Proud to be part of LJMU,
in partnership with the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust

 

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Image software

Image Processing

When you use a large telescope, like the LT, you are collecting data. The image is actually a huge grid of numbers. This data comes back in a raw form.

Two side-by-side pictures of a bubble-like, grey cloud against a black background which has lots of small, white dots of stars across it. The image on the left, labelled "Before processing", is more grey and it is difficult to see details of the cloud. The image on the right, labelled "After processing", has a blacker background and details within the cloud are more visible.
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved
M27 (images taken with 2-metre Faulkes Telescope North operated by Las Cumbres Observatory)

Software

Scientists use special computer programs to explore space.

These programs help them control telescopes, take images, and plan observations.

An image of a star cluster against a black background. Small dots of stars are mostly concentrated in the centre, many of them white in colour but some of them having a blue hue to them. Further out from the middle, a few more stars are scattered around, but they are fewer in number and seem more reddish compared to the others.
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved
A star cluster image taken by the Liverpool Telescope and analysed by our software

Data

Astronomers take images with telescopes because they want to use them to do science research. 

An orange galaxy with cloudy, spiral arms and a white-yellow, bright centre. A small, grey square is drawn around a tiny portion of the galaxy and there is a close-up view box on the image right. This shows many orange pixels with a few black ones.
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved
Digital image of a galaxy