Orion StarShoot for schools

[Richp]

Afternoon all,

I will very shortly being taking delivery of a Skywatcher Skyliner 350P FlexTube GOTO for use at the school where I teach (of course it may have to spend weekends at home with me). The scope will be used by GCSE age pupils in addition to their binoculars, but the biggest problem I foresee is the standing in line, waiting for their turn aspect.

To this end, I'm thinking about getting an Orion StarShoot USB eyepiece. I really only want it for displaying the view on the laptop (and therefore possibly onto a projector) so a group of kids can view/discuss at the same time. If it turns out we can go on to use it for some simple astrophotography, that's even better, but it's not my main concern at the moment.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this bit of kit, or suggestions that might be better for my purposes?

Cheers.

[Marcus daniel]

For the price of the star shoot, I would suggest using a spc900n webcam, its cheaper for starters and can be purchased from many astro suppliers even flea bay sells them. This can be used in conjunction with free software downloaded from the web called Sharpcap, this is used via a laptop or any pc really depends on what you have to hand. You can attach a projector if you like so all can see. This software also allows you to capture what ever you are viewing, and could be if you like then stacked into a stacking software such as registax ( also free ) to create still images.

Just a thought!!

[garethmob]

also for the price of the star shoot you can have a samsung 2000p CCTV camera that has showed really promising DSO pictures (have a look in the communities section with the video photography) im not sure how it holds for moon/planets though but morgans still sell the 900 Buy Cheap Astronomy at Morgan Computers (look at the 880 + flashed price) and it does work with sharpcap really well!

[Ad Astra]

Does anyone have any thoughts on this bit of kit, or suggestions that might be better for my purposes?

Cheers.

Hi Rich,

For what it's worth, I don't agree with things like the star-shoot or web cams at all for school use. I've done this for 25 years and tried both types of things. The real problem is that they take the immediate and wondrous experience at the eyepiece and reduce it to something on a screen.

With kids at the eyepiece, I get lots of "Wow! That's Awesome!" comments. When I put it on a screen, that changes to: "I've seen that on the telly!" or, "The Discovery Channel does it better." They realize that the experience is diluted and second hand, and they lose interest very quickly. One of the few reasons the kids like to come out at night is to actually operate and use a REAL telescope for themselves! The webcam experience utterly robs them of that.

I adopted a different solution by designing multi-layered activities involving sketching, identifying constellations, using bins, etc. so no one is bored while awaiting their turn at the EP. That said, a fair proportion of the kids don't spent too much time at the EP - they take their squint and move on. You will recognize the enthusiasts quickly enough, they will go back to the end of the line again and again, then learn how to operate the scope, and then appoint themselves as your lab assistants and help others then they inevitably cry "I've lost the Moon!!!"

Keep them active with a variety of activities, but please don't deprive them of the true astronomical experience of operating the scope for themselves and actually seeing the Moon, Jupiter, star clusters etc. for themselves. I think your $$ would be far better spent on a extra pair or two of 7x50 bins. If you would like some help with lab activity design (or you just want to have a few of mine to use or modify for your group), I would be most happy to help out.

Real glass, real photons, real experiences!

Cheers,

Dan

[Richp]

Marcus and Gaz - thanks for the advice, the spc900 seems like a good option, I'll just have to wait for Morgans to get them back in stock. I've already downloaded the software!

Dan - You're absolutely right, I do really want all my kids to have an eyes-on experience, this is really just on top of that really. I may well be in touch for advice - please check out my other post on equipment as I'd value your input.

Many thanks again guys!

[starstalker]

wow wish we had teachers like you at my school! it might not have taken me another 20 years to get into astronomy!

[Ad Astra]

Hi Rich,

PM sent! I think you will find that my 'multi-stage' lab plan works very well for larger groups of kids, especially when you have limited equipment.

My own groups of students always seems to grow faster than the equipment list does! This method keeps them all busy and avoids the 'crowd at the eyepiece' problem that can make kids bored and difficult to manage.

Let me know what you think!

Dan