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.
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