A view of the Whirlpool Galaxy taken by the Hubble Telescope. The Bradford Robotic Telescope offers you the chance to search it for supernovas over the next month Photograph: HO\/Reuters<\/p>\n
The Bradford Robotic Telescope sits more than a mile above sea level on the rim of an old volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The telescope, part of the Teide Observatory, captures stunning images of the night sky from one of the best sites for astronomy in the world.<\/p>\n
From 24th March, for a month, we are making the telescope available free to Guardian readers to look at objects that feature prominently in the sky. To use the telescope yourself, just click here and register for free observing. <\/p>\n
So what objects can you take a look at? Below I describe some of the more striking features that the telescope can take images of in the coming month, that you might want to explore. <\/p>\n
Jupiter has more than 60 moons. The four largest, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are known as the Galilean moons after Galileo Galilei, who observed them in the early 17th century. Through the telescope website, you can submit a number of requests for images that will capture the moons spread out on each side and crossing the face of Jupiter, revealing them as they appeared to Galileo.<\/p>\n
Discovered in 1764 by Charles Messier, the Dumbbell Nebula lies 1,360 light years from Earth in the constellation of Vulpecula. The nebula is what remains of a star that once resembled our own sun. The gas stretches across 4.5 light years of space and is heated by an Earth-sized hot central core, called a white dwarf. A spoonful of the core weights a tonne.<\/p>\n
A spiral galaxy with arms of stars and dust, the Whirlpool galaxy lies 30 million light years from Earth. The galaxy is in the process of merging with a smaller galaxy, a fate that lies ahead for the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, though not for another two billion years. A supernova was spotted in the outer regions of the Whirlpool galaxy on June 2nd 2011, another one in 2005 and one in 1997. Thats surprising. Perhaps you will spot one too.<\/p>\n
A cluster of hundreds of thousands of stars crowded into a region 150 light years across. The cluster is 25,100 light years away and has at its heart a medium-sized black hole which catapults smaller black holes into the depths of space.<\/p>\n
Take a number of images and watch it through the month. Where would you like to go on your lunar holiday? The Earth is the best view from the moon: four times the size that the moon appears to us, and much brighter with the cities visible in the dark part. From the moon, the Earth phases look just like those of the moon, but unlike our moon it doesnt appear to move. Instead it is visible in the same place in the sky all the time.<\/p>\n
Take the full vista of the beautiful Tenerife sky with the constellations in view. Try Orion, followed by the dog star Sirius with its white dwarf companion. How would you fit the mythical gods into this?<\/p>\n
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More here: <\/p>\n
Search the skies with the Bradford Robotic Telescope<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A view of the Whirlpool Galaxy taken by the Hubble Telescope. Continue reading