LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Starting Monday, exploring the West Texas sky could be as easy as opening your laptop.
Texas Tech is opening remote access to telescopes at the Preston Gott Skyview Observatory near Shallowater, allowing students, faculty, and staff to observe and photograph space from campus or even from the comfort of their homes.
The observatory has been around since 1980 and til now has been primarily used for classes and research. Now, the Department of Physics and Astronomy is expanding that access to the Texas Tech community as a whole.
“The sky is for everyone. That is one of our department’s mottos.” Assistant Professor Dr. Elias Aydi said. “We would like everyone on campus to get a taste of what the dark skies of West Texas can offer.”
Aydi says astrophotography is becoming popular, but it can also be an expensive hobby. This new system gives people the chance to try it out without purchasing their own telescope or having previous astronomy experience.
Beginning Monday, a link will be announced, and users will be able to schedule a time and log in using their Tech email. Someone will also be available over Zoom to help them learn how to operate the system.
Once logged in, users can select what they want to observe and the telescope will automatically move toward the target and begin capturing images. Users can view the images in real time and download them to keep.
West Texas also provides favorable conditions for the telescopes because of its dry climate, very little rainfall and dark skies. The observatory system monitors weather stations in the surrounding area and can close the telescope domes if rain is detected nearby.
The observatory isn’t the only thing being used for Astrophotography. The New Milky Way Survey at Tech scans the sky for objects that appear or change in brightness. The project recently detected a nova explosion in the Milky Way.
For Aydi, opening the telescopes to more people is about more than what they might see on their screen.
“One of the main aims of this project is to inspire people and younger generations to think of the sky, to think of space,” Aydi said.
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