the Liverpool Telescope managed to capture a number of meteors RHS Flower Show - Tatton Park during the night of the 12th August, th th which was close to the peak of the 25 – 28 July 2013 Perseid meteor shower. We are delighted to announce that a galaxy garden we sponsored and helped to design for the Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show at Tatton More dates for NSO Teacher Park was awarded a prestigious Gold Medal. Training Workshops Over the course of the four day event, the NSO: Watch this Space garden Our programme of FREE teacher was visited by 11,500 enthusiasts and was featured in numerous press training workshops continues, with articles and TV/Radio shows, including the BBC's Gardener's World three further events: programme. NSO astronomers were on hand to answer questions. For more details: Click Here 04/10/2013 Royal Observatory, Edinburgh 15/11/2013 Results of our Name an Asteroid Competition Royal Observatory Greenwich As part of the Discover the Cosmos project, we joined forces with the 06/12/2013 Faulkes Telescope Project (FTP) to run a school competition to name Norman Lockyer Observatory an asteroid that was discovered back in 2004. Of the 50 entries received, Isaac Roberts was chosen as the winner, and was For more information: submitted by a student from Ysgol Glan Clwyd in North Wales. Isaac Roberts Click Here was a We lsh engineer and astronomer who was a pioneer of long-exposure £200 support available astrophotography. He was the first to capture fine detail of the Andromeda Galaxy, and is believed to be the first person to photograph an asteroid. For more details: Click Here NSO access to the Liverpool Telescope set to double Since 2004, schools in the UK and Ireland have had access to 5% of the observing time on the Liverpool Telescope (LT). This works out at around 120 hours per year. Whilst this was more than sufficient in the early years, recent times have seen a dramatic increase in the number of observing requests we have received from schools. As an example, the 2012 total of 15,878 observing requests was a 31% increase on the 12,097 requests received in 2011. Not surprisingly, the increased demand has put significant pressure on our time allocation, and has required a careful time management strategy. However, thanks to additional funding from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), our time on the LT has now increased to 10%, or 240 hours per year. Not only will this relieve the immediate time demand pressures, but will allow us to initiate a number of new observing programmes with NSO users. We will tell you more about these in the coming months. Introducing two new members of the NSO team Following a recruitment process earlier in the year, we are happy to announce that two new team members will be joining the NSO. Dr. Fraser Lewis is an astronomer who also works part-time with the Faulkes Telescope Project. He therefore has good experience of working with both the school sector and robotic telescopes. Fraser's main task will be to develop and co-ordinate a number of new research-level observing projects that students can get involved with, such as variable star monitoring, exoplanet follow-up, spectroscopic classification and the more in-depth analysis of open and globular star clusters. Amanda Bailey is also an astronomer, and is just in the process of finishing her Ph.D. As well as having direct experience of teaching in schools, Mandy is also the Astronomy secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and the Publicity Officer of the Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA). Her outreach experience will be highly beneficial to Mandy's role within the NSO, which will see her developing a number of joint collaborations with schools, organisations and departments for the direct benefit of NSO users. We hope you will join with us in welcoming both Fraser and Mandy to the fold. The NSO is part of the Astrophysics Research Institute of Liverpool John Moores University .
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