207
Another such project is the Open Outreach Telescope (TAD), a system
consisting of two telescopes set up at Teide Observatory and remotely controlled via internet using a simple navigating tool. By following a simple protocol, the telescopes may be used as if the observer were there in situ. The
telescopes form part of the GLORIA (GLObal Robotic telescope Intelligent
Array for e-science) network, which allows free access to seventeen robotic
telescopes that continue to be set up worldwide.
There is also TeleAstronomy, a project whose aim is to show every-day
activity at a professional astronomical observatory. A number of web cameras
located in the control room and dome of the IAC-80 telescope at Teide
Observatory allow images and sound to be webcast in real time. The scheme
is particularly aimed at pre-university students so that they can see astronomers in action. The idea is for the astronomer on duty—through direct observations, videos, and transparencies—to reveal the secrets of the Universe.
Viewers may ask questions and even ask for images to be taken.
Nowadays, since information flows primarily through the internet, this is
the main route used by the IAC to persevere in its task of making science a
part of general knowledge. For this reason, all such information is provided by
the IAC, in both Spanish and English, on its web site (www.iac.es) and on
social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Dailymotion,
Vimeo, and FlickrInstagram. The IAC also has its own blog. Among their
many other attractive features, these platforms host a gallery of spectacular
astronomical outreach images, videos, audios, and CDROMs. In short, the
reader wishing to know more about what I have been describing here will find
it all on these platforms.
The IAC has received a number of awards for its labours, among them the
Special Prize of the Casa de Ciencias (a science museum in La Coruña, Spain)
‘for its significant role as a model of how to pursue science without losing
sight of the interests of the citizenry, its attention to outreach, and its interest
in communicating with society through exhibitions, digital magazines, radio
programmes, and many other activities’.
All these activities require hard work, dedication, and vocation. They also
require money for both personnel and means, but, sad to say, funding is in
short supply owing to the blindness of our politicians in matters of science.
Apart from its meagre budget, the greatest stranglehold on the IAC is, once
again, the crushing burden of bureaucracy, a consequence of the redundancies
inherent in the Spanish system of political organization. Administrative fragmentation is even more pronounced in the islands, management of affairs
being shared among the administrations of town halls, cabildos, the autonomous community, and the state. The duplication and overlapping of
20 Bringing Astronomy to the Public (1986–Present)
Another such project is the Open Outreach Telescope (TAD), a system
consisting of two telescopes set up at Teide Observatory and remotely controlled via internet using a simple navigating tool. By following a simple protocol, the telescopes may be used as if the observer were there in situ. The
telescopes form part of the GLORIA (GLObal Robotic telescope Intelligent
Array for e-science) network, which allows free access to seventeen robotic
telescopes that continue to be set up worldwide.
There is also TeleAstronomy, a project whose aim is to show every-day
activity at a professional astronomical observatory. A number of web cameras
located in the control room and dome of the IAC-80 telescope at Teide
Observatory allow images and sound to be webcast in real time. The scheme
is particularly aimed at pre-university students so that they can see astronomers in action. The idea is for the astronomer on duty—through direct observations, videos, and transparencies—to reveal the secrets of the Universe.
Viewers may ask questions and even ask for images to be taken.
Nowadays, since information flows primarily through the internet, this is
the main route used by the IAC to persevere in its task of making science a
part of general knowledge. For this reason, all such information is provided by
the IAC, in both Spanish and English, on its web site (www.iac.es) and on
social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Dailymotion,
Vimeo, and FlickrInstagram. The IAC also has its own blog. Among their
many other attractive features, these platforms host a gallery of spectacular
astronomical outreach images, videos, audios, and CDROMs. In short, the
reader wishing to know more about what I have been describing here will find
it all on these platforms.
The IAC has received a number of awards for its labours, among them the
Special Prize of the Casa de Ciencias (a science museum in La Coruña, Spain)
‘for its significant role as a model of how to pursue science without losing
sight of the interests of the citizenry, its attention to outreach, and its interest
in communicating with society through exhibitions, digital magazines, radio
programmes, and many other activities’.
All these activities require hard work, dedication, and vocation. They also
require money for both personnel and means, but, sad to say, funding is in
short supply owing to the blindness of our politicians in matters of science.
Apart from its meagre budget, the greatest stranglehold on the IAC is, once
again, the crushing burden of bureaucracy, a consequence of the redundancies
inherent in the Spanish system of political organization. Administrative fragmentation is even more pronounced in the islands, management of affairs
being shared among the administrations of town halls, cabildos, the autonomous community, and the state. The duplication and overlapping of
20 Bringing Astronomy to the Public (1986–Present)