Slooh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slooh is a robotic telescope service that can be viewed live through a web browser with Flash plug-in. Service is available to people who pay for membership and is currently the only live online observatory. Other online scopes traditionally email a picture to the recipient. The side has a patent on their live image processing method.^[1]

The service was founded in March 2003, by Michael Paolucci, who remains the CEO. It went online on December 25, 2003, and was available to the general public in 2004, initially charging $49 for an annual membership. Slooh 2.0 brought significant improvements in the service and went online on March 18, 2006. As of March 2007 Slooh has a second observatory under construction in the hills above La Dehesa, Chile. This second site will offer southern hemisphere views, extended nightly coverage, and a second chance to escape poor weather. 2008 plans call for another telescope to be built in Australia, giving people in the northern hemisphere prime time viewing and enabling 24-hour live observation.

In May 2007, the mySlooh member gallery site began as a place for Slooh members to post their astronomy pictures. In February 2008, Slooh launched the SkyLog, a blog of community & astronomy news.

The name Slooh comes from the word "slew" to indicate a movement of a telescope, modifed to to "ooh" to express pleasure and surprise.

The observatory is located on the island Tenerife, of the Canary Islands, on the volcano called Teide. The site is at 3.5 km elevation and away from city light pollution.

There are two domes, each with two telescopes. Each dome has a high magnification telescope and a wide field telescope. One dome is optimized for planetary views (e.g. more magnification different CCD) and the other for deep sky objects (e.g. less magnification, more light sensitive CCD). Each dome offers two telescopic views - one high magnification through a 14 inch Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope and a wide view through either a telephoto lens or an APO refractor. One dome is under the operation of the astronomers of the observatory, while the other is available for amateurs to reserve and guide. Who operates which dome alternates nightly.

Slooh is used by some serious astronomers for research^{[citation needed]}, as well as beginner astronomers. David Levy, renowned comet hunter, is a SkyGuide on Slooh's radio shows.

Slooh produces, "Slooh Radio", a streamed audio program that includes subjects such as cosmology, astronomy, and telescope technology. They are generally broadcast at 2100 ET (0100 or 0200 UT depending on daylight saving time.)