Astrophotography over the internet? Really?

Tonight I logged on to Slooh a website that allows you to connect to a live feed from one of three Telescopes around the world (Gran Canaria, Chile and Australia). There are “Missions” that you can view, which basically means you get watch the telescope spend about 5 minutes watching a predetermined location in the sky. You can book the telescope to point to something in their catalogue, or specify coordinates. You can see the sky through the portal and you can take pictures too…There is even a chat room where people are friendly and offer help to newbies like me.

SLOOH Control Panel

So the wierd thing is that you can take all these really cool pictures but you are not really taking a picture. The image you are looking at improves over the 5 minutes of viewing, and you decide which to “take” the picture. You are looking at the sky, you are taking an image, but lets face it, you aren’t taking the picture. I post them here so you can see them. If you don’t have a Telescope, this is a very interesting alternative (take the free trial!) Don’t be shy! The tours are interesting!