Irvine : UCI Makes Cosmos Visible by Computer
When Rognvald Garden wants to examine the red storm of Jupiter, the physics professor doesn’t hike up the hill that is home to UC Irvine’s new observatory. He simply flicks on his home computer, directs the telescope’s robotics equipment to the correct coordinates and watches images from outer space flash onto his monitor.
The observatory, which opened Thursday, cost $250,000 to build and includes a 24-inch telescope complete with electronic cameras and computer connections. Instead of looking through an eyepiece, people view the telescopic images from computer monitors.
“This way, many people can look in the telescope at once,” Garden said. “You can have 30 to 60 students looking through it at once, depending on the number of terminals available.”
And with the help of advanced modems, UCI officials with the correct passwords can link up to the telescope from most any personal computer.
“You could be at home or be on the other side of the world and have access to the telescope,” Garden said. “This offers more people more access.”
Because the telescope is controlled by robotics, the observatory doesn’t need to be staffed. The facility is near the University Hills housing development on the south end of campus. The telescope stands about five feet off the ground and is covered by a 20-foot dome.
The telescope will be used by astronomy students to gain a better understanding of outer space. “This is a teaching tool,” Garden said. “It’s not a research-quality telescope.”
The university plans to store many of the images captured by the telescope on computer discs so that people without the observatory passwords can access information from their personal computers.
