SMARTscope Simulation

At the Friday, November 3, 2006 Ottawa Centre RASC meeting, the SMARTScope was demonstrated operating live. Members in the audience were able to request specific objects to observe with the telescope, and watch in real time as the images were collected.

During the evening, two targets were imaged with longer full color exposures. The first was the "blue snowball", NGC7662, with a total of 45 minutes of exposure time, split between the red, green, and blue filters.

A second, shorter exposure of Stephan's Quintet, NGC7320 and companions, was also taken. Despite the bright moonlight, and with only 6 minutes exposure in each filter band, the cluster of galaxies is clearly visible.

Additional images were taken on previous nights earlier in the week, including the planetary nebula NGC40, the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC891, the core of the spectacular face-on spiral M33, and the planetary nebula M76. It is clear the SMARTScope has a great deal of potential!

With the successful live demonstration, it is clear that the SMARTScope hardware is now fully functional. Some additional software configuration work is now underway. When that is complete, we will be able to start providing web browser-based imaging in a "beta test" mode.

Live Demonstration at the November 3, 2006 Ottawa RASC Meeting