Introductory astronomy laboratories often have few opportunities for students to obtain their own research quality images of astronomical objects. This is because it is extremely difficult to find sufficient lab time for large numbers of students to learn how to use telescopes and electronic cameras during clear evenings. The University of Iowa's Remote Telescope Facility solves this problem by allowing students to plan their own observing program and submit an observing schedule to the IRTF which then performs the requested observation, usually on the next clear night. The images and log files are immediately available to the student over the PC network in the laboratory and over the internet. The student may then analyze the images with the goal of answering the scientific questions which motivated the original observing plan.

The observing projects listed in this section cover a wide range of topics, from solar system investigations of planetary satellites, asteroids and comets, to variable stars, stellar clusters, and even extragalactic observations. In all cases, there are archive images of the objects which may be used to practice the image analysis techniques, or even to complete the project in the event that bad weather or some other misfortune prevents the student from obtaining her own images. The archive image filenames and directory locations are listed at the beginning of each project description.

The first step in any of the observing projects to plan the details of which object(s) are to observed and with which filters and exposure times. Next, the observing file itself needs to be created. The way to submit a file is to use the IRT or Rigel Observing Schedule web page (see Remote Observing Links in table of contents). Up to five sources can be observed in any one session. A brief instruction manual can be found in the Guide to Remote Observing. Finally, the images must be analyzed using the techniques learned in the computer-based laboratories. A few projects will require the use of the image analysis programs Camera (Linux) or MaximDL (Windows). The images are available at http://deimos.physics.uiowa.edu.

Following is a list of sample observing projects developed for use with these telescopes. A more complete list can be found in the published manual "Imaging the Universe" (Hayden McNeil Publishers).

Height of Lunar Craters Properties of Asteroids Rotation Periods of Asteroids Determining Stellar Properties Using BVRI Photometry Variable Stars I: Intrinsic Binaries Variable Stars II: Eclipsing Binaries A Study Of the Orion Nebula Exploring a Spring Constellation: Cancer Astronomical Discovery: Supernova