From the Web of Stars Workshops 4 Cork city and county classes will be selected randomly from participants, 1 school will be selected from designated schools from the Cork Institute of Technology, CIT Access programme and 1 school will choose to research the project for a BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Students will have submitted target lists in advance to BCO for CSSC, the nature and duration of exposure will determine how many images can be acquired in a session.

Skype will allow students to interact with Chabot staff as images are acquired with person to person interaction on an Interactive Whiteboard.

Sessions at BCO Worklabs on 10  computers allow pairs of students to begin processing image data as it is acquired.

Students will generate outreach images from data

-using GIMP to produce outreach images

-using Salsa J to analyse image data.

Possible further activities:

• Exoplanet hunting with links to the Kepler Mission and support from Dr Maura Rabbette, DSE Science Ambassador and NASA Ames Research Center
• Class 1 workshop accreditation for Blackrock Castle Observatory Satellites (Astronomy Volunteers) and BCO Outreach Programme
• Online exchanges between Chabot Galaxy Voyagers and Blackrock Castle Observatory Satellites (Astronomy Volunteers) with a possible exchange programme to host venues
• Following the Web of Stars workshops all participants will have completed the introductory aspects of imaging workshops which are open for booking at BCO

The workshops and live sessions are registered with Discover Science and Engineering.

Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) is Ireland's national science promotion programme. It aims to increase interest in science, technology, innovation and engineering among students, teachers and members of the public.

Blackrock Castle Observatory is a registered Discover Science Centre.

Dr Maura Rabbette is a DSE Science Ambassador.

Astronomer Ben Burress will be our First Fridays at the Castle speaker on Oct 2 skyping in from the California Bay Area to the theatre at Blackrock Castle Observatory. Ben will deliver a talk about Chabot and take pre submitted Q and A’s from the audience/school participants. Ben will officially launch the Web of Stars remotely at this event.

Programme schedule for Oct 2 First Friday at the Castle:

An Open Night at Blackrock Castle Observatory

6pm Hands on Workshops: Telescopes as Time Machines

8pm Ben Burress: Live from the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California

Q and A session on the Web of Stars Cork/San Francisco Bay Area twinning project. Learn about CSSC's magnificent telescopes and view their collection of astrophotographs taken by these instruments. Real-time images taken with some of these telescopes by students in Cork will soon be available through the Web of Stars!