Plans for Faulkes Student Telescopes Continue

The sponsors of a project to bring astronomy to schoolchildren via the Internet expect to begin construction of the first telescope in August or September, said James Heasley, a professor at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu. The university, the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, the Royal Observatory, the University of Leicester and Liverpool John Moores University are funding the Faulkes Telescope Project, which will construct two 2-m telescopes in Hawaii and Australia.

Currently awaiting a conservation district use permit, the first remotely operated telescope is planned for a site on the mountain of Haleakala in Maui, Hawaii, and should begin sending images to students in early 2002. The second telescope will come online in Siding Spring, Australia, later in the year.