On Sept. 25, Astronomers Without Borders and the Virtual Telescope held the first AWB remote observing session. This event is the first of many to be carried out through this new partnership -- a long-term program of remote observing that brings together AWB Affiliates and friends from around the world to look up and share the sky.
The first event was a relatively low-key affair with little advertising but it still drew more than 650 viewers from 45 different countries, making it more than the simple test that was planned. The best represented countries during the event were Italy (home of the Virtual Telescope), UK, USA, Austria, Canada, India, Malaysia, Belgium, France, Sweden, Iran, Macedonia, Australia, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Brazil and Uganda.
Comments in the live chat box indicated that the two-hour, live session was appreciated by those who took part. Many cosmic treasures were imaged by Dr. Gianluca Masi, the founder of the Virtual Telescope http://virtualtelescope.bellatrixobservatory.org/english.html in Italy, including the Ring Nebula, the giant planet Jupiter, the great globular cluster in Hercules known as M13, and more. Traveling together through space and time, viewers were transported as far as 300 million light-years from Earth during the event.
The images that were captured during the session, as well as the full video of the session with an welcoming message from AWB founder and president Mike Simmons are presented below. You are invited to join Astronomers Without Borders and discuss our remote observing project on our forum.
Thanks to all who participated for making this first event a great success! Stay tuned for news of the next remote observing session.
Gianluca Masi, Terry Bridges and Mike Simmons
Images taken during the session
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Video of full remote observing session
Click here for the full video of the session with commentary by Dr. Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope, and a welcome message from AWB Founder and President Mike Simmons. A new window will open and access the Virtual Telescope web site.
Reports on the session by participants
Mully410 Critical Blog (USA) Includes images with comments
Mully410 Critical Blog addition (USA) More on a favorite images
Johannes Stübler (Austria) Screen shots, chat box, comments and much more. Very extensive.
UngaMan Blog (Nicaragua, in Spanish) The story of a supernova discovered in one of the images taken that night!
Google translations of UngaMan's report on the supernova
