....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.   

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.  As the project develops we will be adding 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. 

We are currently observing the outburst of Comet 12P - check out our images here

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

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 working on higher level resources, and on Welsh language resources too. 

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 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  

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