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Mercury, Jan/Feb 2002 Table of Contents

by Jamie Ambroson

When Dr. Robert Mutel began studying astronomy in 1966, technological advances in science did not allow him, and the thousands of students interested in astronomy around the world, to study 'real-time' movements in the earth's outer atmosphere. Instead, what students like Dr. Mutel received was a "canned education."

Today, the astronomy lessons that University of Iowa Professor of Astronomy Dr. Robert Mutel teaches his students have come a long way. Thanks in part to Mutel's desire to see more students get interested and involved in astronomy through hands-on learning, there's a fresh approach to the way students learn and the way teachers teach. A working relationship that developed between Dr. Mutel and a small Iowa City, Iowa, based company known as Torus Technologies, was the catalyst for that change…

* * *

In 1993, Stacy Palen, an entering graduate student at the University of Iowa, stepped into a dramatically changing curriculum in the astronomy department. Over the previous several years, Dr. Robert Mutel had been researching robotic telescopes for educational use, and investigating the feasibility of installing one at the University of Iowa. Finally in 1992, just a year before Palen enrolled at Iowa, Mutel found the funding to install the University's first robotic telescope on the University of Iowa campus. Called the Automated Telescope Facility (ATF), the 7-inch refractor telescope was situated on the roof of Van Allen Hall in Iowa City, the home of the astronomy department.

The pioneering ATF gave students and faculty at Iowa their first experience in hands-on observations. Graduate students like Palen, who got in on the cusp of this dramatic change in astronomy education, were able to help Dr. Mutel develop a curriculum, as well as the undergraduate lab manuals students used to learn about astronomy with the ATF. The project generated a lot of excitement among Palen and her fellow graduate students. But Stacy thought the changes in education it generated among undergraduate students were even more intriguing.

"Undergraduate non-major 101 astronomy students make up the majority of students who will come into contact with this telescope, and that's a great thing," says Palen. "Suddenly, this development of a very hands-on curriculum makes astronomy a really exciting thing, and I know it persuades people to become much more interested and excited in astronomy."

Over the next several years, Mutel continued developing and improving software for the ATF to make it a better educational unit. But outside of the telescope itself, there were some problems. The cold Iowa winters were getting rough on students and educators who had to spend a large amount of time making observations on the roof of Van Allen Hall. Additionally, the Van Allen building was located just adjacent to downtown Iowa City, and bright street lamps in the area made accurate observations incredibly difficult.

So Mutel developed a plan to build a robotic telescope system in a warmer climate. He knew that the robotic telescope and observatory could be built anywhere in the world, as long as Iowa students had adequate software and access to it via the Internet. It was in 1996 that the idea for the Iowa Robotic Observatory (IRO) was born.

With a plan in mind, Mutel contacted James Mulherin at Torus Precision Optics. Knowing their reputation for building high-quality telescopes, Mutel contracted Torus to fabricate the "glass" for the project. Torus went to work on the primary and secondary mirrors for the IRO, and had them finished by late 1997. The telescope was placed in a remote location near Sonoita, Arizona. The observatory that contained the telescope was completely robotic, and was scheduled in advance at a central control facility at the University of Iowa. Following some minor set-up difficulties and an electrical fire that set the project back nearly a year, the IRO successfully began operation in September 1998. The IRO supplied University of Iowa students and professors with more than 10,000 images a year.

In the next few years, Dr. Mutel found interest growing nationally for robotic telescopes. As he traveled the country talking about the IRO, a large number of astronomy educators expressed interest in having their own robotic telescope system. Mutel knew there had to be an easier way to set up a system like the University of Iowa had. So, in 1999, he put in a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build what was to be a complete, turnkey robotic telescope system. This system, as he proposed it, would be reasonably priced for most colleges and universities, and would be designed for use in undergraduate astronomy education and research. With a go-ahead from the NSF, Mutel sought out Torus to again partner with him in his new endeavor.

* * *

By May of 2001, a prototype of Mutel's proposed turnkey system had been developed and put into place at a local Iowa City test site as a joint product of the University of Iowa and Torus Technologies. Dubbed "The Rigel Project", it was developed as a complete turnkey system consisting of a 14.5-inch f/14 Cassegrain telescope, large-format CCD camera, filter wheel, spectrometer, dome, and weather station. The web-based, user-friendly observatory control software that operated the telescope quickly proved to change the way undergraduate students at the University of Iowa were learning about astronomy.

"Before robotic telescopes such as Rigel were put into place," says Dr. Mutel, "the 400 to 500 survey-level students we had were learning astronomy from a canned set of images. Since we didn't have the time or resources to teach every student in a night class, they were basically just doing workbook exercises. These telescopes have fundamentally changed that because they allow students to choose their own object of study, make their own observations, and analyze their own images. That's what science is all about," says Mutel.

Currently, Torus Technologies is developing a new line of turnkey observatory systems based on the development of the Rigel Project. The new product line is named Nighthawk with observatory systems incorporating telescopes ranging in size from 14.5-inches to 24-inches in diameter. The new prototype allows students to operate the observatory in either 'real-time' or queue-based scheduling. As well, Mutel and his colleagues currently are developing a companion curriculum that will allow instructors to integrate Rigel observations into astronomical laboratories. Although the primary focus of this curriculum will be undergraduate laboratories, parts of the curriculum will also be suitable for high school courses, as well as more advanced undergraduate research projects.

