The fundamental purpose of the Telescopes In Education (TIE) program is to provide educators and students with convenient access to professional quality telescopes. Astronomical observatories are usually located in remote, mountainous areas where the sky is clear and dark. Few schools are able to arrange the lengthy field trips necessary so that students can visit an observatory. Costs for transportation, camping arrangements, insurance, time away from regular classes, and other practical considerations prevent most schools from becoming involved with field astronomy. In addition, few observatories make their research grade telescopes available for use by K-12 age students. TIE has made access to telescopes in distant places available by pioneering remote operation of telescopes via computer.

Automation of the 24" telescope on top of Mount Wilson, California, allows children and teachers anywhere in the United States to operate a research quality instrument from a computer in their classroom. Of course, students must return to their classroom at night to operate the telescope, when stars and other celestial objects can be seen. This wonderful opportunity greatly increases the number of educators and students (especially in grades K-12) who can directly participate in observational astronomy, physics, and other projects. However, there are still many students who cannot, for a variety of reasons, return to their schools at night. For inner city schools located in areas of frequent gang violence, it may not be safe to occupy a classroom at night. For less affluent rural schools, it may be too expensive to transport children long distances back to school in the evening. It is precisely these students that the TIE program hopes to reach. But how?

The answer: Make it possible for students to operate a telescope during their regular, daytime classroom hours. How can we make it night during the day? By automating telescopes at observatories on the other side of the Earth, where it is night during our local day, and providing access to those sites through the Internet. A network of automated telescopes around the world has many benefits. In addition to making hands-on astronomy possible during regular daytime school hours, cultural exchange and enrichment will occur when students and teachers in the U. S. work with students and teachers in other countries on shared projects. Telescopes In Education has already established a cooperative agreement with Zvenigorod Observatory near Moscow, Russia which will automate their large Zeiss telescope and add it to the TIE system. This site, associated with the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), COSMOS (a consortium of universities, space program facilities, and other organizations concerned with improving science education), and several Moscow K-12 level schools, will foster healthy teamwork between young U. S. and Russian students.

A TIE network of automated telescopes around the world also makes ambitious research by students possible, especially projects involving sequential and continuous observations and imaging (such as comet and variable star studies, asteroid searches, identification of supernova, and so forth).

Automated telescopes located below the equator, in Australia and New Zealand, will permit schools in the United States to image celestial objects in the Southern Hemisphere sky. Conversely, through access to U. S. telescopes, students in the Southern Hemisphere will have the opportunity to observe stars and galaxies in the sky above the equator, objects otherwise impossible to see from their location.

For further information contact:

Telescopes In Education (TIE)
Mount Wilson Institute / Hale Solar Laboratory
(626) 794-1360
P. O. Box 60163
Pasadena, California  U.S.A.   91116-6163
e-mail:  Mary Cragg