Over the past few decades, the emergence of remotely controlled robotic observatories has opened up endless possibilities. This technology can be utilized for astronomy education in our public schools, universities, and from our own homes.
As the managing members of Sublime Skies, LLC DBA Insight Observatory, we are excited about these new developments and this brings us to the mission of Insight Observatory:
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| ATEO-1: 16"f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector with an image of IC 447 - reflection nebula in the constellation Monoceros and Sage Observatory that houses ATEO-1 at Utah Desert Remote Observatories. |
Providing remote imaging with our internet portal, image set repository, and Starbase, the remote telescopes are currently accessible to students, faculty, and amateur astronomers for research and astrophotography. Currently, Insight Observatory houses a 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector telescope hosted at Utah Desert Remote Observatories located at an elevation of 5,154' in Southwest Utah in the US. This imaging system designated the Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO-1) went online in the summer of 2017 at its previous location at SkyPi Remote Observatory in New Mexico.
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| ATEO-3: Quasar 12.5" Ritchey Chretien with an image of NGC 1977 - Running Man Nebula in the constellation Orion and the Remote Observatories at Deep Sky Chile. |
Insight Observatory announced the addition of its first affiliate remote telescope ATEO-3 in September 2019. ATEO-3 is a Quasar 12.5" f/9 Ritchey Chretien remote imaging system located in the dark skies of the Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile.
As of 2020, Insight Observatory has over 10 affiliate remote telescopes on its network. These remote robotic telescopes are available as imaging options on the Basic, Advanced, and Educational Image Request applications accessible on the online ATEO Portal.
Starbase Image Set Repository
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| LBN 552 (Cepheus Mosaic) was imaged on ATEO-1 (top), affiliate remote telescope - ATEO-2 - Takahashi FSQ106 ED 4.17" Refractor - Namibia, Southern Africa (bottom-top left), Saturn was imaged on AFIL-12 (bottom left), and Messier 101 - Pinwheel Galaxy imaged on ATEO-1. These image sets are currently available on Starbase. |
If you are only interested in downloading image sets of deep-sky objects for processing rather than gathering data yourself, Insight Observatory provides an image set subscription service designated "Starbase". Starbase is a repository of images captured by the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) and other affiliate remote telescopes (AFIL) on our network, organized by the image target into image “sets”. These image sets can be purchased and downloaded. Once an image set is purchased, it is permanently accessible to the subscriber.
As we populate our image sets in Starbase, you may request an image set via our "Advanced Image Request" application on the ATEO Portal. Your image set request will be evaluated and if approved, added to Starbase for subscribing as soon as the object has been imaged.
Proceeds from Starbase help immensely with funding our remote telescope project to make it available for educational programs all around the world.
The name, 'Insight Observatory', was given to the project, as it seemed to be an appropriate designation. The name is relative to its mission: providing insight, to students and the public, by exposing them to the science of Astronomy, and the research projects that are available for them to participate in, and, possibly, contribute to a discovery.
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| 5th and 8th-grade students utilizing the ATEO remote telescopes via Insight Observatory's online Educational Image Request (EIR) form for their research and classroom projects (bottom-left and right). Insight Observatory staff conducted a remote telescope astrophotography workshop at a local public library (upper-left). |