LTImage Workshop - Help Page

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 often called CCD (Charged Coupled Device) chips and are very expensive.

Downloading files

The process whereby computer image data files, produced by the CCD camera on the JMU Liverpool Telescope, are transferred to a computer.

For schools this will be across the internet from the National Schools' Observatory website onto hard discs in school computers.

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 NSO website where requests for a telescope to observe a chosen object in the night sky are made.

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

Special computer software for displaying telescope pictures (image data).

The software includes tools to help display image data to best advantage and allow measurements to be carried out to help with scientific investigation (analysis).

JMU Liverpool Telescope

The largest robotic telescope in the world and is operated by Liverpool John Moores University.

The instrument is located on the island of La Palma in the Canary Isles where there are over 300 clear nights a year for observing.

The JMU Liverpool Telescope weighs over 25 tonnes, stands 8 metres tall and has a main light gathering mirror with a diameter of 2 metres.

LTImage

Image processing software specially written for schools by Liverpool John Moores University.

Only available to schools registered with the National Schools' Observatory.

Pixels

Every image on a computer screen is made up of thousands of spots of light.

These small areas are called pixels and over four million of them make up each image produced by the JMU Liverpool Telescope.

They vary in brightness depending upon the image being displayed.

Student password

Password allocated to pupils so that they can download telescope image data for use with the image processing software (LTImage).

This password can also be used by pupils to submit requests for observations using the JMU Liverpool Telescope.

Teacher password

The password used to submit a request to observe the night sky through one of the NSO telescopes.

Username

A Username is allocated to each school registered with the National Schools' Observatory and is used together with the teacher password or student password when requesting observations, monitoring progress or downloading telescope images (data).