Professional Tech
The Bradford Robotic Telescope was the world's first internet-controlled telescope. We built our system from scratch and, over the past 20 years,
we have refined it to make it as accessible and useful to the general public as possible.
Our observatory consists of a 14-inch diameter cassegrain reflecting telescope, on an equatorial mount with 3 cameras and 12 different filters, all controlled by a sophisticated
scheduling system that makes sure your image gets taken at the best time. All of this is controllable by you via this website. You are just seconds away from being able to take
images of whatever you like, whenever you like. So what are you waiting for?
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Perfect Skies
Mount Teide on Tenerife is a very popular site for astronomers. The European Space Agency has chosen it as the site of some if its observatories.
And it's no surprise it is so popular. Being 8000ft above sea level ensures the minimum amount of atmospheric distortion. Pictures appear much sharper than they ever could at sea level.
The weather is pretty fantastic too. Being above most of the clouds, we can expect 300 clear nights a year. That means the maximum time available for taking your images!
And finally, with no cities to light up the night sky, we are able to see the faintest stars and galaxies with ease.
All of this means that we can bring you the highest quality images, of the most stunning objects in the universe, right to your computer, no matter where you live.
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Fully Automated
With most online telescopes, you book a slot of time to control the telescope and have to be online then to make use of that.
Our telescope is different. Our sophisticated scheduling software will automatically determine the best time for your picture to be taken. No need to wait up for it to be taken.
When it's done we'll send you an email and you can check out the result whenever is convenient.
This takes all the hassle out of observing. You don't need to know where in the sky your target is or what time it's in the sky. Just tell us what you want and leave the rest to us.
You can have up to 10 jobs queued up to be taken at any time.
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Total Control
You get a massive amount of control over your images.
Once you've chosen a target to observe, you can customise everything from the exposure time (which can be anywhere from 20ms to 3 minutes) to
level of zoom (40 degrees, 4 degrees or 0.5 degree fields). You can also choose from a variety of filters: image in black and white or colour or look at objects through narrowband filters (H-alpha, OIII).
If you don't know what any of that means, then don't worry. Everything comes with recommended settings, but you are free to experiment as much as you like to get the results you want.
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Easy to Use
We use the telescope with primary school pupils as young as 8 on a regular basis. The interface is designed to be as easy as it can be while still giving you all the control you need.
Our enduring mission is to give access to practical astronomy to those who otherwise might never have the chance. You don't need to know anything about astronomy, photography or telescopes
to use our system. You don't even need to have a good reason for wanting a go.
If you are curious about the universe and want to experience it for yourself, sign up now and let us show you how.
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Huge Flexibility
Our telescope is used by everyone from school children to amateur researchers.
No matter what your needs, we've got something for you. We can image everything from your star sign to distant galaxies. Hunt for far off supernovae, or just take a nice picture of Jupiter.
Experiment to get the best picture of a nebula, hunt for asteroids and comets or watch the changing phases of the moon.
You can do all this and more with a subscription to the Bradford Robotic Telescope.
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Download Data
We don't just give you access to the finished JPEG. You can also download the raw data from your jobs.
Whether for analysis and research or so that you can process your images with your own software, we make the original 16-bit FITS data available to you.
This allows you to get even more out of the telescope.
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Share Online
Once you've got your fantastic pictures of space, why not share them with your friends?
Let everyone see your work through Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
So much cooler than Farmville!
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Save Money
Buying a decent telescope costs hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
Nothing beats going out with your own telescope, but if you want a cheaper option that offers all the same benefits, then this is for you.
For just £3/month you can get all the joy of planning, imaging and processing your own pictures of space without the high price tag.
This can be a great opportunity to give practical astronomy a try or a cheap and permanent solution to your stargazing needs.
We are an entirely non-profit venture, so you can be sure that your subscription will be reinvested in the service we provide you.
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Unbeatable Value
Nobody else gives you the value for money that we can.
We charge only a token amount of £3/month, which helps us to cover our costs and gives us money to re-invest in improving the telescope for everyone.
Nowhere else will you find a resource like this available to you for so little cost.
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Limitless Pictures
Unlike a lot of online telescopes, we don't charge per image.
We want to encourage curiosity and experimentation, so we don't penalise you for taking images - in fact we want you to take as many as you can!
We only limit people to 10 waiting jobs at a time (to stop anyone getting a monopoly over the system). Beyond that, you can take as many pictures as you want of whatever you want.
Explore the universe at your own pace and in your own way - total freedom.
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