Comet Chasers

Were you at Astrofest 2024 on Saturday 3 Feb?  Did you request observations from the BAA stand?  

The observations are running this week - see if yours has already run and the results Astrofest 2024   

If you'd like more information about our project contact Helen helen.usher @ open.ac.uk 

We're excited that our observers have picked up another outburst of Comet 12P - this time nearly a 100 times increase in brightness - and were the first to announce it via an Astronomers' Telegram https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=16270  

See more of the analysis at Comet 12P Observations 


We are currently observing the outbursts of Comet 12P, Comet 29P and 103P - check out our images. 

Welcome

....to the Comet Chasers Project!  

This project aims to use the 'Wow' factor of Space, particularly comets, to inspire children in their learning across the curriculum.  It links schools with professional and amateur astronomers, to enable them to use research grade telescopes around the world and be actively involved in astronomical research.   


Want to learn more about comets?  Try some activities at home 


This page is a portal for access to those resources developed as part of the initial phase of the Comet Chasers project which was administered by Techniquest with funding from an STFC SPARKS Award.  The resources currently available are designed for Primary School children in Years 5 and 6 (ages 9-11), but they could be adapted for different ages.  We are now excited to have more funding from STFC to add more resources, expanding into different age ranges and into other languages - particularly Welsh.  We have just completed a sub-project based around the NASA DART Mission, funded by an outreach grant from the Royal Astronomical Society. Access to the telescope facilities in the Las Cumbres Observatory network is provided through the support of the Faulkes Telescope Project


The project has a range of activities of different complexities. It is not a requirement that schools undertake all activities. Some elements are stand alone, but others rely on learning and understanding from earlier modules. We indicate where there is a prerequisite.  



We invite you to explore and download the Resources 



If you are interested in the ROTATO - lightcurve experiments with a rotating turntable - then click here.



If you have any queries or would like to be part of the project and/or sign up for the Faulkes Telescopes Project then please contact Helen Usher : helen.usher@open.ac.uk or Cai Stoddard-Jones: Cai@cometchasers.org  

Follow us on Twitter @comet_chasers or  via Faulkes Telescope Project https://www.facebook.com/groups/FaulkesTelescopeProject 


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Rotato-quick-demo.mp4