Category

Japanese School in India (2002)

Remote operation from the Japanese School in India

Remote operation from the Japanese School in India

　On 17th Feb. 2003, teacher Ikeda and 6 children from 6th grade at the Japanese School in India operated the MUE Internet Telescope from the classroom.
　In the classroom it is 16:30 Indian time, but with a 3.5 hour time difference, it is already 20:00 in Japan and the sky is dark enough to observe the stars.
Using the Internet, they succeeded in operating the astronomical telescope and cooled CCD camera remotely for about an hour. Jupiter and Saturn were observed, and images were acquired using the CCDA camera.

Jupiter and Saturn Images Acquired

Jupiter(Acquired 2003.2.17)	Saturn(Acquired 2003.2.17)

　After the demonstration was complete, the pupils comments included: "It was exciting to be operating a real telescope myself" and "We would like to use this system again"
Also "I will never forget my first view of another planet through a telescope!", "It was very impressive to see the night sky of Japan". The class appeared to make a big impression on the pupils.
Other comments: "We would like to look at a wider range of objects", "This system allows us to learn how to use a telescope". It was encouraging that there were a lot of requests to use the use the telescope system again.
　The MUE Internet Telescope system was attracting interest from 2002 on, mainly due to the feeling of "virtual reality". This sense of virtual reality is probably why there have been so much interest in using the system.

News Article

This exercise featured in an article of the Kahoku Shimpo.

18th Feb. 2003　The Kahoku Shimpo　Article　Reproduction

　The Night Sky of Sendai seen in India at Noon
MUE Telescope　Operated via Internet　Used by Japanese School
【New Delhi, 17th】
　Using the Internet, a Japanese telescope was operated remotely from India to observe the night sky of Japan on the 17th. Children in New Delhi who participated in the exercise were very excited to be looking at images of objects such as Saturn's rings, which were photographed beautifully.
　Observations took place at the Japanese School in New Delhi (principal Otsuki Hirokazu) with six students from 6th grade. Under the guidance of their teacher Ikeda (37), they used software developed at the graduate school of MUE to remotely operate a telescope on the roof of MUE. They successfully observed and photographed Jupiter and Saturn using a web cam.
　With a clear picture allowing the rings of Saturn and belts of Jupiter to be seen, one pupil exclaimed: "It is wonderful that we can see the night sky in Japan from the classroom in India!"
　The teacher Ikeda and MUE senior students had been preparing for this project since end of the last year, with support from the university. By taking the unique step of operating a telescope from a foreign country, they could make use of the three-and-a-half hour time difference between India and Japan, and observe during normal school hours.
　 "By observing across time zones, it is possible to observe celestial objects in the daytime", said Assistant Professor Takata of MUE Planetary Science Laboratory. In future, this system will be used to compare the appearance of the night skies of Japan and Australia, to show the variation with latitude.