With the success of the Rigel project at Iowa, Mutel and Torus Technologies expect a strong demand for turnkey systems, like Nighthawk, among science and astronomy educators across the nation in the coming years, though Mutel says there are some problems to overcome. "It's a very challenging and complicated piece of equipment," says Mutel. "It's not just software, it's not just a telescope, it's a tightly-coupled combination of both."

Along with Torus, Mutel and his colleagues have been testing the Rigel prototype for the past several months. Torus expects to begin delivery of the first production Nighthawk systems in the spring of 2002.

* * *

"Having seen what happened at Iowa with this system in place, and now having been at a school without it… I can tell you, there's a huge difference," says Stacy Palen. Eight years after her first exposure to robotic telescopes, Palen has her Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Iowa, and is currently an instructor in astronomy at the University of Washington. She says she feels the turnkey systems have a huge potential to make a difference in the way students learn about astronomy, especially at those educational facilities that don't have access to telescopic equipment of their own. "Students will learn a great deal more about how science gets done," says Palen. "This is a genuine hands-on implementation of astronomy."

As an instructor to undergraduate students at the U of W, Palen has a plan in mind to implement Torus' turnkey system once it goes on the market. Her focus will be on using it to teach non-majors. "The developments that Torus Technologies and Dr. Mutel have made together will fundamentally change the way my students, and all students, learn," she says. "There's no doubt about it."

John Armstrong, a current astronomy Ph.D. student at the University of Washington, has dedicated a good chunk of his time to helping Torus develop tools to be used for astronomy education. Armstrong worked with Dr. Robert Mutel at the University of Iowa as an undergraduate student. He says years of experience as a student, and as a teacher, have given him some terrific insight into what works best for teaching. So the educational aspects of Torus' developments are really his focus.

"At some point, the students who use the Torus telescopes have to learn something," Armstrong says. That's where he comes in. Currently, Armstrong, along with software designer Steve Ohmert, is developing a curriculum for the telescope that not only teaches students step-by-step how to use the telescope via the Internet, but also contains educational activities that will help them learn with the telescope. "We don't want our introductory astronomy students to have to learn about all the technical aspects of the telescope. We want them to focus on their astronomy education. At the same time, we need to make sure astronomy majors are being educated on both…so that's where our challenge comes in," says Armstrong.

What they've developed is a science-grade instrument that both scientists and non-scientists can use. This complete software will be packaged with the telescope. "Our focus is on the software… that's what makes the Torus project different. The software allows students and teachers so many more opportunities to learn, because they're not getting a boxed education."

* * *

One of Torus' most recent customers, Dr. James LoPresto, a professor of Astronomy at Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania recently installed a TORUS CC05. The telescope was installed in July 2001. A professional astronomer, LoPresto made the decision the school needed its own observatory, so he found some land to purchase in a dark location near the University, and set to work on building what he now calls the Maize Sunfire Observatory where the telescope is housed in a dome.

LoPresto's reason for purchasing Torus' telescope? Simply put… education. Just two months after installation, LoPresto already has great plans for how the telescope will be put to use. Right now he's proposing two possible research projects for his students, and some original educational plans he calls "outreach programs."

LoPresto says the university now has a new building housing several high-tech classrooms. One of those classrooms will be dedicated to the Maize Sunfire Observatory. There, students will be able to operate, via computer, the telescope, which sits about four miles away from the university. Students will be able to adjust and rotate the telescope themselves. LoPresto also has future plans to put a TV camera in the telescope's dome so students will actually be able to see how they are physically controlling the telescope from the computer. "This telescope is much more sophisticated than any I've worked with in the past," LoPresto says. "It will make an excellent educational tool."

LoPresto says the university is not confining itself to educating just its own students with the new tool. He has already contacted three or four other nearby universities that would like to utilize the telescope. In addition, LoPresto is in the process of sending out information to all science teachers in all grades in the surrounding three counties. His plan is to make individual arrangements to work with them, whether they're 8 or 18, to give them a more hands-on approach to learning about astronomy.

LoPresto is also excited about the future possibilities of building a network across the country and around the world with Torus telescopes. Rich Williams, VP of Marketing and Product Development for Torus Technologies, is currently constructing an observatory to house a TORUS CC06, Torus' 24-inch diameter robotic telescope. LoPresto and Williams plan to work together with their telescopes to focus on supernova hunting and asteroid hunting. They plan to bring others into the study as well to create a large network.

So, why Torus? Because their telescopes are incredibly sophisticated, LoPresto says. "It gets students familiar with a more professional telescope. It's not just a backyard telescope. You can teach them some very basic concepts about astronomy using state of the art technology." He adds, "The combination of software, affordable engineering, and the ability for the telescope to track images for an extended period of time gives students access to a real sophisticated robot."

* * *

Why is Torus the first to take the bold step to create a complete, robotic turnkey telescope? Dr. Robert Mutel attributes it to the forward-thinking of the employees of Torus. "Other companies have people who are good at one thing or another. They think in a more traditional sense," he says. "Most of the telescope companies out there didn't see the Internet as becoming as important of an educational tool as it has become," says Mutel. "Torus has combined the best of both worlds."

 JAMIE AMBROSON is a writer for Marketing and Communication Strategies in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She can be contacted at jamie@mcshome.com.