The design, construction and use of an internet accessible, robotic optical telescope initiative for student research projects

The aim of this project is to design, deploy and determine the potential effectiveness of a moderate cost robotic observatory for education and research projects. The use of robotic telescopes in education has been demonstrated in a number of recent high profile initiatives, such as the Bradford Telescope, and Faulkes Telescope projects. While there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that these initiatives increase student enthusiasm for science, the effectiveness of these comparatively large and expensive instruments in enabling students to easily participate in authentic research remains the subject of conjecture. At the same time, there has been a marked increase over the past few years, in the number of successful, comparatively low cost amateur observatories making valid contributions to science. Amateur astronomers have a long history of contribution to astronomical research, and recent innovations in off-the-shelf, robotic telescope hardware and software have increased this contribution even more so. Compared with the larger initiatives, the robotic telescope solutions implemented by advanced amateurs are easily replicated, and offer an interesting alternative for educational implementations.