The FIUPM participates in the first robotic telescope network with access via Internet
A world network of robotic telescopes of free access by using Internet is going to allow users to connect and share time of observation. This idea is going to be developed within a European project of citizen science that will start in the Facultad de Informática of Universidad Politecnica of Madrid (FIUPM).
The European project is called Gloria (GLObal Robotic telescopes Intelligent Array for e-Science) and will be a useful tool for anyone interested in Astronomy research. They will be able to use robotic telescopes and to analyse astronomic data available in public databases belonging to Gloria and other entities. Gloria is a three-year project with a budget of 2.5 million euros.
The European Project is inspired in the experience of Montegancedo Astronomic Observatory located in the Facultad de Informática of UPM. It is the first astronomic observatory in the world of free access that controls remotely using a piece of software called Ciclope Astro. This software is maintained by the group Ciclope of the FIUPM and will be used for the world network of robotic telescopes.
The director of the Montegancedo astronomic observatory, the professor Francisco Sanches, is the manager of this European Project in which participate 13 partners of Russia, Chile, Ireland, United Kingdom, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland and Spain. The last week the partners had a meeting in the Facultad de Informatica to plan the development of the project.
17 telescopes
An initial network of 17 telescopes will be the beginning of the Gloria project, which will offer free access by using Web 2.0 for users worldwide. The first robotic telescope will be available within a year.
All the robotic telescopes will share the same software. Apart from having 17 telescopes, they will develop user experiments controlled by the University of Oxford. They are the developers of Galaxy Zoo, an online project that allows members to classify millions of galaxies.
Gloria will organise school activities in relation to the retransmission of astronomic events to attract new users, they will sponsor the four next missions of Sky live internet television.
The Gloria project is trying to gather expert worldwide interested in astronomy in order to take advantage of a collective intelligence and to enhance the participation in astronomic research.