00:00 Children
filing down corridor
Dr.
Pete Edwards talking to pupils
Reverse
of pupils
Medium
shot of Dr. Edwards
Reverse
of pupils
Image
of a galaxy on projector screen
Dr.
Edwards helps a student
c.u.
computer screen
Picture
of Faulkes Telescope in Hawaii (still)
Guide Voice: Are these the Astronomers of the
future? Quite possibly, if the University of Durham’s latest
outreach project continues to be so successful. As a leading
University in astronomy and physics research, Durham hosts the
region’s new Faulkes Telescope Project, offering school
students the opportunity of real time astronomy, using telescopes
in Hawaii and Australia.
00: 22 SOT: Dr. Peter Edwards, Science & Society
Co-ordinator, Dept. of Physics, University of Durham
– “We are aware that there is a dearth now
of scientists in this country; children are no longer taking an
interest in Science – Physics especially; and we’re
hoping that projects like this will take younger kids, get them
enthused, get them excited, and there’s no better way of
doing that than showing them a real time image of a beautiful
galaxy. That they’ve taken themselves”.
00:41 c.u.
computer screen
Pupils
pointing at screen
Exterior,
University of Durham
Tilt
up from sign on door to “Laser On” sign
Interior
of red-lit laboratory, researcher at adaptive optics set-up
c.u.
hands adjusting lens
Focus
pull, c.u. lens
c.u.
distorted laser light
Wide
of researcher and Prof. Sharples
Rear
shot of above
c.u.
computer display
c.u.
computer display
c.u.
laser dot focusing
Guide Voice: School students can access these
robotic telescopes via the web, carrying out
‘real-time’ astronomy, during classroom
hours.
Durham University, in the north of England, is a leading
research centre in adaptive optics, aiming to improve the quality
of astronomical imaging. Turbulence in the earth’s
atmosphere, caused by thermal currents, distorts the light beams
entering astronomical telescopes, resulting in images that can be
blurred or fuzzy – something we know as the
“twinkling” of the stars.
Using adaptive optics to correct these distortions means that
scientists are now able to obtain much sharper images from the far
reaches of the universe.
01:21 SOT: Professor Ray Sharples, Head of
Astronomical Instruments, Dept. of Physics, University of
Durham – “Well, the ultimate aim is really
to try and produce telescope systems on the ground that have the
capabilities that are equivalent to those of telescopes in space.
For the next generation of extremely large telescopes there
isn’t really the possibility that we could launch them into
space, so we’re trying to deliver them a capability from the
ground which will be as good as they would get if we had no
earth’s atmosphere and if the telescope, for example, were in
space or on the moon”.
01:49 Pull
back from telescope on roof
c.u.
adjusting hand held panel
Wide,
researcher looking into telescope
c.u.
researcher looking into
telescope
Wide
– researcher adjusting scope
Pan
from front of lens to researcher
Pan
from telescope in foreground to one on far roof
Guide Voice: But it’s not just in
astronomy that this technology can make such an impact. The
University’s research in adaptive optics could hold the key
to the further development of free space communications.
Many communication signals are sent down optical fibres instead
of wires. This works well for long haul links from city to
city but is less efficient over short distances or for
circumstances where emergency connections are needed.
The use of a free space optical link, by shining a laser through
the air, can be a more efficient way of creating fast data
connections – but it has the disadvantage of atmospheric
distortion.
02:27 SOT: Dr. Gordon Love. Lecturer,
Department of Physics, University of Durham –
“If you can imagine we would like to set up a link with
the department across the road here, imagine there’s a
sporting event on, something that’s temporary, or imagine
there’s a disaster and we need the police or ambulance
services to set up a link, we would like to be able to shine a
laser beam between the two and to send the signals that way and one
of the big problems with doing that is the fact that the atmosphere
in between can very much degrade the signal."
02:54 Researcher
in lab adjusting lens focal distances
Reverse
angle
c.u.
laser dots in focus
Wide
of researcher
School
pupils at computer
Female
pupil at computer
Guide Voice: By applying Durham’s
expertise in adaptive optics these connections can be considerably
improved.Durham’s research is shaping the image technology of
today and its outreach programme is, hopefully, shaping the
scientists of the future…
03:11 SOT: Alice Atkinson, Pupil,
Billingham Campus School – “It’s
good; I didn’t really think I was going to be interested in
this sort of thing. I didn’t know there was so much about it
– I thought they were just little white things in the sky but
it’s proved it’s more interesting than
that.”
03:26 SOT: Jon Chapman, Pupil,
Billingham Campus School – “It’s
quite surprising that you can just sit down, go on the internet and
look through the Universe.”
03:31 End
of cut
Additional material
03:40 SOT: Prof Ray Sharples:
“One of the major initiatives we have in the future is to
move some of our activity to the Net Park, Technology Park, the Net
Park Research Institute at the Technology Park near Sedgefield; so
this will be a custom built building that will allow us to expand
our activity both in adaptive optics, in non astronomical
applications of adaptive optics and more generally in astronomical
instrumentation.”
04:08 SOT: Tom Patrick, Pupil,
Billingham Campus School – "I think
it’s interesting. I didn’t know how big the Universe
was."
Still – “Sunflower” image from Faulkes
Telescope
Still – Image from Faulkes Telescope
Still – Exterior, Faulkes Telescope, Hawaii. (Closed
canopy)
