Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999
We are in the middle of our Visitors' Season, with over 100 people coming up each Friday and Saturday night to gaze at/image objects in our 24" and 15" telescopes/with our CCD camera. Our new 1Kx1K camera has been mounted on our 32" telescope, and we are continuing to work on the mechanism of the telecope. We almost didn't open our Visitors' Season on time, as with the record snowfall this past winter, we literally had a glacier covering the access road until just one week before opening date. In July we are holding a workshop for teachers, through our IDEAS grant, to prepare teachers to conduct remote imaging projects from their schools this Fall. Teachers will learn first hand about telescope and CCD operation, remote imaging communications software/technologies, and how to select projects and how to select available targets in the sky. These last two items are probably the most challenging for the average teacher to learn.
We are also continuing to work with our local Planetariums on remote imaging programs and hope to establish several sessions later on in the year. We invite other Planetarians to contact us at rkang@efn.org, or 541-683-1381, to learn about/arrange remote imaging sessions. You can find most of the basic information about our remote imaging program (CCD Digital Observing Program (CCDDOP)) at our website, http://pmo-sun.uoregon.edu/~pmo/, look under the CCD link in the category, Materials for Teachers and Students.