A robotic telescope, which looks like a camera in a silver rectangle box, mounted on a bracket that allows rotation, stands in rocky terrain.

Ages 11+ | 7+ mins | Online Activity

Be a space photographer!

Tell a real robot telescope what to take pictures of with the Smithsonian MicroObservatory!

What You'll Need: 

  • A computer
  • An email address
Start Controlling a Real Telescope

Tip 1. Be sure to choose something visible. 

If an option does not have an "Observe" button, it is not visible right now. 

Tip 2. Adjust your telescope settings

  • Try out a couple of selections. A green check means it's good; red means it might be too bright or too dark, so you can try again.
  • If there's only one choice, keep it.
  • If there are color filters (like red, green, blue), you can pick all to make a colorful picture!

Tip 3. You have to wait a little bit.

The telescope will snap your picture that night and email it to you—usually the next day! 

Tip 4. Once you get your image, you can edit it. 

Open it in the website's special software to adjust brightness, contrast, or color of the image.

Stars and cloud like formations in space.

Another way to understand telescope data: sound!

For things really far away in the Universe we use special space telescopes to understand them. The space telescopes send data back to scientists on Earth. 

Often, beautiful images like this one are made out of the data to help us picture far away space. 

However, scientists also use sound to understand what telescopes tell us. 

Make your own sounds out of telescope data.

We want to hear from you!

Optional

Adapted from Soar Together at Air and Space. Soar Together is made possible by the generous support of the Northrop Grumman Foundation.